PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WPRI) — Fourteen years ago, Carlos Gonzalez had a dream to own a dance studio after taking up salsa dancing as a hobby.
“The more I did it, the more I fell in love with it and there was nothing else I wanted to do,” Gonzalez said.
He’s now the proud owner of the Mambo Pa Ti dance studio in Pawtucket. It’s a dream he said became a reality thanks to the services and connections he made through the Rhode Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
“I’m so grateful there’s a network I can count on — a community, ” Gonzalez said.
It’s a community that seems to be growing. The Small Business Administration said it received 43,400 new business applications in Rhode Island this year. Of those, a record-breaking 17% were from Latinos.
Despite the record number of applications, SBA New England regional director Sandra Cano said there are some challenges, specifically with access to capital.
“It is evident that after the pandemic a lot of them suffer credit loss,” Cano explained. “That’s why I’m excited to work with my team to close those gaps that are already existing.”