HARTFORD — More than 250 entrepreneurs, policymakers, and civic leaders gathered at the Hartford Marriott Downtown for the Hispanic Federation’s annual CRECER: Connecticut Latino Business Expo. The single-day summit in September served as a targeted forum to help Latino-owned small businesses scale operations, build professional networks, and navigate persistent gaps in institutional capital.
The event underscored the accelerating impact of Latino commerce on the state’s broader economic fabric. Organizers noted that while the expo specifically convened regional leaders for panel sessions, it fits into a broader initiative that delivered skills-building workshops to more than 400 entrepreneurs over the past year.
Diana Caba, vice president of community and economic development for the Hispanic Federation, emphasized that CRECER is designed to help entrepreneurs transition from surviving to thriving by connecting them with free institutional resources and peer networks.
Addressing structural economic realities, Hispanic and Latino residents comprise up to 19% of Connecticut’s population, yet nearly 70% of Latino entrepreneurs rely on personal savings due to limited traditional commercial lending and administrative hurdles. To counter this, the expo featured La Marqueta, enabling 20 local Latino-owned enterprises to pitch directly to regional buyers.
Tangible impact is demonstrated by Windsor-based Energy Efficiencies Solutions (EES), founded by Latina entrepreneur Leticia Colon de Mejias. EES evolved into a leading energy conservation firm—winning the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Connecticut Minority Owned Business of the Year—and completed upgrades for over 14,000 households.
With roughly 90% of Connecticut’s Hispanic-owned firms operating without a payroll footprint, scaling micro-enterprises remains critical. Backed by partners like the U.S. Small Business Administration, events like CRECER continue providing the technical frameworks required for long-term commercial sustainability.