CREATIVE RESOURCE: PROSPERA
By Tim Miner
To be successful in Charlotte’s creative community, you need great partners and resources. That’s why The Biscuit is committed to introducing you to people, organizations, venues and collaborators who can assist your creative work. This week, we’re highlighting Prospera.
MISSION AND VISION:
To help start, sustain and grow Hispanic-owned businesses to achieve community prosperity.
WHAT PROSPERA DOES:
Jose Alvarez – CREDIT: Prospera USA
Prospera is a multi-state organization offering business consulting, in-language business training and access to capital for Hispanic entrepreneurs. That includes Hispanic creatives.
The Charlotte office is led by Jose Alvarez. With his team, Alvarez helps Hispanic entrepreneurs find themselves in this community and integrate successfully through in-language and in-culture support. Most importantly, Prospera leads clients to resources and walks them through the process of securing funding (micro-loans, traditional bank loans and SBA loans). They also help clients identify support for their creative projects or small business ideas. That includes strategic business planning and guidance on tactics needed to penetrate the market and measure impact.
Those are critical services in a market like Charlotte. Alvarez says many Hispanic residents, creatives and newcomers here need assistance seeing themselves as entrepreneurs. They need active guides through what can be a complicated system.
The work, Alvarez said, is worth it. In his opinion, corporate, government and nonprofit organizations in the Charlotte region are making strong and strategic partnerships with Hispanic entrepreneurs. They’re working to avoid duplication and serve diverse small businesses and creatives at the grassroots level.
A WORD FROM ALVAREZ:
“Charlotte has one of the strongest entrepreneurial ecosystems in the state. From organizations like Prospera offering culturally sensitive programs for Hispanic entrepreneurs to specialized micro-loan programs such as the Carolina Small Business Development Fund and Thread Capital.
“Hispanic entrepreneurs need to understand that there are many organizations, like Prospera, fully dedicated to helping minority small businesses start, grow and prosper. We want to engage them early as part of their integration process.”
