It is not generally known that Latinas represent the fastest growing entrepreneurial sector in the U. S. business community. According to the Center for Women’s Research, Latina entrepreneurs are starting businesses at a rate that is fully six times that of the national average.

According to the latest U.S. Bureau of the Census report (2002), there are 540,909 Latina owned businesses in the United States and another 111,287 Latina businesses jointly owned with a male partner. Yet it has not been easy for consumers or other businesses to identify and contact them by City or State, that is, until now.

The Hispanic Business Women’s Alliance (HBWA) has just launched a new, interactive Online Directory of Latina Business Owners and Professionals at www.latinamarketplace.com that will help Internet shoppers easily find and do business with Latina Business Owners and Professionals in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, registered in the Directory.

The Online Directory of Latina Business Owners and Professionals will help facilitate the process of linking persons wishing to business with Latina business owners. As more and more companies are registered as a result of HBWA’s collaborative efforts with local Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and Latina organizations so will the value of this important marketing tool grow.

Until now, most Latina entrepreneurs and professionals listed in the Directory did not have a presence in the Internet. Latina owned start-ups now have the opportunity to market their products or services via the Internet in an easily accessible and attractive format. Internet shoppers and firms wanting to do business with them can quickly locate Latina owned companies by business category (NAICS Code), product/service key word, company name, street address, City, State, and Zip Code. In addition, shoppers can find the Latina business via a Map Locator.

Non-Hispanic business owners seeking to penetrate the rapidly growing U.S. Hispanic market, expected to reach $1 trillion by 2010, can utilize the new online Directory to identify potential Latina suppliers, clients or strategic partners.

Lourdes Aponte-Rosario is President of Hispanic Business Women's Alliance an international, online alliance of Hispanic women entrepreneurs that collaborate with each other to help grow their businesses. She is also publisher of the Online Directory of Latina Business Owners and Professionals. Ms. Aponte-Rosario is a past recipient of the prestigious U.S. Small Business Administration Women in Business National Champion Award.