At the heart of Angel Leon‘s presentation is the mission of PROSPERA: to empower entrepreneurs, particularly within the Hispanic community, to start, sustain, and grow their businesses. This nonprofit organization has seen exponential growth over the past three years, expanding its reach beyond Florida to North Carolina and Georgia. The unique business model of PROSPERA, which offers all services at no cost to business owners, underscores a commitment to community prosperity and sustainable job creation.
A Comprehensive Suite of Services
PROSPERA‘s approach to supporting entrepreneurs is comprehensive, covering every aspect of business development from inception to expansion. Angel Leon detailed several key services, including:
– Bilingual Business Seminars: Addressing the educational needs of the community, PROSPERA offers seminars primarily in Spanish, covering critical topics like tax preparation and best practices for business operations.
– Business Consulting and Advisory Services: One-on-one sessions and BASE (Business Advisory Services) provide personalized guidance, leveraging diagnostic tools to identify and overcome business challenges.
– Access to Capital: Leon’s favorite aspect, this service focuses on connecting businesses with banks and financial institutions, facilitating loans and financial support through a meticulous vetting process.
The Ecosystem of Support
A recurring theme in Leon’s presentation is the ecosystem of support PROSPERA has cultivated. This network includes partnerships with banks, financial institutions, and other organizations committed to business development. By acting as a bridge between entrepreneurs and these resources, PROSPERA ensures that even those new to the business world have access to the capital and services they need to thrive.
Personal Dedication and Impact
Angel Leon‘s journey from a 32-year career in banking to a business owner and mentor adds a layer of authenticity and empathy to his work with PROSPERA. His understanding of the challenges entrepreneurs face, combined with his passion for helping others succeed, shines through in his presentation. The success stories he mentions, though unspecified, speak to the tangible impact PROSPERA has had on individuals and the community at large.
Conclusion
Angel Leon‘s presentation at the Doral Business Forum serves as a powerful testament to the work of PROSPERA in empowering Hispanic and small business owners. Through a combination of comprehensive services, a supportive ecosystem, and personal dedication, PROSPERA is making a significant impact on the economic landscape of Florida and beyond. As the organization looks to the future, its commitment to community prosperity and sustainable job creation remains unwavering, promising continued growth and success for the entrepreneurs it serves.
Transcript
Nonprofit organizations in the state of Florida have been growing exponentially for the last three years. We are now not only expanding in Florida but also in North Carolina and Georgia, helping small and Hispanic business owners start, sustain, or grow their businesses. We have a unique business model to empower entrepreneurs.
We will delve more into our services and resources so you can see how we leverage our investments from Publix, the public sector, and the private sector to bring these resources and services to our companies and business owners.
Our mission is to help Spanish-owned businesses achieve community prosperity.
Our unique service model strives to increase the number of sustainable jobs in the state of Florida. By helping small businesses grow and expand, we operate as a full 501(c)(3) organization, which means that everything we offer is at no cost to the business owners or to someone who wants to start a business.
We offer various services and resources. The first one is our business seminars in Spanish. Although we do have them in English, about 1% of our educational programming is in Spanish. Prior to COVID-19, most of our seminars were conducted in person. However, due to the pandemic, we were closed for about a year and shifted to virtual programming, which has remained to a certain extent due to ongoing skepticism about attending in-person events.
We host these seminars weekly. For instance, we had one yesterday on taxes, where I invited a CPA service provider to present best practices for tax season and how to prepare for taxes.
Besides that workshop, we offer business consulting. This involves one-on-one sessions where we learn about the client and their business, identify challenges, and use our diagnostic tools to help overcome these challenges.
Another service is our business advisory services, also known as BASE, which are essentially subcontracted services. Many clients think of financial grants as direct money, but in reality, it is money provided in the form of services.
It’s indirect. We have service providers that we vet and subcontract to provide our business owners with these services, including business plans. We offer two types of business plans: one for access to capital, which is often required by the SBA for businesses less than a year or two years old, to present their projections and metrics; and another for operations. Besides that, we also offer marketing and sales plans, which we consider the top of the line for our business, known as Brethren Services.
We provide accounting assessments, legal assessments by attorneys, accounting assessments by CPAs, branding, and social media support, helping you set up one or two platforms. We mention that we have procurement readiness, especially for doing business with the government, and this is one of the grants that we provide information on. We assist you with some of the initial hurdles.
These are some of the grants that we provide to our business owners and help them with on a daily basis. I won’t go into detail today, but essentially, we have a technical assistance committee that meets once a month to review and approve these grants. After approval, you come back to us, and we’ll go through the process of selecting a service provider for your grant. It’s that simple.
Finally, there’s access to capital, which is my favorite part. I was in banking for 32 years, a long time. It’s one of my passions, even to this day. I’m also a business owner myself, so I’ve been on both sides of the fence.
I’ve experienced the corporate world and entrepreneurship, so I understand the sleepless nights. Thankfully, those days are behind me, but it took me 20 years to get it right. There are many factors that play into being a business owner, but we try to help you take it to the next level. I have many success stories, though I can’t share them all now.
I’ve seen clients move from significant losses to incredible gains within a year. I’ve been with Perspective for about eight years and have seen it all. When it comes to access to capital, we identify what you need and work with centers and many collaborators you see here today to help you achieve your goals.
We work closely with them. It’s an ecosystem here to help you. If there’s anything I want you to take away today, it’s to make sure you take advantage of the resources and services available here. Visit our table, get to know us, and learn how we can assist you.
There’s always a way. If we can’t help you, we can always refer you to someone who can. One of the things I love most is seeing someone start from zero, struggle, and then succeed, achieving net profit and great sales. It brings me great satisfaction.
So, if you’re looking for access to capital, come to us. We work with many banks and financial institutions, such as Ascendus, the I Foundation, the Miami Foundation, and many others. I’ve established relationships with many banks, so we’ll do the initial vetting for you. In other words, we’ll conduct the underwriting to see if you qualify. If you do, there are three factors I always discuss with my clients.
First, we’ll determine if you qualify for the loan. This is important, so you don’t go from bank to bank, pulling credit reports and lowering your credit score. Although many banks now do soft pulls, the best way is how we handle it internally.
We’ll look at your financials and decide, first, if you qualify; second, how much you qualify for; and third, where I can place you to have the best probability of getting approved. It may not be for the amount you hoped for, but we can negotiate conditions. Maybe not $50,000, but perhaps $25,000 or $35,000. I’m familiar with most of our banking partners and financial institutions.
That’s it. I won’t take up more of your time, but please support our mission. Donate, become an annual funder, participate in special events, or volunteer. Help spread the word that we’re here and here to stay. We’ve been around for 33 years, which is very important.
Please feel free to reach out to me. I’m here to help you.
Thank you very much.