New Orleans business incubator helps Latino entrepreneurs ‘control their own destiny’

Lizbeth Montelongo loved her custodial job at Lake Forest Elementary Charter School, where she worked for more than a decade. Her co-workers had become extended family, supporting her side hustle designing balloon decorations for birthdays, graduations and other special events.

But in 2022, Montelongo left her longtime position behind in hopes of turning her hobby into a full-time career. 

The bet paid off.

In 2023, she opened Balloons Creations by Liz in a Chalmette storefront. Two years later, she’s planning a move to a bigger location. And her gigs now range from providing dozens of balloons for a baby shower to installing thousands of them for events in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

One of Montelongo’s first stops after deciding to go into business for herself was El Centro, a now 7-year-old nonprofit that offers free financial wellness training and business coaching services to Latino entrepreneurs and small business owners.

The organization's help, Montelongo said, was invaluable in helping her launch her business and scale up.

“They really teach you the value of doing everything the correct way,” she said. “They helped me find the ladder up.”

Support for Spanish speakers

Montelongo's balloon business is just one example of the type of company El Centro was built to serve.

In a metro area where the overall population is shrinking but the Latino demographic is growing, the nonprofit business incubator aims to provide “culturally competent" training that will speed up the process of launching new businesses, boosting tax revenue and jobs across the region in the process. That means teaching classes in Spanish while encouraging entrepreneurs to learn English as quickly as possible to increase their ability to serve the Louisiana market.

“We want to do everything we can to help people understand the mechanics of the financial system here in the United States,” said Lindsey Navarro, a Loyola University MBA grad who created El Centro in 2018 after leaving behind her own longtime job with the Texas-based nonprofit lender LiftFund. “And we have to prepare them to compete in this marketplace.”

Now, on designated weekdays, staffers host one-on-one coaching sessions at El Centro's headquarters on Earhart Boulevard, not far from the new Five O Fore Golf and Entertainment complex. In the evenings, the space houses workshops. 

Since its inception, the organization has hosted more than 400 events with more than 7,000 participants and more than 2,000 individual coaching appointments. About 140 businesses have completed El Centro's six-week "Impulsate" accelerator program, which combines classes and coaching to grow businesses.

These programs, administered by a staff of seven, are supported by an annual budget of about $640,000, cobbled together from public and private sources.

"We're doing a million dollars of work with those funds," said Navarro, who stretches the budget by partnering with other organizations. Propeller, the nonprofit business incubator located nearby, sometimes hosts events, as do banks and other local partners.

“Despite a small budget, Lindsey has done a great job of making entrepreneurship accessible to a growing part of the population,” said Jon Atkinson, CEO of The Idea Village, a tech-focused business accelerator that's another El Centro collaborator.

The nonprofit's clientele is nearly 80% women, the majority of whom are under 40. They come mostly from Honduras, followed by a long list of Latin American and Caribbean nations. Most live in Jefferson Parish. 

Two of El Centro’s clients are now tenants in its small co-working space. One is a college prep service and the other a staffing company that's already cracked $1 million in annual revenue, according to Navarro.

Other success stories include Hilda Alvarez, owner of Hilda’s Construction, who credits El Centro’s business accelerator program with creating new opportunities for her company.

Cafétomas owner Saul Alcazar has established three locations of his Latin American restaurant concept with support from Navarro's team.

Ingrid Ferguson, owner of three Variedades Ceibeña markets, credits El Centro for helping her establish a successful sales incentive program for her employees.

Big dreams … and a lot of paperwork

El Centro’s clients work in many industries, including catering, construction, janitorial services, housekeeping, and professional services. Despite the variety, Navarro said most of them have one thing in common.

“They want to open their own businesses so they can control their own destiny and create opportunities for others,” she said.

Before they can do that, they have to cut through a lot of red tape, which is where El Centro comes in.

Navarro said a big part of her team’s job is helping clients understand and complete all sorts of paperwork, ranging from articles of incorporation to occupational licenses and, even, parade permits.

A major focus is teaching clients to correctly file tax returns, which Navarro said can help build credit and unlock opportunities, such as qualifying for home and car loans. 

El Centro also teaches entrepreneurs about the differences between the financial systems in the U.S. and Latin America. Navarro said her team often has to explain the fundamentals of amortization and how the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is in place to guarantee bank deposits are safe.

“Credit access in Latin America is based on your family name,” she said. “It’s kind of like an old boy's club. And there’s a sense you should pay it back immediately, which makes it hard to build credit.”

'Original American dream'

Navarro believes a successful small business like Montelongo's balloon shop — combined with many more like it — can create economic benefits for the community at large.

She's especially focused on getting that message out in the current political climate with its anti-immigrant bias. The entrepreneurs El Centro helps are citizens or are here legally with visas and work permits. Still, they face challenges because of the chill that immigration raids have put on the area.

“There's a fear now even for citizens, but it hasn't stopped them from opening businesses because they want to create opportunities," she said. "Latinos are very entrepreneurial.”

As a kid growing up in Houma, where her Panama-born parents moved for her dad's engineering job, Navarro loved traveling to New Orleans to visit all the great Latin-owned restaurants and markets, which were lacking in her hometown.

Now she's proud to be a part of the ecosystem that's creating more businesses just like them.

She said she's not the only one who gets emotional at graduation ceremonies for El Centro program participants, where graduates share one cap and one gown, taking turns to wear them for photos.

“It's beautiful,” Navarro said. “It’s like Ellis Island. It's the original American dream, and we’re helping people pursue that.”