Latino Economic Development Center

The Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) is an Elevate Hennepin business advisor offering Hennepin County businesses up to 25 hours of services at no cost, including:

Access to capital

• Identify applicable financing opportunities for business owners 
• Provide financial education and literacy
• Offer commercial or personal credit counseling 
• Identification of required documentation needed to apply for loans and grants, if available
• Assist with the completion of loan, grant or other application paperwork
• Assist businesses in preparing financial statements and projections
• Connect business owners to lending entities within the Elevate Hennepin network and assisting in preparing financials to approach lending entities
  

Business certification

• Securing minority-owned business certifications such as National Women Certification, The Central (CERT) Certification Program, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), and Targeted Group (TG) Small Business Procurement Program, certification through counties and certifications through the State of Minnesota
• Help with the federal System for Award Management (SAM) registration 
• Support with government contracting such as bidding, supplier registration, and RFP response 
• Connecting with Hennepin County’s Certified Access program, which focuses on providing business support for women entrepreneurs of color 

Business Strategy

• Business and strategic plan development
• Mission, vision development, and goal setting 
• Industry and market analysis and customer segmentation 
• Unique value proposition and competitive positioning
• SWOT Analysis
• Financial reports, projections, and forecasting 
• Business profitability modeling 

Idea stage

• Coaching to refine the business idea
• Define the problem the product/service solves for
• Guidance through completing a business lean canvas
• Formulation of mission, vision, and unique value proposition
• Identify product(s)/service(s) offered
• Assistance understanding the market and industry 
• Define target customers or creating a customer avatar
• Support client in testing and validating business concepts, size markets, & take initial steps
• Equip client to evaluate the viability of their business idea
• Assist clients with entity formation, seeking legal and accounting advisor input as needed
• Refer to other advisors as appropriate

LEDC's services begin with clear communication to develop a close relationship with and create a custom approach for each aspiring entrepreneur. LEDC helps both aspiring and established business owners to create a road map that will illustrate how to transform vague business ideas into specific action items that will help to build a strong foundation for your business. All our services are provided in Spanish and with the appropriate cultural context. 

In addition, The LEDC helps Latino entrepreneurs and small businesses in Minnesota to launch and grow through classes, workshops, one-on-one assistance, agricultural assistance services, a kitchen incubator, and loans as a community development financial institution (CDFI). LEDC manages a lending portfolio that offers resources to qualified entrepreneurs. Our goal is to support entrepreneurs and help to create sustainable businesses and generational wealth