Hispanic small business owners are becoming quite a tour de force here in the U.S. Companies that offer products and services to small business owners may want to consider the impact of having their marketing content and support bilingual.

Nationally, there were nearly 1.6 million Hispanic-owned firms, still a small percentage of the 23 million individually owned businesses in the country. But Ying Lowrey, senior economist at the Small Business Administration's advocacy office, said minority-owned firms represent the fastest-growing segment of the nation's economy.

Asians are the largest sector of minority business owners in terms of number of businesses and employees, but Hispanics and African Americans are starting businesses at a faster rate. "The contribution of minorities to the economy is tremendous," Lowrey said.

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Many face obstacles, such as language barriers, said Daniel Flores, president of the Greater Washington Ibero American Chamber of Commerce, the region's oldest Hispanic business group.

Patricio Carrera spoke no English when he immigrated here five years ago from Ecuador, where he was a journalist writing about his country's justice system.

Tags: Hispanic | business | language