DEar readers:

We like our Ipods, Xboxes and Nintendo Wiis, according to a recent study on Hispanic consumers and technology (p. 12), which revealed that the usage of Internet and gadgets is more common among Latinos—especially those who are English dominant—than previously believed. This new report, in addition to other recently published ones about Hispanic-owned companies, present a prosperous picture for our growing community.
It should be no surprise that Hispanic-owned businesses are playing a growing role in the world of technology. For example, BrightStar Corporation, which provides distribution and solutions for supply chain management and is strongly tied to the technology sector, not only reported the highest revenues among Hispanic-owned companies last year, but its outstanding revenue growth of more than 50 percent from 2005 to 2006 also landed the company in our annual Entrepreneur 100 list (p. 36). The list usually includes starting companies with significant growth rather just than well-positioned ones. In total, more than 15 companies on this year’s Entrepreneur 100 list are involved in some area of technology. If the names Sally Fernandez of Safety Dynamics (p. 46) or Andrew Baca from Abba Technologies (p. 32), our cover story, don’t sound familiar, perhaps they should. You will find the stories of how they succeeded with their technology companies very interesting, and possibly even inspiring. I hope you enjoy this issue, and have a very happy, healthy and profitable 2008.

Best regards,

Carlos A. Alfaro
EDITOR
calfaro@hisp.com