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Business leaders, analysts and consultants gathered at the Web Expo Forum in Sao Paulo to analyze the potential of social-networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin to help Brazilian companies increase their efficiency.

Cloud computing, mobility and social-networking sites offer businesses new opportunities for online marketing and evaluating consumers’ response to products, experts said.

Social-networking sites have spurred the rapid development of new business tools for providing customer service, Stefan Lindegaard, author of several books on innovation, said.

“They allow better interaction with customers and the ability to obtain real knowledge” about products, Lindegaard told Efe.

Advertising firms and media outlets can use social-networking sites to increase revenues, but many other businesses see these Web sites as a way “to be more efficient,” Lindegaard said. READ MORE

Hispanics make up a large section of the population of Houston, and there's a new push to get more Hispanic owned businesses in Texas.

There are already 80,000 Hispanic-owned businesses in our area, and that number is expected to keep rising.

Venezuelan native Escarle Silva owns Alira Spa in Montrose. It's one of Houston's newest Latino-run businesses.

"At first I came up with owning my own business, then coming up with the idea of what to do," Silva said. "I discovered you have to do something that you love to be able to be successful."

Latinos like Silva are gaining momentum as small business leaders in Houston.

"Especially within the last two years, the Hispanic community is on a surge. Everyone is interested in marketing, selling to and buying from Latinos," Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Dr. Laura Murillo said. READ MORE

On April 9th, leadership development and business strategy consultant Roberto Carmona, President/CEO of the CRIMSON LEADERSHIP GROUP (CRIMSON), will speak on success tools needed by the current and next generation of leaders. He was invited by the Sigma Lambda Gamma Chapter of the University of Iowa.

Roberto’s presentation will cover Ten (10) core leadership tools:

1. “How” to think, not “what” to think, when faced with critical decisions

2. How to develop personal, customized learning strategies for building adaptive capacity
3. How to create and sustain relationships and networks for personal, professional and financial advancement
4. How to identity a healthy mentor protégée relationship and when to disengage, when a mentor becomes an obstacle to advancement
5. How to use communication tools, such as negotiation and persuasion, for building healthy alliances and collaborations
6. How to gain personal power, cultivate it and use power to advance positioning and minimize impact of those who serve as barriers to success
7. How to surf organizational leadership pipelines for career advancement
8. How to gain insights and value from personal relationships, family experiences, the arts, literature, film, and humor
9. How to transform failures, into tools for learning and for mentoring others
10. How to have a healthy work-life balance through various career stages

Following his presentation at the University of Iowa, Roberto will be traveling to Marshalltown Iowa on April and will be meeting with local community, business and political leaders to share and discuss ideas on how to promote, engage, strategize and leverage the value of the growing Latino population in the region. 

About Roberto Carmona

Roberto is a nationally recognized consultant who has successfully executed on complex executive search, strategic marketing, economic development, leadership development and organizational change projects for Fortune 500 companies, national organizations, such as the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), New America Alliance, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Labor, local governments, hospitals, colleges and universities
Roberto completed a Master’s Degree in Public Administration at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He sits on the National Advisory Board of Voces Verdes and was recently appointed to the Illinois Governor’s Labor Advisory Board.

A recent study has found that as Hispanics across the country embrace mobile technologies, banks hoping to attract Hispanic customers must change their marketing tactics to be more mobile.

The “Hispanic Mobile Banking Trends Study” — which was conducted by Zpryme Research and Consulting LLC, an Austin-based research advisory firm, and ThinkNow Research, a California-based Hispanic consumer research firm — found that 69 percent of Hispanics use their smartphone for mobile banking and 49 percent use their tablet for mobile banking.

Also, one-third of people surveyed said they would switch their primary banks to get mobile services, and more than one-third of current mobile banking users said they use mobile banking at least once per day. READ MORE

More than 50 million Latinos live in the United States but not necessarily where we traditionally expect. In the Midwest, Hispanics are not only propping up declining populations, they're helping to bolster local economies.

Antonio Sosa is one example. His parents brought him to the States from Mexico when he was a young boy. In 2007, he became a citizen along with his father.

Originally, his parents worked factory jobs for large agribusiness companies. Today, Sosa runs New York Dollar, a small grocery store his parents own in eastern Iowa.

Boosting Local Economies

"When you're new to a business industry you kind of have to figure out yourself how to run it," Sosa said, adding that he's constantly trying to keep up with what his customers want and how best to serve them.

As a result, the grocery store now offers a variety of services in addition to food products. READ MORE

Hispanic or Latino shoppers across the United States wield more than $1.2 trillion of buying power annually with projections of $1.5 trillion by 2015, according to Nielsen.

It comes as no surprise that Wal-Mart Stores plans to focus more on this powerful consumer group.

Stephen Quinn, executive vice president of marketing for Wal-Mart, told suppliers at the beginning year meeting last week in Orlando that the retailer’s marketing focus this year is in step with the merchandising goals of localization, being more competitive locally and more keenly focused on Hispanic shoppers.

Wal-Mart is already the biggest retail spender in the Hispanic market, according to Ad Age, doling out a reported $66.6 million in 2010. The retailer said last year it planned to ramp up that investment by 100% in the next year or so.

The majority of Wal-Mart's Hispanic stores are concentrated in 8 states including 171 in Texas, 126 in California, 50 in Florida, 36 in Arizona and 33 in New Mexico. READ MORE

Latino families will account for more than $1 out of every $10 spent in the U.S. by 2015. But despite their growing consumer purchasing power, less than 5 percent –1 out of 23 board members– of Fortune 500 companies are Hispanic, according to a new survey.

A total of 196 Fortune 500 and 66 Fortune 100 companies responded to a Corporate Diversity survey, which was sent out by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). The results show little improvement in the way of Hispanic representation on the boards of the U.S.’s most influential companies.

Only 12 companies of the 196 companies that responded have two or more Hispanics on their board, and 118 companies, or about 60 percent, have none, according to the report. READ MORE

Hispanic-Americans are leading the way in growing coffee consumption in the United States, while the number of adults under 40 who enjoy the popular drink on a daily basis has dropped, according to an industry study released on Friday.

Of the Hispanic-Americans who participated in the National Coffee Association's National Coffee Drinking Trends 2013 market study, 76 percent said they had drunk coffee the previous day. That is up by 13 percentage points from last year.

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This compares with 47 percent of African-Americans and 64 percent of Caucasian-Americans who said they had consumed coffee the day before.

This was the second year that the study included ethnicity.

The survey showed that overall coffee consumption jumped by 5 percentage points this year, with 83 percent of the U.S. adult population now drinking coffee within the past year. Daily consumption was flat at 63 percent. READ MORE

According to Pew Research Hispanic Center’s new report, Closing the Digital Divide: Latinos and Technology Adoption, the “digital divide” between Latinos and other ethnic groups is closing.

The Pew report examines 2012 social media, digital technology, and mobile technology use among Latinos, whites, and blacks. The report also identifies these trends by income, education, age, education, urbanity, place of birth (foreign or domestic), and language dominance. Here are some of the key findings from the report:

Latinos are online and mobile: Latino internet users are more likely than white internet users to say they go online using a mobile device – 76% versus 60%. Three-in-four (76%) Latino internet users say they access the internet on a cell phone, tablet, or other mobile handheld device at least occasionally. The number rises to 87% for Latinos ages 18-29 years old.

Latinos use social media: Fully 84% of Latino internet users ages 18-29 say they use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Among Latinos who use social networking sites, 60% say they do mostly or only in English, 29% say they do mostly or only in Spanish, and 11% say they use both English and Spanish. READ MORE

Move over, China. Latin America is the new market investors are eager to break into.

In 2012, investment by private equity and venture capitalists in Latin America reached a five-year high.
New data analysis released by the Latin American Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (LAVCA) shows investment increased by 21 percent in the region, to $7.9 billion last year.

These types of investors are known for primarily taking interest in companies that present 'high risk, high reward' situations.

Not publicly traded on a stock exchange, the companies they invest in tend to be startups that just need the funds to make their idea a reality.

The surge in these types of investments in 2012 follows a two-year period in which global equity firms raised capital to invest in targeted Latin American companies showing promise in the consumer, financial and education sectors. READ MORE

Arizona lawmakers passed a law to dismantle a Mexican American studies program in Tucson schools, but the legislation has had an unintended effect: The controversy is renewing interest in the state and nationwide in ethnic studies and Chicano and Latino literature.

Some Tucson students have found new ways to study the subject while receiving college credit to boot. Others who had no interest on the topic say they are now drawn to the material.

"Underground" libraries with Chicano literature are popping up across the Southwest and are set to open soon in unexpected places such as Milwaukee and Louisville.

"I guess the irony is ... that we have banded together and created a new civil rights movement, a renaissance in Latino literature. Now there are people in Louisville, Ky., who will be enjoying Chicano literature," said Tony Diaz. READ MORE

The Center for Hispanic Leadership (CHL) has awarded a scholarship to the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University - that will provide all Hispanic/Latino MBA students with access to CHL’s online Hispanic Leadership Academy (HLA). The three-year grant is a fitting next chapter in the history between CHL and Cornell University as Frank Llopis, father to CHL Founder, Glenn Llopis, was the first Hispanic student to graduate with a Chemical Engineering degree in 1940.

Moving forward, CHL’s goal is to continue to cultivate a mutually rewarding long-term partnership that will benefit all incoming and existing Hispanic/Latino MBA students for generations to come. “We are delighted to share CHL’s Hispanic Leadership Academy with the standards of excellence that represent Cornell University and the Johnson Graduate School of Management,” says Llopis, whose 2009 book, Earning Serendipity, 4 Skills for Creating and Sustaining Good Fortune in Your Work, was inspired by the life lessons and wisdom his father taught him. READ MORE

It's a decision that will be welcomed by leading Latino political groups -- but one they will likely say it's not enough.

President Obama is set to nominate Thomas Perez, an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department, to be the next secretary of labor, the White House said.

If confirmed by the Senate, Perez, who has been head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division for 3½ years, would take over the Labor Department as Obama undertakes several worker-oriented initiatives, including an overhaul of immigration laws and an increase in the minimum wage.

Before taking his current Justice Department job, Perez, 51, was secretary of Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, which enforces state consumer rights, workplace safety and wage and hour laws. READ MORE

A historic decline in the number of U.S. whites and the fast growth of Latinos are blurring traditional black-white color lines, testing the limits of civil rights laws and reshaping political alliances as "whiteness" begins to lose its numerical dominance.

Long in coming, the demographic shift was most vividly illustrated in last November's re-election of President Barack Obama, the first black president, despite a historically low percentage of white supporters.

It's now a potent backdrop to the immigration issue being debated in Congress that could offer a path to citizenship for 11 million mostly Hispanic illegal immigrants. Also, the Supreme Court is deciding cases this term on affirmative action and voting rights that could redefine race and equality in the U.S.

The latest census data and polling from The Associated Press highlight the historic change in a nation in which non-Hispanic whites will lose their majority in the next generation, somewhere around the year 2043.

Despite being a nation of immigrants, America's tip to a white minority has never occurred in its 237-year history and will be a first among the world's major post-industrial societies. Brazil, a developing nation, has crossed the threshold to "majority-minority" status; a few cities in France and England are near, if not past that point. READ MORE

Paula Carde’s family business almost didn’t get off the ground, because no traditional bank was willing to extend an initial line of credit to the fledgling construction company. “I went to SunTrust, I went to BB&T, I went to Four Oaks,” says Carde, “and because our business was so new, they weren’t willing to give us enough.”

The only North Carolina financial institution willing to take a chance on Carde, her brother, and her father—all immigrants from Chile—was the Latino Community Credit Union, headquartered in Durham. The 26-year-old Carde had been depositing her paychecks there for years, and in retrospect she should have approached LCCU first. Taking chances on immigrants is what the credit union does.

LCCU, which has 10 branches throughout North Carolina, serves a population that most other financial institutions overlook. Many of its members live paycheck to paycheck, have never opened a deposit account, and don’t speak fluent English. Yet LCCU is one of the fastest-growing and most financially stable credit unions in the country, with a delinquency rate lower than those of its peers. READ MORE

As members of minority groups leave the academic world and try to enter a professional work environment, they face unique challenges.

Chris Farrell, economics editor of Marketplace Money, said on The Daily Circuit last month that networking is key to finding a good job. But one caller asked about the lack of professional networking opportunities for young minorities, and suggested a show on that topic.

David Thomas, author of "Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America," wrote in the Harvard Business Review about companies putting a focus on diversity but failing to follow through: READ MORE

Whether they were the first Hispanic women justice on the Supreme Court, the first woman President of a country with the sixth largest economy in the world or ambitious stars paving their road to success in Hollywood, these women have some wise words to share about the strength, difficulties, and lessons that come with being a woman--especially a Latina woman. READ MORE

Most Latinos may have never heard of him, but Raymond L. Telles blazed trails for scores of them.
Telles, who died Friday at the age of 97, was the first Mexican-American mayor of a major city, El Paso, with a leadership style that drew praise.
Telles served two terms, pushing the city to hire Latinos for its various departments. He also had several stints as El Paso County clerk.
"Among the Mexican-American leaders whose achievements in elected and civic service continue to make possible our Latino community success today, no one looms larger than Raymond Telles,” said Thomas A. Saenz, the president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). READ MORE

Two new partnerships bring a vibrant and growing Mexican tech cluster closer to the already prominent innovation economy in Massachusetts. The goal is to open doors for entrepreneurs and industry leaders on both sides of the border to broaden their potential markets and increase opportunities for collaboration and business.

The World Class Cities Partnership (WCCP) joined newly elected City of Zapopan Mayor Hector Robles for a rare and special signing ceremony during a formal session of the Zapopan City Council. The official document, which inducted Zapopan and the region of Guadalajara (the Silicon Valley of Mexico) into the WCCP network, formalized the partnership between Zapopan (signed by Mayor Robles), university Tec de Monterrey (signed by Director of Innovation & Regional Development, Alfredo Ortíz) and the WCCP (signed by Founder & Executive Director, Mike Lake). The agreement brings the Mexican city into the network that includes Boston, Vancouver, Barcelona, Dublin, Lisbon, Lyon, Hamburg and Haifa. Membership requires the commitment of each participating municipality, at least one academic institution and a Local Advisory Board of private sector leaders. The organization is focused on applied research while working to apply lessons learned abroad for local impact. READ MORE

A new analysis of three Pew Research Center surveys shows that Hispanic Americans own smartphones, go online from mobile devices and use social networking sites at similar, and sometimes even higher, rates than groups of other Americans.

The analysis, out Thursday afternoon, shows that the digital divide between Latinos and whites in this country is rapidly tightening.

“Between 2009 and 2012, the share of Latino adults who say they go online at least occasionally increased from 64 percent to 78 percent,” according to Pew. “Among whites, Internet use rates also increased, but only by half as much (80 percent in 2009 to 87 percent in 2012).”

Over that same period, the gap in cellphone ownership between Latinos and other groups either lessened or disappeared. In 2012, 86 percent of Latinos said they owned a cellphone, up from 76 percent in 2009. (Pew uses the terms Hispanic and Latino interchangeably.) READ MORE