2026 State of Latino Entrepreneurship (SOLE) Summit

[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] Uh-huh. >> [music] >> Ext. You got [music] [music] exalt. [music] [music] A dice rolling [music] exot. [music] Exalt [music] God. [music] [music] Exalt God. Exalt to God. [music] Exalt to God. [music] To God. [music] [music] >> [music] >> Exalt [music] God. [screaming] [music] Exalt God. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Exalty [music] God. Exalt God. [music] Exalt God. [music] Exalt God. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Oh, [music] exchange. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] >> Ladies and Oh, ladies and No, we're good. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, we will be starting in five minutes. Take your seats. We'll be starting in five minutes. >> [music] >> with those [music] [music] [music] My darling [music] is coming [music] [music] me. >> [music] >> Babychech. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] >> Let go. [music] I left. [music] [music] [music] s [music] [music] and [music] oh wow wow wow. >> [music] >> We are we will be starting in two minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be starting in two minutes. Two minutes. Please take your seats. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be starting in 2 minutes. Please take your seats. We'll be starting in 2 minutes. Yeah, I don't know. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 11th annual state of Latino Entrepreneurship summit. We will now begin. [applause] >> Good morning everyone. >> Good morning. >> How are we doing? >> How many of you were with us yesterday for the alumni conference? >> Yeah, I know that was the best one we've had. We're expecting more of the same today, but just a little bigger. But thank you all for showing up. This is a day of gratitude for us at Elban and I think, you know, for our community in general despite some of the challenges that are out there in the world coming together like this. We should always be grateful for for these kinds of spaces. I did want to highlight a couple of um our ecosystem partners. There's too many for us to mention. And a lot of you are here in the room, some couldn't make it. A lot of the work that we do is to build a community for entrepreneurs across our country. And we rely on partnerships. Um, some of the key partners that have been with us the longest, we would call them our lead partners are Wells Fargo. We have with us Luis Gonzalez, Ruven Barales, and several others from from Wells Fargo. Without them, we probably would not have existed. They they bet early on us and we're very grateful for their support. But another very um long partnership has been with Bank of America. Raquel Gonzalez is here with us. Carlos Gald and Himea Degado. We've had the opportunity to get to know many people across the country from all of these partners. they always show up in the right way for us. And it's particularly because of these connections that we've had with people like Raquel who really know how to communicate what we're trying to do across their institution. We think that matters a lot because then that institution shows up the right way for for us and others like us. with Chase is probably the newest of our um large partners, but has become one of our deepest relationships. We work with Chase across many, many different parts of their business. In particular, the startup accelerator, which has been a a crucial addition to our programming. We've had since the beginning a business scaling program. With their support, we were able to add a startup accelerator, which has allowed us to reach a lot more Latinos. still here in our research why that matters for our community in particular. But I did want to just acknowledge a few people who come here from Chase. So Sivana Montenegro as well as um William Haramio and then you'll be hearing from Karolina Janet Chelli later she'll be on the stage but there's many more that are here from from that organization and similarly we we connect with them across the country. And then the last of of the big four that have been with us for for the longest is certain foundation. So this is a foundation that has been focused on um inclusive economy building and I would say of all of our partners that's the one that has influenced the most how we show up. So when you um enjoy getting together, convening the way our messaging hits, it's because of what we learned through our engagement with them about how to do proper outreach, how to proper engagement without being exploitative or taking advantage of um the different um challenges that people are having to overcome and instead try to focus on how do we change the systems that are causing those inequalities in order to create a bigger economy for everyone. So glad to have Don Chen, their CEO with us here today. We'll have a panel talking about philanthropy's impact on entrepreneurship. And on that panel, there'll be one of them in the afternoon. I would recommend it highly for for anyone who's interested. Um I also want to recognize um a the one institution that has really made the big biggest difference for us. In fact, Stanford and Alban have been joined since the very beginning. We were founded by Professor Jerry Boris about 14 15 years ago. Without his vision for creating this organization called Elband to leverage the greatness that exists in this institution, Elband wouldn't exist. All of this wouldn't exist. He could see then the potential in our community and the the big reason for Stanford to have a connection to us. Stanford right now in particular the business school is the number one business school on the planet. They lead in um research around business. They lead in teaching around business. You anywhere in the world, Stanford Business School will be recognized as the default leader. He wanted to push that out much more broadly to our community across the country and to many others. That's kind of a hard thing to sell 15 years ago when people look at Latinos as a small minority. But he could see the future that without Stanford having a connection to us, it can't remain the leading institution because Latinos are that big and that important that Stanford has to have a connection to us. Obviously, the reverse is also true, right? For us, for for myself, for many of us who had the privilege and the the the luck to be able to attend Stanford. We also recognize the value for for us to be here that this could become our space that this has to be a space for us. And so all of that is wrapped up in why Elban exists. But a big credit to Professor Boras. If you get a chance, he's here with us. Um why don't we just give him a shout out and and [cheering] [applause] >> [applause] >> So we we do three things with Stanford. The first one is research. And so with that there's um with within the university within the graduate school of business there's the center for entrepreneurial studies led by Deb Whitman. We have partnered with them uh collaborating on building out this research. Every year we do extensive research on Latinos and then we work with faculty here and a researcher dedicated to us at Stanford and we publish a report. You'll be hearing about that report today. But we also organized this event. So again they're very involved with us in creating this space for all of you and the research. The research for us has always been critical. It is an area where Stanford leads, but it's also an area where there's very little information about the the big impact that Latinos are having and the challenges that they're facing. We wanted to tell the truth about who we are and with that research, it really helps us frame the better narrative about the contribution that our community is making to this country. The other thing that we focus on that's really big for us is we I mentioned these two programs. We have an accelerator and a business scaling program and these are have a different focus but very similar nineweek programs that are here at Stanford. People who complete the program will have a a a certificate from the graduate school of business. We've created the programs with um collaboration from the university and all the faculty in the program are from the graduate school of business. So there's um been a a strong partnership with the school of um executive education within the graduate school of business to create these programs and every year we execute three of these. If you know if you're a founder, a business owner, and you have any interest in in these programs, please come talk to us. If you know people who should be in these programs, please um let them know. We're a nonprofit so we we can't reach everyone but we want to make sure that we are truly representing the fullness of our country. So um we the way we look at it good people know good people. All of you are are part of us. You're good people and if you find us more then we will gladly um consider them for our programs. The the third thing that we do is um oh and I should mention um I'm not sure if she's here but within the executive education program who works on these two programs with us. Ra Hel um has been the key partner. I don't think she could make it this morning but without her we could not make these programs happen. So I just want to mention that um very deep um relationship with her over the years in in developing and executing these programs. I think some of you will be in the next two cohorts that are going to kick off on Friday. I think uh Friday you all be back with us for Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So you might meet her. She's usually um bouncing around during during that time. But the third thing that we do is we we we're building this ecosystem. This room here is a manifestation of that. But we we do a lot of work around the country with our partners to create spaces for um entrepreneurs and anyone related to the entrepreneurial community. We want to build a a better ecosystem. We'll talk more about that, but um the the basic premise around that is that our community is very strong. We're very entrepreneurial, but sometimes um the ecosystem doesn't work for us and it doesn't work for other people as effectively as it should. And our goal with doing this kind of ecosystem building is to build a better ecosystem. The other um thing that I want to mention is when you know I drive onto campus, it's um always uplifting. It's always a hopeful place. Um for me, some of you might know my background. Um I'm a child immigrant. Um worked in the fields um as at 10. um experienced um extreme poverty, racial resentment, violence in my schools and the neighborhoods. It it was a challenging space. Stanford changed all of that for me. You know, this campus still seems brighter, you know, even when the world outside is darker. You know, I flourish here because of the spaces that sustain me. spaces like Kasa Sapata, Buja House, El Centro, Chico. These places allowed me to experience an environment where I had never seen before. It was Latinos and black students that were going to shape the future. All around me, acting naturally, doing what you do. I I lived with them among them. And in all those day-to-day interactions, I could begin to see a better future for myself, but also for our country. And that's in part why we're here today. There is still many of our people and others that don't get a chance to experience the full promise of our country. Our hope is to do something about that. Even though things right now, [applause] when you consider the moment, if you're a Latino, an immigrant, or um any other kind of person that doesn't quite always fit in, this is a more difficult time. It's not a secure moment. I mean, that is the reality right now. Sometimes showing up fully can feel almost as if you're in defiance, just being who you are. You know, when I consider um you know, it's how important it is to have representation that affirms you. How did you all feel when you saw Bad Bunny take one of the biggest stages? [cheering] >> [applause] >> So instead of leading with our economic power, which he could have, we're 4.1 trillion dollars, the the fifth largest economy on the planet. That's who Latinos are right now. We are creating more companies faster than any other group. We're growing revenues faster than other groups. We're creating jobs at twice the rate, jobs that have better benefits across the board. But instead, all that is true, instead he focus on our humanity and our dignity and he centered our culture. And in that he reminded us of our superpower. We are builders and we build strong communities. That's who Latinos are. [applause] It mattered that he did that, that he showed up in that way, and it matters how we show up now. You know, as you proceed through the day, you're going to hear a lot of data. You're going to hear a lot of information. You will learn from that. You'll learn from each other. You I also want you to consider to see yourself as that ecosystem. We know sometimes we had to work harder and that's not right. We know sometimes we get told no when we should have gotten a yes. That is the reality. But we can build a better one amongst ourselves. There's bankers in the room, VCs, angel investors, entrepreneurs. All of us make choices of who we accept and who we don't. All of us have the power to show up in that way. And the the one thing that I would admonish and ask of all of us when we do enter these spaces, they're precious. Treat them that way. Think about what you can contribute to make it a better space for someone else. Not the other way around. Not what can you take from this. If all of us are contributing to someone in the room, all of us will get more out of this. So with that, you know, I want to just um express express my gratitude. I think here in the room, we will be building that better society, that better future. And I want to thank all of you for being a part of it. As well as um again just welcome you. This is our 11th time doing this. Every time it's better. Um we appreciate you showing up. It's you know you could imagine from our position we put all this work into it. We throw a party and it would have h what if no one showed up? But um we knew a lot of you were going to be here because yesterday was pretty packed. So thank you again. Um at this point I did want to transition to the next speaker. He'll speak on behalf of the university. Um he is a fellow Stanford alumni. Um he did many things after that in in service of the university. Um most particularly he was um is um a trustee emiritus of Stanford University. Um, with that, let me ask my friend, Stanford Trustee Emiritis, Elban Chairman, Victor Adas. [applause] >> How are you all? Everything good? Let's go. Um, Aruro, you're just a phenomenal leader and you have a great story. We all have stories, but we have to remind each other of all our stories because together they weave a real understanding of what it takes to be Latinos. So, I welcome everybody here in person and online. This is our 11th annual state of Latino entrepreneurship event and uh we are here at our university at your university Stanford. When Jane Stanford and her husband [clears throat] Senator Leland Stanford founded Stanford in 1981 1891, excuse me, it was named after their son Leland Jr. who had passed away at a very young age. They were very committed to educational excellence and most importantly the inclusive nature which in 1890 was around including women. Jane's vision was very clear that everyone has something to contribute to the creation of knowledge and the well-being of society. She wanted to educate the children of California. That was her her statement. And it sounds like we could use a leader like Jane Stanford in today's world. So I'm here in in my different roles, but really I'm here to help you to to welcome you on behalf of this great university. Um but on behalf of our President John Lean, who will be here later, you'll hear from him later. Uh Provos Jenny Martinez and the board of trustees chair Lily Sarapan. Um I have the privilege of being a Stanford alum and my greatest privilege as Arthuro mentioned was to have served on the board of trustees for 10 years. Uh we have support from the administration uh but also trustees past and present and that would include Jose Feliciano, Marisa Brutoo and also one that's standing here and I want to recognize him Michael Camunes. [applause] and also past trustees like Lis Ngales, Elanoo Choa, Fred Alvarez, and Miriam Ria who will also be here this afternoon. So, we have tremendous support from from past and present leaders. Um, and Stanford has a legacy of providing world-class environment that is colorblind and multilingual. [clears throat] And we also have great support here at the business school by Dean Sarah Su who is on the east coast and couldn't be with us today. Um but also we have uh the GSP director of the center of entrepreneurial studies Deb Whitman who's right there. Raise your hand Deb. Thank you Deb. [applause] And we have been guided selflessly as well uh by Professor George Foster as our faculty sponsor who you'll hear from him in a second. Um so just the many people that are helping and and providing support for this initiative uh just you know helps to create more of that knowledge that Jane Stanford envisioned. This strong foundation will carry us through these very difficult times. Deportations, ICE, racial profiling, promotion of fear, etc. It goes on and on. And let's not kid ourselves. These are direct attacks on Latinos. We cannot sugarcoat it. We could have folded up our tents and faded into the background, but no, as Latinos, we've been through very difficult times, whether it's ourselves or our anticentes. And so, you know, we have a resilience gene that is very strong. Let's [applause] So let's not forget we all have served this country well as the most decorated group for valor. We we're very present. Yeah, that's a good one. [applause] We were very present during 911 and the rebuilding of this country. Uh during the pandemic, Latinos led the way for those essential necessary services during the lockdown. [applause] And who creates the most small businesses in this country and drives the US economy? Who? [applause] [cheering] You. We do. >> [applause] >> So we must keep our focus on continuing to scale these small businesses and to create wealth for our entrepreneurs who in turn reinvest that in our communities in our country and to hire all types of American workers and in turn develop foundational leadership for this country. Be proud of what you bring whether it's drive, innovation, Ghanaas and language. Matter of fact, I signed an executive order making Spanish the official language of these proceedings, [applause] but we will respect English speakers. [laughter] So, I'm so grateful to you. Many old faces, many new ones as well. My fellow board member Phil Pompa over there. Um, and also who's already been recognized, Jerry Poras. He's an ameritus professor at the business school and he created the vision for what we are seeing here today. Um and his mantra of do business with each other and >> get business for each other. It is resonates loudly today. So, thank you again, Jerry, for everything that you do and you are. [applause] And I have to take a moment to recognize our incredible team with Aruro, Jennifer, Elan, Marian, Alejandra, Anelisa, Carlos, Juliana, and our ACE researcher, Rosalia. A round of applause for this great team here. [applause] >> [applause] >> So on behalf of Stanford University, it is my privilege to officially welcome you to the 11th state of Latino Entrepreneurship Summit, Benos. [applause] I think I'm supposed to introduce the next group. So um >> in Spanish >> in Spanish okay um so I I think we have to uh professor Foster you're going to come up and give some remarks then about the research. Thank you George Foster. [applause] [applause] Okay so welcome to all here. Uh it's just a real privilege to be up the front uh speaking to you and this and we'll see the President John Leaven later but uh on behalf of the provo and uh dean of the business school and also Deb Whitman who heads up our uh center for entrepreneurial research uh the CES project uh the Elband comes out of the CS area. This is an area that was set up 30 years ago to transform the way education is done in terms of entrepreneurship. Obviously being in Silicon Valley was a huge advantage for us, but that's just an advantage. It's it's not a an asset until you exploit it. And I think what Deb has been able to do in that area is really make that the showcase for entrepreneurial research uh and case writing in that in the whole curriculum. And and you sort of look at the programs that our students do here. Uh there are more entrepreneurial courses than any other area at the GSB. And that gives us leverage in terms of what we can feed into the Elband programs, the two programs we run it in terms of the um accelerator and the um the second program. Uh so I just want to acknowledge those people. Um I think part of what Elban's being able to bring to the business school and this gets to uh the comment what can you do for us as well as what we can do for you is that certainly in the way we do teaching and the cases we write have been influenced by certainly my research uh dealing with Elban in terms of written cases literally out of the Elban uh groups that I've deal with. Um I also uh one of the pro classes I teach does a program on Lamanaka which is a Mexican bakery where two of our MBAs um came here from Monterey. And what was interesting is that uh one was going to go to the leading marketing firm in the world. The other was going to go to a leading bank in the world. and they decided in their last quarter that what they were going to do is set up a chain of Mexican bakeries and and their parents had actually subsidizes their program at Monterey Institute of Technology in the business school. So, one of them went to his dad and he said, "I'm going to uh not go to the bank. I'm going to set up a chain of Mexican bakeries in LA." And his father says, "I think there was a cheaper way of getting to that end, but they've been incredibly successful. They got it's a multi-chain thing in LA and now they're selling through Costco and stuff like that. And what's what the students love is every time they fly up from Los Angeles they bring a whole lot of cookies uh for the class. So that that's sort of one of the really hits in terms of that. But just in terms of um what art was mentioning uh they also talked about the challenges that they were facing in the last 12 months in terms of people coming to the store and stuff like that and and that was really important for the NBA classrooms because it's one thing to see it on television it's another thing to see the people presenting the case to the class and talking about how sales have dropped off 20%. or something like that in the last six months because people are not feeling as comfortable going to the store. And I think that's the sort of it it it takes hard lessons to get to the point that this stuff is real. It's not sort of just something on CNN or MSNBC or something like that. Um my insights in into the community are sort of multiple. Um I'm godfather to uh um El Salvadorian based family who I've known for ages and I was just in Austin. every time I go to Austin, I go to dinner with them on that. And so the mother, the grandmother who I'm closest to on that, um she came through El Salvador as one of 10 kids and um obviously it was a rough time when she went through and and so she has some a lot of education to me in terms of the challenges of leaving El Salvador and coming to here. The other insight I've got is I've been mentoring a boy for about 8 years uh whose mother is Mexican. he was born here. Um but he's got deep Latino heritage and it's sort of where I saw this just recently is that um when Dominica was playing the US team in the baseball and uh Venezuela was playing the US team in baseball, I said I know who you bar for today and and so and also um he he always I take him to the soccer whenever Mexican team here and he's also always got his Mexican jersey uh on that. So it's sort of just an insight into uh although he was born at Stanford Hospital, his mother came across the border and went back. Um he he hasn't forgotten these roots at all. And I think that's important that you're living in the two communities and giving to both on that. Um just in terms of the report itself, each year we start off thinking about what are we going to do different? What are we going to innovate in the report so that we've got something not just let's just turn the dial one more time. This time we decided we would add some qualitative responses to the the survey in terms of not just tick the boxes but what are some of the real challenges that you're facing and give us it in your words. And I think it's really important when you're uh getting information from entrepreneurs to not give them tick this box or tip that box because you're not getting insight into their own individual challenges because they're not all homogeneous. And so, uh, I've been chairman of the World Economic Forum Committee on Global Agenda Council and written multiple reports for the forum on entrepreneurship. And I've always insisted and each time we do a report, you do actual cases on the companies, interview the entrepreneurs so that you really sort of feel their highs and lows and and those type of things, which is part of what you're trying to do. And this is a program we put through both programs. It's a challenge in entrepreneurship. It's not easy. It's not anything that people go in there anticipating all the highs and lows on that. And a lot of times they say had I known then had I known now what I thought I knew at the start I'm not sure the path I would have chosen. And yet there's an inherent optimism in entrepreneurs that's necessary to go through and I just think I think but it's got to be grounded optimism. And I think that's part of what the programs we're trying to do here is get grounded reality in terms of what you do because that way you better allocate your resources and your and understand the really pivotal role of people in these organizations with that uh the innovations that we're trying to do uh in this one is a qualitative and also we added a whole section on venture capital and in the lieuteno community and and so with that what I'm going to Jennifer is going to come up and introduce Rosalie and Marlene. Uh Jose um was the third part in the report. Unfortunately, he's not here today, but I just wanted to say working with the team in terms of um Rosalie and Marleene and Deb especially in terms of uh Deb's doesn't like to be given publicity on this, but um she is really an incredible member of our project on that. So, with that, I'll pass it on to Jennifer. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome. Are you all ready for some research >> to dig into the data? Well, good morning. Great to see you all here. My name is Jennifer Garcia. I am the COO for Elban. What a pleasure to have a full room. I know we have some folks um also in our overflow room. I just want to share a little bit about some context of of our soul summit. It's been over a decade now that we have been doing data around or doing research around Latino entrepreneurship. And at the beginning when we started those were merely data points, a point in time. And as we gone over years, year overyear, what we've begun to see is consistent themes. And so now it is no longer a data point, a point in time. It has really been the numbers that can contribute to a strong foundation and narrative for Latino entrepreneurship. Um my hope is that we go as we go through the discussion around the 11th annual state of Latino entrepreneurship is that each of you are challenged with one question and that is how will I respond to the strategic significance of Latino business owners. So I get to sit here today with two amazing uh leaders here. Rosel Dr. Dr. Dr. Rosalia Sarate who is the author of the report. She is also the associate director of the Stamford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative and Dr. Marlene Rosco who is uh CEO of Stratified Insights. She has also authored several of our past soul report. So great knowledge and insight from these two women. Roselia, I want to start with you. Let's dig in. [applause] Let's dig in a little bit and tell us what are we seeing in this year's report and what are some of the trending themes that have been consistent over the years. >> Yeah, so absolutely. So, at a high level, what we're seeing is that Latino owned businesses are not only growing faster than white-owned businesses across firm and job creation and revenue, which we've previously seen, but they're also driving more net new businesses and jobs than any other major racial ethnic group in the US. So between 2017 and 2023, Latinoowned firms actually grew by 48% adding more than 180,000 new businesses while white-owned firms actually declined by 3% losing over 140,000 businesses. And we see the similar pattern with job creation where Latino owned businesses added 9 over 975,000 jobs, nearly a million jobs during this time period. But if we take a step back, what we're seeing is only a fraction of the potential. If Latinoowned businesses, let's say, had the same access to capital and opportunities to grow and generate revenue as their peers, they could potentially add more than$2 trillion dollars to the US economy. So, this isn't just about equity, but about national economic growth. >> Yeah, absolutely. I heard somebody say, "Wow." Uh, can you repeat that last opportunity that you mentioned? >> A $2.1 trillion opportunity. >> $2.1 trillion. [applause] Marlene, I think you probably have some insights to add to that because there has been a consistent theme over the years. Any any anything you would add? Yeah, so having worked on this report for a decade. I started when I was 10 years old. [laughter] I you know, one of the things that really stands out to me, it's not just that Latino uh owned businesses are growing. It's that they are growing consistently. We measure this growth and this growth is accelerating across major indicators and every year we fold in new census data as it becomes available and what we are finding is that it's this growth is not happening just in a period in time right this is as Jennifer mentioned this is now a trend um a trend line that has been building for years uh and it's also important to to note and double down on the fact that as this growth is accelerating there the gap the opportunity gap that Roselia mentioned is also growing. So what we're experiencing is momentum in in business growth but also this growing constraint that we really need to pay attention to. So said otherwise Latinos are punching above their weight here, right? They are um providing outsized economic returns. as it pertains to the data and the research. Um, we take we we put the survey out in the field in the summer, but this year you did a pulse survey at the beginning of the year in January. And what that does is it gives us more real time understanding of what is what is impacting business owners, what's on their mind uh right now. Tell us a little bit about what you found from that. >> Yes. So we're continuing to see shared top challenges amongst the groups like inflation, competition, and economic uncertainty, which you can read more about in the report. But one of the places where experiences diverge between the two groups is around immigration enforcement. And immigration enforcement is something that can impact businesses in several ways from workforce disruptions to reduced customer foot traffic leading to overall business instability. And so in 2025, we found that Latino businesses were three times more likely to report this as a top challenge compared to 5% of whiteowned businesses. And in our recent poll survey, more than one in three versus one in seven whiteowned businesses reported being negatively impacted by immigration enforcement, which I don't necessarily find surprising just considering what we're seeing in places like Los Angeles and Minnesota where immigration enforcement is disrupting entire local ecosystems. I want to ask you, Marlene, because you're down in Southern California in the LA area. Also, you have perspective from past reports where we've studied immigrant-owned businesses. What might you add to this challenges that business owners are reporting today? >> Yeah, so that that poll survey is very timely. When I think about or when I hear immigrant um immigration enforcement as being a challenge, this really comes into play in two ways. um on in the workforce and also with consumers. And on the workforce side of things, we've seen that in prior soul reports, Latino owned businesses, they're more likely to employ other Latinos and they're also more likely to have Latino leadership, right? So this so their workforce, their staff might be directly impacted um or they might be indirectly impacted, right, with their through their families and their communities. And then on the consumer side, what we're seeing is we're seeing measurable drops in economic activity. There's ongoing research that's um out of UCLA that is using cell phone data um and they're tracking the the 10 immigration rates that happened in the summer of last year in Los Angeles and they're finding that even in the the the days and weeks after those raids, foot traffic in business corridors remains low. So this is absolutely something that we need to continue to measure and quantify to talk about uh the destabilizing notion of immigration enforcement not just for individual immigrants but for small businesses for the workforce for local economies. I think one of the things that I find noteworthy is that in this report it not only shows the challenges and what we've identified in the past as capital and those continue to be true but those challenges are now evolving um where we see macro pressures we also see policy pressures impacting businesses of all types and even uniquely to the Latino community and Latino business owners as well. Let's move a little bit. In the in the report you studied this year, you zoomed in on state analysis and that gave you an understanding of when we look at states, what are the contributions that Latinos are making at a state level. What are the note not noteworthy takeaways that you would point to, Roselia? >> Yes. So, when we look at the four most populous states, so that's California, Texas, Florida, and New York. These states have the largest Latino and white populations and the most employer firms. And together, these states actually account for more than one-third of the US economy. And for Latinoowned businesses, they are driving net new firm creation in these major states, which means they're growing faster than white businesses in terms of number of firms. So in California and Florida, for example, between 2017 and 2023, we see that more than half of the new firms were actually Latino. And I found New York to be particularly interesting because that state lost more than 15,000 firms between 2017 and 2023, but Latinoowned firms offset roughly 40% of the state's net losses by adding over 6,000 firms. So meaning that without Latinos, there would have been much fewer new businesses, fewer jobs, and just less economic activity overall, especially in states like New York. Okay, so many of us in this room would probably recognize California, Texas, New York, Florida as Latino hubs. And so we might not be as surprised when we see this outpacing growth. But it's noteworthy to mention that we have found Latinos are outpacing white-owned businesses in 48 states. [applause] So you could say that differently that it's only in two states are we underperforming. Right? So it is no longer hubs. Uh it is really a a national trend here. I think the next question we would say is all right well where is this growth coming from? What are the sectors that are producing this growth? And what what would you say to that Roselia? Yeah. So, we're seeing that Latinos are growing across diverse sectors from tech to traditional industries like construction and hospitality. And this year, we found that one in four Latino owned businesses are tech companies. So, over 25%. That means that they're developing or selling software or hardware compared to 20% of white-owned businesses. And another section where they're seeing rapid growth is in construction. Latino owned businesses actually grew 86% between 2017 and 2023 while white businesses grew by just 2%. And why I find these two sectors particularly interesting is because of what we're seeing right now with tech growth especially AI. So AI is driving demand for new infrastructure from data centers to connectivity hubs and other facilities. And so to support that growth, construction and tech need to operate hand in hand. Um because one can't scale without the other and Latinos are expanding in both. Expanding in both expanding across many sectors. Show of hands. Who is who is building in tech right now? Just get a sense of there. 25% Latino businesses are building in tech. [applause] I do also want to emphasize this concept of construction growth here. I think when I look at what you mentioned in construction, it is probably the perfect example of a theme that we have seen in the in the sole reports in that business owners in construction are overindexing but they remain small. They tend to remain small on average. If we could get these construction companies fair access to contracts and to capital to grow at similar sizes, we would be adding 200 billion in revenue in construction alone. Now, let me tell you that's not just specific to construction. That is the theme across all sectors. So, there is a major opportunity when we think about um what how we benefit by growing Latinoowned businesses. Uh another interesting finding in the report is around international operations. 50% of Latino businesses operating internationally. Tell us a little bit about that story. >> Yeah, so we find that companies that operate internationally actually report higher medium profit margins than US-only firms and that's true for both groups. So operating internationally overall is good for the US economy. I mean, it can help businesses diversify markets and innovate faster as they're exposed to more diverse customers and competitive environments. And so, what we're seeing is that Latinos are leading the way in international expansion, operating in all regions of the world with nearly 50% operating internationally and often much earlier than their than their white counterparts. So, that tells us that they're not waiting to hit a certain milestone to go international. Instead, they are thinking strategically about growth from day one. And they're doing it profitably despite operating young and smaller firms and while also navigating that added complexity of foreign policies and regulations on top of what they're having to navigate in the US around regulations and other policy changes. And we have some other spotlights in the report that highlight how different entrepreneurs are navigating the landscape. So I invite you all to also take a look at that. Yeah, absolutely. And Marlene, just any thoughts that you would add to that? I know that past reports have also studied immigrant-owned businesses. So, imagine there's a correlation there. >> Absolutely. So, what's really powerful about the Stanford and Elban survey is that it's a large survey. It's a large sample. So, you're able to slice and dice the data in a number of ways to really understand and see who Latino entrepreneurs are. And prior soul reports and as have other research studies shown that immigrants are more likely to start businesses compared to US-born individuals. And so you know with im with immigration comes natural ties global ties and connections that I think are also fueling what we are seeing um that Rosalia shared. Our prior research has also showed that if you are an import business and or an export business, this is highly correlated to growth and scale. And so when you combine those two factors, it's a clear pathway to to growth. So what I'm hearing is one, it's a competitive advantage, but also it brings this added layer of complexity and perhaps making them more susceptible to international trade regulations, policies in today's world, you know, tariffs. So all of that comes you know when you put all of that together it is a much more complex environment for business owners. Let's move to one of the themes that we have talked about over the years and that is the persistent challenge of access to capital. Um we have studied that in different shapes uh throughout the course of of doing the sole report. Tell us a little bit, Roselia, what are we seeing this year and particularly how does that how has that challenge evolved as companies have grown? >> Yeah. So, one of the big takeaways is that as firms start seeking larger amounts of capital, that's where we start seeing more pronounced differences between the two groups. So, for example, when Latinos apply for larger loans or credit amounts, like over a million, only 22% of them receive the full amount they requested compared to 45% of white-owned businesses. So, that means that Latino entrepreneurs are getting their full funding at roughly half the rate of whiteowned businesses at a critical time when they're trying to grow. And now with the recent changes in the financial landscape that have occurred in the last year like the SBA loan requirements mandating 100% US ownership, we're seeing additional layers of challenges with Latino owned businesses. So they're being disproportionately in affected by these changes and they're starting they've stated that they've had to delay or scale back their growth as well, which so all of this could add to these compounding potential negative effects on their financing journey. Yeah, Marlene, thoughts on on the access to capital gap. >> I think it's important to emphasize what Rosalia just said. She said that nearly one quarter of Latino owned businesses that are scaled or generating a million dollars in annual revenue, which by many measures is a measure of success. These businesses are having a hard time accessing the capital that they need. And it is at this revenue threshold of between 1 million to five million where businesses really need that capital to go beyond their proof of concept and their initial traction to scale. Right? I mean this is where Elband's programming comes as an intervention. If you think about uh you know Jerry's exercise of closing your eyes and and and doubling your revenue and doubling your growth, this is really where where the dreaming happens in that$1 to5 million revenue. And if you're not getting the funding that you need, that's certainly going to stall some of that uh growth that we're seeing amongst that segment. >> Absolutely well said. Professor P uh Professor Foster alluded to this, but this is the first year in our report that we really dove deep into uh exploring the venture capital landscape and understanding where VC funding is flowing. And I do want to call out again what Rosalia mentioned that 26% of Latino owned businesses are in tech. So for us, it was extremely important to begin to understand and have a a deeper understanding around equity capital. Marlene, you led that segment for us. Any anything that you want to highlight for the audience here? Yeah. So, we know that one in four Latino businesses are in tech and we wanted to understand what their financing experience looks like and we did so by looking closely at their access to VC. We created a custom data database or data set to be able to look at this closely. And one of the biggest gaps that I want you to take away from that section of the report is that the biggest gap for Latino startups are at the early stages. And you know, there was a lot of VC activity happening in 2021. Um, and Latino founders were able to get in on some of those deals, but since that peak in the VC ecosystem for Latinos at the preede and early stage, their funding has declined by 80%. And this has incredible ramifications downstream if we're not funding Latino startups. Um, so that's something that I want you to take away from that section. And of course, we can't talk about tech without talking about AI. And so what this figure here shows is the share of Latino startups in AI. Um, and the the red line is their share of deal value. So what this is showing you is that Latinos are starting businesses in AI, that blue trend line, but their value share value is lower, right? So they're receiving smaller checks. uh in a perfect world those lines would be would be overlapping and you would see parody in terms of activity and also capital allocation but that's that's not the case today. I find this to be one of the um the biggest tensions in the report in that we are seeing Latinos with higher representation, higher productivity in the tech space, but we're not seeing the equivalent access to capital in this in this area as well, particularly in the preede and seed. And to me what that hap what that's showing is we are at a potential of a shrinking economy because effectively what we're doing is we are suffocating 25% of the fastest growing segment of business creators if they're not getting access to funding at this level which I then point to the question again for all of you in the VC space for all of you that are investors and check writers how will you respond to the strategic significance of Latino entrepreneurship. We are coming to the end of our discussion here with our panelist. We just had, you know, this is just a teaser for you all. So, I encourage you to go back and to read the report, but as we come to a close, I want to give our panelists one final thought. Marlene, I'll start with you and then Rosalia. So, this report's been ongoing for 11 years. And one of the things that I'm most proud of is that this body of work has created a consistent data source so that we can better understand who Latino entrepreneurs are. We went from having very limited insights into Latino entrepreneurship to now being able to track growth and outcomes and trends, emerging trends like AI um and and tariffs. And so, you know, what this what this research has really done is create a shared evidence base that really allows us to move from awareness and understanding who Latino entrepreneurs are and what their needs are and move into action. >> Very good, Roselia. >> Yes. So, so we know that Latinos make up roughly one in five Americans. They are the youngest demographic group and among the fastest growing groups, which is also reflected in the metrics we shared today. and they're increasingly launching tech companies going internationally and they demonstrate a growth oriented mindset and so I think a key question that we can also walk away with is how can different support systems from financial to policy systems keep pace with this rapid growth because even with the structural challenges from COVID to just the policy changes now Latino entrepreneurs are adapting and at times emerging even stronger so again investing in their success isn't just about equity but it's a 2.1 1 trillion economic opportunity. >> Very good. And what I would say from the Elband perspective, somebody's right on time, I'm wrapping up, is our solution to catalyze growth and to overcome challenges is through the ecosystem. By you being here today, you are part of that ecosystem. There are business owners in the room. There's capital providers in the room. There's subject matter experts, other ecosystem builders. It is important that you are here and that you are active and that you are contributing to the ecosystem. I want to emphasize our economic opportunity. If we can find, fund and support these businesses to grow and scale, just imagine what could happen. So with that, I want to say thank you to our panelists and thank you all for being here. [applause] I'm not going to say or again. Okay. Um, man, it is our really distinct pleasure to have two incredible leaders of our country. Um, the first I'm going to talk about is is John Lean. He's the 13th president of Stanford University, serving here since August of 2024. He was previously the dean of the business school here uh from 16 to 24. And that's where we got to know him well and he got to know Elban and Slay very very well. So, he's an incredible supporter. Um, and so we're just very very grateful to him for his his continued support. He's the first alum from Stanford since 1968 to serve as president. Um, so he understands all this well. We were just talking backstage about dress. He goes, uh, business business casual here is as long as you wear pants, it doesn't matter. [laughter] But uh anyway, he's a graduate of Stanford, uh Oxford, MIT, incredible credentials. We are so fortunate to have him as the president of this university. Please welcome John Leven. [applause] Then our special guest is an executive with JP Morgan Chase, a career of 19 years, 19 plus years. Um, she's originally from Nicaragua and has had an immigrant journey herself. Okay, how many you got a wes over here? Okay, [applause] but she when we asked Jamie Diamond, you know, who would be good because he couldn't make it, who would be a great representative, he goes, Garolina. Garolina Janachelli and she is the current global head of diversity, opportunity, and inclusion at JP Morgan Chase. She oversees all the BRGs and executive forms as well and and just is a real strong proponent of the kinds of things that we're doing here at Stanford and with Elband. So with that, please welcome Karolina Janichielli. [applause] >> Okay, so it's uh it's great to have a chance to to be here and and Carolina, thank you for for joining us. Um Victor, thanks for that lovely introduction. In fairness, I I was congratulating Victor on his wonderful Stamford tie actually. So that that definitely fits into the attire, acceptable attire at Stamford. [laughter] Uh so um we're going to have a chance to to to have a discussion uh with Karolina and um really pleased that that you're here. I I thought maybe just to start off just give you a chance to introduce yourself. had a long career at at JP Morgan that has spanned sort of every aspect of one of the world's great financial institutions. Maybe just introduce yourself, talk a little bit about how you went through through that career and how you've ended up in this new uh global role. >> Thank you. Yes, it's a pleasure to be here. And I don't usually uh correct introductions that make me appear older. Um, but I've actually been at the firm uh close to 30 years. So, it it has been a long time [laughter] and um [applause] and yeah, like uh President Levan uh was saying, I I have had many different roles at the firm. um leaving Nicaragua as a small child, growing up in Costa Rica. Uh I went to an American school there and then on to Babson College, which is a business focused school in Welssley, Massachusetts. And right out of Babson, I was recruited by uh the firm JP Morgan Chase to join uh the investment bank. So I started out uh in uh mergers and acquisitions, debt capital markets. I covered uh a few different industry groups uh essentially providing access to capital and and and M&A uh to Latin American companies. Um I then transitioned over to the buy side of the market uh when I moved over to the private bank where I spent 20 years working with wealthy families and individuals uh helping them preserve and grow their wealth. Um, and along the way helping build out that business, uh, I built the high net worth business for Latin America as well as a few other initiatives there. Um, and it was, uh, during the pandemic in 2020, um, when I was hitting my 25-year mark at the firm that I received a phone call, uh, to see if I might be interested in leading the firm's $ 30 billion commitment to help close the racial wealth gap. Um and um as a as an immigrant, as a woman, uh having personally experienced the very real obstacles that exist when you are not, you know, first generation to go to college or to be in corporate America, uh to actually know how the system works, to know the unspoken rules of, you know, the capital markets and and and and certainly, you know, Wall Street. Uh I felt that it was a duty and an honor to to take that on. Um so I did and um I ran that for four years. Um and then went back to help build one of our wealth businesses. Um but a few months ago was again tapped on the shoulder to uh have a conversation about re uh leading our global diversity, opportunity and inclusion practice at the firm. And um again, similar thought process, right? Um probably not one of the most coveted uh roles these days, but no less important. Uh and I think that the decisions we make today will have ramifications for for many many years to come. And um you know, I was taught to um you know, run towards the fire. and um and so I'm actually uh having a great time uh doing this work at the firm. Um it really is about casting a wide net and making sure that we are making the firm a place where anybody regardless of their background can thrive if they are talented, if they are willing to put in the the sweat equity which never goes away. AI won't make the sweat equity go away. Spoiler alert. Um there's no substitute for hard work. Um and um and also if you believe in what we're doing because we we do have, you know, we we take our principles uh very seriously at the firm. We believe that we have a role to play in making the world a better place. Um and that obviously taking care of our clients and being there for them in good times and bad uh is is our primary purpose. Uh and of course we can only achieve that if we have diverse skill sets, perspectives uh helping us make better decisions for our clients and obviously uh bankers that represent the communities uh that we serve. [applause] Carolina, so I want to get to your current role and some of the things you're doing, but I want to just go back to your background for one minute. I was really struck and we were just talking about it backstage that you you studied business and finance in school but also art history. >> Yes. >> And um I'm curious one how why you I you did integrate those because you wrote a master's thesis about David Rockefeller's art collection at Chase Bank. So that was an interesting intersection. But I I'm curious how that informed your career and maybe what if it says anything about the skill set that people need in in today's world. >> Um I believe it does. So the decision I I didn't have a premonition or anything like that. It wasn't so strategic. It was really pure love. Like literally for the love of art, uh I um decided to bypass an MBA um and get a master's degree in art history. uh which you know I did on a part-time basis because I had a full-time job. I was actually covering Brazil at the time. So those long flights were were all my my master's degree was sort of read and written in on planes back and forth to to Brazil and the southern cone. Um but I um I discovered I grew up in a home of art collectors. My parents collected art, but they never talked about it. It was just everywhere and I just sort of saw it and and I just kind of took it for granted. And then when I came to United States, I actually discovered art history. And the fact that when you look at a painting, there are like so many layers of meaning. It's like a time capsule of the place and time uh of what was going on in the world when the artist um you know conceived of that idea, how it was created. And it's also a biographical time capsule of the artist, you know, themselves. And so it it's just I just thought it was the most beautiful way of actually understanding humanity and history um through the lens of art. Um and over the years um art has actually helped me really understand uh that there are so many different ways to look at the same object. And if you think about Picasso and why he just changed the game, it was how he actually captured that simultaneously on one plane. Like if you look at a cubist work of art, you are looking, let's say, at a at this table with these flowers and this bottle. On the same plane, you might see 20 different angles or points of view of this of this very these objects right here. And that just stuck with me as like, wait, I can apply that to everything. I can apply that to how I respond to an opportunity with a client. I can res I can apply that to how I lead and how I understand the different people on my team. Um, you know, this is how the world works. There are so many different points of view. Uh, and they're all valid. The question is what are you solving for? and you know what's your process to at least determine you know the three or four that may uh end up being you know the the direction you pick. So it has completely shaped my thinking. Uh and uh I do think that in an age where AI is essentially you know transforming the workplace where leaders are going to lead people and agents. We were talking about that um these inherently human qualities will be even more important. the ability to be discerning, the ability to really understand problem statements um with a lot more depth, uh to know what to do with information. I I I think you know information is is now um you know abundant. The deficit is in trusted discernment and really understanding the so what of all of that. Um, so I think art has completely shaped how I approached that. >> I'd love that. Um, so now you've come into this new role. You're you're three months in. You're you you're in a one of the senior leadership positions of one of the world's most important companies. It's a time when there's been a big backlash in the in the US against DEI programming. And yet there's lots of concern about inequality and access to economic opportunity here and in many of the other countries that you operate in. >> H how are you thinking about your priorities for your role and what you're going to focus on and how you're going to sort of define the the vision for the the firm in the next couple of years? >> That's a really important question. So I'll I'll I'll kind of unpack that in and kind of I think there's two parallel conversations here. The first is to actually share like what DOI means to us and what it doesn't mean. Um for us the work is about reducing barriers not standards. Uh and the precondition for all of that is to really believe in the in the merits of inclusion. So inclusion is the is the vessel. It's the tip of the spear. It's really understanding the value of inviting different voices around the table, of being open-minded and letting more ideas in versus less. It's recognizing that different skill sets applied in different scenarios can drive better outcomes and lead to more intelligence and better decisions. So, the premise is inclusion. Once you have inclusion, diversity can happen. You can't have it the other way. Uh and diversity simply represents this desire to cast a really really wide net because nobody has cornered the market on good ideas. You need uh to to really hear from from different cognitive um skill sets to get to the right answer. And so that's what it means to me. It it's interesting because the title is DOI. I actually primarily talk about inclusion and the and the power of diversity. Uh opportunity just refers to our desire to make opportunities available. Um you know broadly um but we don't solve for outcomes. We solve for the top of the funnel and then you know once you have that diverse playing field of course completely based on merit and qualifications people will you know move ahead get the job get the promotion you know etc. Um so so that's one thing. Now if I translate those principles to you know what Elban and and Slay and and and the work that this wonderful organization does to really understand the state of Hispanic entrepreneurship. You say okay so we have a scenario here where we have uh a disproportionately small percentage of capital flowing to Latino Hispanic businesses. How do we how do we approach that? Um and I think uh the the principles of casting a wide net and lowering barriers not standards applies completely. Right? So as a firm, our approach is to provide access to resources, tools, guidance, advice to help small business owners and entrepreneurs navigate the different pathways to capital which might look differently and actually do look different for every business at different points in their development. Uh and again in a world where trust is at a deficit, I think the most important thing that our firm can bring to the table to this problem is trusted advice from uh our bankers and our specialists and and I will say to every business owner here and and listening, the most important thing you can do for your growth o over the years is to actually identify people that you trust and build relationships. Again, AI and technology are not going to replace the power of trusted relationships. Relationships are everything in business. Product, services, they exist everywhere. I mean, I'd like to think JP Morgan Chase has a wonderfully differentiated products, but at the end of the day, um, it's knowing how to use them, when they apply, and what is the right what what lever to pull at the right time depending on on where you are. Um, and then the the other conversation we were having that that I think matters, you know, going back to this problem statement about access to capital is, and I do think your research does this to to an important degree, is to sort of not just talk about um broad-based difficulties of of Latino owned businesses to access capital, but actually doubleclick further to actually understand the types of businesses that we're talking about because There are certain types of risk capital like venture capital for instance that are going to be much better aligned or more you know realistically aligned to businesses in certain industries like innovation economy like fast growing accelerated growth high return businesses um so it's not just that they're Hispanicowned I would say you know what are the actual industries and what are the barriers in those specific areas um because I I I do think you know interrogating the problem statement uh further will reveal um you know better pathways to to how we address this problem. >> I that's a you you picked up on actually many of the I think the key parts of the the sleigh program that we've that we've run here for years. the the everyone just saw the research about um the both the the depth of of Latinoowned entrepreneurial businesses in the United States. the the breadth of it and the the growth but also the smaller scale and um it's deeply imprinted in my brain by Jerry Pores who started the program here that the our scaling program educational which many people in the audience of went went through one of the big themes is doing business with each other and one of the [clears throat] points of pride in that program is how many people end up doing business across the the program or across cohorts of the of the program. Let let me ask you a little more about the scale the scaling the the folks who come to the SLE program often they the the the reason they've ended up coming to a program at Stamford is they really have an ambition not just to maintain their business but they want to grow it >> and are there things that you've seen over time or JP Morgan has seen over time that have been keys to success for small businesses that have successfully been able to grow and maybe many of these businesses business that that we get into this program are not the venturebacked business. Some of them might be, but many of them are not the venture-backed Sand Hill Road businesses. They're businesses that have to rely on loans and other forms of capital to grow. Are there What do you view as the what advice would you have for those folks? >> I think that regardless of your business, the more tech forward your operating model is, uh, the more likely you will be to be able to scale your business. and and I think that's sort of like mission critical and we see this um through our own efforts to build an inclusive supply chain at the firm. So we spend a lot of time um with smaller businesses to help them plug into our supply chain. And what we find is that a lot of these um very well, you know, really good businesses are sort of kept out of these sort of larger mandate, higher scale um contracts because, you know, they might not have the right resources to be cyber security certified or or have the right level of insurance, etc. Um and and so um and often times these are needs that have technological solutions, you know, that underpin. Um I also think it it has to do with how uh you engage with your market and and consumers. I mean, depending on the business. So um I I do think that whether you know it's it's it's a business that's in you know retail or fashion or transportation um certainly you know innovation economy businesses there's sort of you know tech forward to begin with but the the more integrated technology solutions are to scale to run efficiencies uh I think that is a a critical element uh you know to scale in in today's world >> how much are you I mean we're at Stanford. We have a lot of students here who are thinking about careers and and kind of what are the skills that they're going to need to be successful uh in the future. You're one of the largest employers in the in the in the country. >> How are you thinking at about the the the future workplace skills that are needed and and and both in general and in particular in your job looking at having an inclusive workforce. That's a great question. Um, actually we have, you know, a fourpillar sort of strategy in in global diversity, opportunity, and inclusion. And one of our core areas of focus is how we preserve and strengthen a culture of inclusion throughout this AI transformation. And we have more questions than answers, you know, right now. uh and and I um we are at the table with our key decision makers to put this issue front and center as we go on our on our sprints to uh you know transform essentially how we deliver our products, our services to our clients. Um so having AI governance and being intentional about that and having the right voices around the table matters. um and making the distinction between voices and votes, right? So, not we're not going to make these decisions by consensus because we need to move very very quickly, but those decision makers need to be very very approximate to like different points of view. So, we're solving for that. Um and you know, these are conversations we're having at at the operating committee level. Uh we're also focusing on what we can control because I don't think anybody can claim they know how this thing's going to look like exactly in like you know six months or 12 months. I mean this is this is how quickly you know uh things are moving. Um but what do we do what do we know? We know that the more transparent we are the better. So we are very transparent with our employees about potential impacts. Uh we're also very proactively providing resources and training to empower employees to integrate AI solutions into their day-to-day work and more the the work to be done essentially comes down to how are we able to create an operating model where more employees are able to participate in the transformation. every time there is a massive transformation and I think this would apply to everyone in this room um you know there's like 10 to 15% of the population that just dives in head first there are the architects they're leading the way and those folks you know are going to continue to lead um there's sort of a middle group that kind of waits and sees and stands back and sort of takes stocks of what's going on and they might participate you know to some degree And then there's the skeptics, right? The 10% that sort of dig in their feet. I've been doing this this way forever. It works for me. It's why would why will it stop working now? Um, you certainly don't want to be in that 10%. And you probably should try to not be in that sort of middle belly either. Uh, and and we're proactively having these conversations with our employees. Um, so we're transparent about the fact that things are changing. Um, and we're just empowering people as much as we can in an equitable way. And then of course there's sort of the table stakes like like seeking out biases in in models and things like that which we which been which we have been doing for many many years. But the pace of you know new uh you know development will require that we sort of up the ante and how we do that as well. you've had a career where you you came into to a large organization and you've spent 30 years, you've been all over the organization and now you're at the very senior level. Do you think many people in the audience have had a a different career trajectory where where they've gone off in an entrepreneurial path? And I'm curious if you were we were to be having this discussion in say another 30 years um when many of our students will be at your your career stage. How do you think that that will look? How how do you think they'll be less likely to to go on your career trajectory and more likely to go on an entrepreneurial career trajectory? Do you think it'll be kind of similar to the last years? Do you see any changes ahead in the for the >> oh my gosh >> workforce? That is that is the question. Huh. It is a hard question. I'm that's why I'm curious to get your answer to it. [laughter] >> Well, it it is um look, this is this is just an opinion. Obviously, I don't I I do not claim to know the answer for sure or have a crystal ball. Um I I think that entrepreneurship will I I don't think entrepreneurship's going away, right? I I think it's it's human nature and if anything there are going to be uh there business owners and entrepreneurs will be more enabled to to bring stuff to market you know with technology. I mean technology is just a there is a democratization process happening with with AI too. I mean with cloud code on your phone you know the the assets the the things that you can create the more you use it you know it's it's amazing. Um, and I've, you know, I've interviewed business owners that have one human employee and like 12 agents and they are running a fully functioning business. Um, so I I I I think that being an entrepreneur is not going to go away. Um, I do think that the skill sets that will really matter are actually those that bring us closer to our innately human traits >> because human nature is not going away. And I think the more you participate in, you know, uh, activities and situations that help you build human connections, um, that that sort of, um, develop empathy, develop curiosity, um, really gets you close to problem statements. I think that's the key thing there. you know, a a solution. When you don't have clarity for your problem statements, you're going to have a bunch of solutions looking for problems and and that's, you know, that's not going to help anyone. So I think the, you know, the closer and the more we embrace the things like art, I would argue uh or literature that really uh double down on those uniquely human experiences, I think the better position we will be to leverage the tools out there and technology to fix real problems because we'll always have to fix real problems. they're just going to look different and some of those real problems will be solved by entrepreneurs, some will be solved by companies. Um I do also I'm starting to see research that AI has increased productivity and so people are just trying to do more with the same amount of time. It's not like no one's doing less because they're more productive. It's like oh this is I can do this faster so now I get to do these three things. So, you know, I think the jury is still out honestly about how ultimately the productivity gains will will shape. Um, but I think that what we know for sure is that embracing AI uh and more than just as a passing interest, but like really developing a decent skill set with these tools will only help whether you work in a company or you're an entrepreneur. I love that answer. And uh there's a famous um just to pick up on that, there's a one of the famous studies that was done here at um at uh at the Stanford Business School um maybe 25 years ago by a faculty member named Eddie Lazir was was a was a study about what is it what are the skills that are distinctive to entrepreneurs and and it was a study of Stanford students actually that that he used to get at this and and The the interesting thing about this study is what he found in this study was that entrepreneurs are generalists above and beyond anything else. They have to be able to solve all kinds of problems. And so what he showed with the students was they tended to be the students who taken the broadest array of different classes. They had they you know they they might have some deep knowledge in a few places but they were really good at having breath. they could that allowed them to be adaptable to solve different interested problems to be able to interact with other people to solve sales, finance, right? Whatever the problem was and that was the the the distinctive characteristic of of of of entrepreneurs and just hearing you talk makes me think that maybe that's a going to be a distinctive character of everyone who's successful in the workplace going forward. They're going to be able to span the these different domains as you've done in in your career. So, um thank you so much for this introduction. Thank you for the work you're doing. >> Thank you. Thank you for having me. [applause] Thank you. Let's give another round of applause for President Leven Karovina Janachelli. [applause] How many of you are fired up right now? [applause] >> I just want I have a few remarks and I want to make sure that you are set and ready for the second half of today. Uh a few thank yous. Professor Foster, thank you for spearheading and leading the research alongside uh Rosalia Sarate. We wonderfully uh appreciate the opportunity to work with you both. Deb Whitman, I want to thank you and your team for helping put this entire event together. Um, here's a couple notes for all of you in the audience because you're probably asking what is next. Um, on your phone, you can download download the app that will guide you through all of the panel discussions as well as the location where you can find them. If you're not ready to download an app, you could flip over your name badge. There's a QR code that will show you the same information. You can get um all the details behind the next panel discussions. We're just getting started. The next couple hours this afternoon are going to be fantastic conversations. We've curated speakers and topics that we know are relevant to this uh to this audience, to business owners. So, you don't want to miss out. In addition, we are closing the day with our sole gayla this evening. So, we have a few more seats left. If you have I see the phone's going up. You're telling me you're the ones that um have not got your ticket for the soul summit, for the soul gayla, feel free to join us tonight. There's a QR code that you can um register there. Lastly, Arthuro mentioned this in his comments. If you are a business owner who knows a business owner that wants to grow and scale their company, we welcome recommendations. You are our mouthpiece. You are our extended marketing team. So, we lean on you to help us reach those those companies that need to be part of our network. And so, we re we welcome any referrals or recommendations there. With that, that brings us to a close to our formal programming for the 11th annual state of Latino Entrepreneurship Summit. Would you just stand up and give a big applause to the rest of the room because it is all of you that makes it possible. Thank you everyone. [applause] [applause] And real quick, real quick, we have about an hour and a half of lunch. There are box lunches. We have 450 box lunches that you can purchase in Arbuckle. Um, you want to be one of those 450 people. So feel free to grab lunch, enjoy networking throughout campus. Thank you everyone. >> [music]

The 11th Annual State of Latino Entrepreneurship (SOLE) Summit, held on Wednesday, March 25, at Stanford GSB, will bring together the nation’s leading voices in business, research, and capital to unveil the latest findings from the annual State of Latino Entrepreneurship Study. Hosted by Stanford University Graduate School of Business and the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN), this premier convening gathers 1,000+ attendees, including business owners, capital providers, corporate leaders, policymakers, researchers, and community builders. This event is free and open to all. Register here (virtual and in-person options available): https://bit.ly/SOLE-2026