Oklahoma investors have been overlooking a sector with massive potential for growing the economy: Oklahoma City’s Latino entrepreneurs. And StitchCrew wants to seize the opportunity with an accelerator program for Latino-owned businesses here.

StitchCrew, an organization working to build a more equitable economy through entrepreneurship, is launching an accelerator program in spring 2023 to help Latino-owned businesses in Oklahoma City develop a path for growth.

The program will provide participants with a $15,000 grant, business coaching and access to working space at Thunder Launchpad, sponsored by the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder. The program is made possible through a partnership with the Alliance for Economic Development of Oklahoma City and federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.

“We should be investing in Latinos all year long, not just during Hispanic Heritage Month,” said Erika Lucas, co-founder of StitchCrew. “That’s why we are thrilled to bring this program to our Latino business community. We are confident it will lead to a massive economic impact in our city, which will benefit everyone, not just Latinos.”

Census data shows the Latino population is Oklahoma City’s largest and fastest-growing minority group, representing nearly 21% of Oklahoma City’s population.

A recent report from global management group Bain & Company shows the Latino population nationwide has a disproportionately high rate of entrepreneurship, but also receives a disproportionately low share of venture capital investment to help those business grow.

The report shows that 50% of all small businesses created between 2007 and 2017 were Latino-owned. However, less than 2% of venture capital investments went to Latino-owned firms; the top 25 private equity and venture capital firms in the nation contributed only 1% of investments to Latino-owned businesses. Latino-owned business are 19% less likely than white-owned business to be fully funded by local banks.

“LOBs appear to struggle with a ‘scale wall’ at around $1 million in revenue, at which point high-cost debt and a lack of equity investments may pose significant challenges in reinvesting cash to scale,” reads the Bain & Company report. Only 3% of Latino-owned business have scaled to $1 million or more in annual revenue.

The Bain and Company report shows that if Latino-owned businesses were funded at the same rate as their white-owned counterparts, the 5 million Latino-owned businesses nationwide could generate $1.4 trillion in additional revenue today and $3.3 trillion in additional revenue by 2030.

Latino-owned businesses within the boundaries of Oklahoma City may begin to apply for StitchCrew’s accelerator program in December 2022. The program’s advisory board includes local corporate and business leaders Alberto Abreu, general manager at 21 c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City; Monica Ybarra Weedn, director of legal affairs at TBS Factoring; Rich Barnard, president and CEO of Tio Chuy’s Auto Sales; Laura Blakewell, owner and general manager of Red Carpet Car Wash; and Greg Hallman, founder of Ocupath and previous StitchCrew program participant.

During the eight-week program, participants will learn how to build scalable business models and compound revenue.

This story originally ran on the JournalRecord.com.