A new report says the best place for a Hispanic entrepreneur to open a new business in the state is in Gilbert. Arizona Public Radio’s Howard Fischer explains.
The study by WalletHub looks at the factors it considers important to determine whether a company stands a chance of making it. CEO Odysseas Papadimitriou said a lot of that depends on affluence. And, Hispanics in Gilbert earn more, on average, than anywhere else in the nation.
“Obviously, you don’t want to start a business, let’s say a restaurant, where the local community is struggling and doesn’t go out to eat,” Papadimitriou said.
Along the same lines, the WalletHub survey looks at things like low Hispanic unemployment and areas with a high percentage of Hispanic homeowners. But, Papadimitriou said another factor is whether communities are business friendly. And, that includes things like what is considered a typical workday for Hispanics.
“We look at it from the entrepreneur’s standpoint. He wants to go more to where people tend to work longer hours. In a small company, in a start-up, people work even longer than in most places. So you have less of a cultural shock, if you will, if people are already used to working nine hours, and you’re asking them to work 10 hours, that’s not that big of a deal,” Papadimitriou said.
And in this state, Tucson and Tempe rate at the bottom of that ranking.
