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Why Aren’t More Small Businesses Contracting with Government Agencies?

A couple of years ago, I had a conversation with an SBA Business Opportunity Specialist who was lamenting the absence of SBA 8(a) program applicants. At the time, she was seeing three to five businesses graduate the Small Business Set-Aside program for every new one applying. I did the math and realized most of the graduating 8(a)s enrolled during the Great Recession. By 2018 things were going well enough in the economy that perhaps small businesses felt that pursuing government work was not worth their time and energy. Due to COVID-19, however, the economy is once again unsteady.

January 19th, 2021|Blog, Online Market Research, Small Business|
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[Podcast] Getting Creative – How the Hispanic Restaurant Industry is Weathering COVID-19, What’s Ahead

Many small businesses are finding new ways to breathe life into their revenue streams during the COVID-19 pandemic to offset slow customer traffic and trickling income. This week, Barney Santos, CEO of Gentefy and BLVDMRKT, discusses how Hispanics in the restaurant industry are adapting sales initiatives to social distancing, and why virtual marketplaces will be essential to small business success as consumers adjust to post-quarantine life.

May 6th, 2020|Blog, Food Research, Hispanic Market Research, Online Market Research, Podcast, Small Business|
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SBA 8(a) Firms Are Ready in Times of Crisis

During times of crisis, Federal contracts must be awarded as quickly and efficiently as possible. Federal contracting, however, is deliberately slow to ensure public funds are spent responsibly. There are, of course, contract vehicles that allow for quick awards during emergencies. But, these vehicles are generally limited to specific areas deemed critical when a disaster is declared. The pool of vendors who bid on these projects isn’t necessarily pre-screened, which would help determine their ability to meet the needs of the award.

April 15th, 2020|Blog, Small Business, Total Market Research|
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[Podcast] Growth Hacks for Minority, Women-Owned Enterprises

Latinos are the entrepreneurial engine of the U.S. economy. Latinas are starting more businesses than any other ethnic cohort and the trend isn't slowing down. Yet, despite this staggering growth, minority-owned businesses, in general, struggle to scale. Maribel Lara Senior Vice President, Head of Consulting at The Sasha Group, discusses some of the barriers minority, women-owned businesses face and shares growth hacks MWBEs can use to accelerate the growth of their firms.

March 11th, 2020|Blog, Online Market Research, Podcast, Small Business|
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Sorry, Your Friends Are Not A Focus Group

In this new age of social media, traditional market research has taken a beating. Influencers like serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk (Gary Vee) extol the importance of getting out and talking to their customers personally while countless memes of Steve Jobs’ quip against market research “customers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them,” are shared endlessly online. To some extent, they have a point. Gary Vee’s “back to basics” approach of getting out in the real world and speaking to consumers makes sense. Technology has made it so easy to hide behind our screens that, just like the Wizard of Oz, we tell our customers what we want without giving them a chance to get to know the person behind the curtain. Nor can we get to know them.

September 18th, 2019|Blog, Consumer Sentiment, Integrated Market Research, Market Research Professionals, Multicultural Consumers, Qualitative Research, Small Business|
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How Tariffs Will Affect Hispanic Grocery Stores In 2019

The trade war, to date, has been somewhat hypothetical, existing mainly in the minds of consumers as it has yet to hit our wallets tangibly. However, this may be changing in 2019 as the latest slate of tariffs is likely to affect items in grocery stores across the country. Hispanic grocery stores, however, have enjoyed a steady rise in business during 2018. So, will the impending tariffs stunt this growth? Let’s take a more in-depth look to find out.

January 29th, 2019|Blog, Food Research, Hispanic Market Research, Retail, Small Business|
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What Does The Future Hold For Hispanic Grocery Stores?

2018 has been an eventful year for Hispanic grocery stores. We saw Bodega Latina expand to Texas with an acquisition of Fiesta Mart, Winn-Dixie’s Fresco Y Más concept grew in Florida, and Albertson’s El Rancho Supermercado officially entered the Houston market. Acquisitions and consolidations have been accelerating at a break neck pace the past several years and they will continue to in 2019. But what is driving this trend? Understanding the underlying drivers of these acquisitions and consolidations in the Hispanic grocery store space can help us see what the future of Hispanic grocery holds in 2019.

December 19th, 2018|Blog, Food Research, Hispanic Brands, Hispanic Market Research, Hispanic Online Research, Online Market Research, Retail, Small Business|
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ThinkNow Entrepreneurship™ Report 2018: Women’s Point of View

Women’s entrepreneurship is thriving in America. According to the 2018 State of Women-Owned Business report commissioned by American Express, 1,821 women-owned businesses were launched per day over the last year, bringing the total number of women-owned firms to 12.3 million, employing over 9 million people and accounting for $1.8 trillion in revenue. So, in these last few days of October, as we wind down the celebration of National Women’s Small Business Month, we are still reminded of the tremendous contributions women business owners have made to the global economy, but also charged with challenging the antiquated mindsets and inadequate policies that still plague our cause.