By LINDA COBURN
EL NUEVO SOL

Back in 1987, an 18-year-old girl made her way up to Tijuana from Peru and crossed the U.S. border in search of economic freedom. Today, Patricia Gracia is an award-winning entrepreneur and a U.S. citizen who is starting a business incubator so other Latinas in the Santa Clarita Valley can be supported in pursuing their own opportunities.

The Power Women Business Center will open its doors in December on the bottom floor of the two-story building that houses Power Media Group, the company Gracia founded seven years ago.

“We bought the building last year during the recession,” said Gracia. “It was the best time to do that, and it’s also the best time to start a new business.”

Gracia’s experience trying to run a business from home was the impetus for the incubator. In 2001, she left her job working at Cruz/Kravetz Ideas, an advertising agency in Burbank with the goal of being her own boss. She installed a computer, fax machine and telephone in the soon-to-be nursery in her home. Yes, Gracia was pregnant with her first child at the time.

“I know how difficult it is when you’re doing business from home,” said Gracia. “There are always interruptions. We are not behaving the same way as when we are working from an office.”

Gracia also knows that women and Latinos are among the fastest-growing groups of entrepreneurs. Data to support that comes from the U.S. Census Bureau which, in addition to conducting decennial surveys of population in the U.S., like the Census 2010 which will take place next year, also collects statistics on businesses owned and operated by minorities and women. These are collected by the U.S. Census Bureau every five years through a special survey of business owners.

The most recent business ownership survey was done back in 2007 but the Census Bureau will not be releasing that data until halfway through 2010 so we have to look back to 2002 to find that women owned more than half of all Hispanic-owned businesses. In all, the Census Bureau reports, Hispanic-owned companies employed 1.5 million people and were responsible for more than $6.2 billion in payroll annually.

The Los Angeles region is home to one of the highest concentrations of Latino-owned businesses. Groups like the Latin Business Association and the National Latina Business Women Association have robust memberships.

Gracia’s incubator will join several others in the region, like the Women’s Business Center hosted by the San Fernando Valley Economic Development Center.

In the last 12 months, the VEDC’s Women’s Business Center has counseled 322 clients about starting a new business or improving their existing enterprise, said Marlen Bello, associate director. In that same time, 35 new businesses were started, creating 42 jobs.

“These people are very motivated,” said Bello about graduates of the center’s most recent entrepreneurial training program. “Most of them have full-time jobs and families and they still come here for three hours one night a week.”

Bello’s organization receives funding from a variety of sources including the Internal Revenue Service, the California Employment Development Department, and the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley.

The money to fund the Power Women Business Center is coming from Gracia’s own pocket, something she can afford to do because Power Media Group, which focuses on developing advertising campaigns for companies wanting to target the Latino market, has continued to see growth even in the current economic downturn.

Twenty rose-colored cubicles fill a wide open room. Each will have its own telephone and computer. Her clients, as she calls them, will also be able to use the physical address of the center to receive mail and will have access to a copier, fax machine, conference room, lunch room and kitchen, and even a recording studio.

Entrepreneurs will choose one of three levels of service for which they will pay between $250 a month and $750 a month.

Although the incubator is not intended to be a profit center, having clients pay a nominal amount for the services they receive is a matter of principal for Gracia.

“You have to charge,” she said emphatically. “When we have free items, we don’t appreciate them. But when you pay even a dollar, you appreciate it.”

Patricia Gracia came to the US from Peru at the age of 18 with big dreams and became a successful entrepreneur with her own advertising agency. In this video she tells her inspiring story of making it in America.

Tags:  business business owner survey census Census 2010 census bureau CSUN economic development entrepreneur Hispanic Hispanic-owned incubator journalism latin business association Latina Latina-owned latino latino-owned lba marlen bello national Latina business women association nlbwa patricia gracia power media group power women business center San Fernando Valley san Fernando valley economic development center santa clarita u.s. census bureau vedc women’s business center