Supporting San Antonio’s Hispanic Business Community
As San Antonio’ largest public university and a Hispanic Serving Institution, UTSA serves as a driver of economic prosperity for the city.
Part of this responsibility includes focused efforts to help grow and support the city’s Hispanic business community for the benefit of all its citizens.
Supporting Hispanic Small Businesses
Based at the Downtown Campus, UTSA’s Institute for Economic Development (IED)—and particularly its Small Business Development Center (SBDC)—provide a wide variety of programs to support Hispanic-owned small businesses in San Antonio.
The IED and SBDC partner with key stakeholders to identify and refer potential businesses that could benefit from the programs and services offered, including the Westside Development Corporation, Southside First Economic Development Council, and San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside.
To further its reach to Hispanic-owned small businesses, the IED and SBDC offer some of their business development training workshops in Spanish on topics such as Iniciar Inteligentemente and Fundamentos de Google AdWords.
Approximately one-third of the SBDC’s small business clients are Hispanic-owned, and the university is continually exploring new ways to increase the number of minority-owned businesses served.
UTSA’s COVID Business Recovery Accelerator is a no-cost service to help small businesses in Bexar County and the surrounding area weather financial hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
UTSA SBDC - Hispanic Serving
2017-2019 YTD
Clients
Starts/Expansions
Workshop Attendees
Access to Capital
Loans/Owner Investment
Historically Underutilized Businesses and UTSA
UTSA’s Historically Underutilized Business program serves as a catalyst for promoting full and equal opportunity for all businesses to supply the goods and services needed to support the operations of the university.
The program is specifically committed to increasing purchases from and contract awards to Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs) consistent with State of Texas goals for HUB participation.
To expand collaborations with the Hispanic community, our HUB program has worked closely with the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Contractors Association of San Antonio to organize events, speaking engagements and training.
UTSA has a track record of long-term working relationships with San Antonio’s Hispanic HUBs, as reflected below.
UTSA’s Activity with Hispanic HUB Businesses
FY 2019
$8M
UTSA’s overall spending with Hispanic HUB vendors
84
Number of Hispanic HUB vendors used by UTSA
45%
of all UTSA’s HUB award contracts were with Hispanic businesses
Stories of Success
UTSA’s commitment to supporting Hispanic small business development is more than just about numbers, it’s about impacting people’s lives. Take a moment to read the success stories of Hispanic business owners who have benefitted from their work with UTSA.
