When the COVID-19 pandemic swept across world, people in marginalized communities and low-income jobs were often affected the most—and not just by the virus itself. Some worked in “essential” jobs that required them to be out in public, while others lost their jobs due to the shutdown of events, travel and recreation.
On the positive side, new ideas started to bloom. Data from the U.S. Treasury shows that new-business formation has soared since the pandemic’s start, with the average number of monthly business applications from 2021 to 2023 at least 50% higher than in prior years. Now in Palm Springs, there’s a new resource to help entrepreneurs—with a focus on the Spanish-speaking population.
The Caravan Small Business Development Center opened up on Tahquitz Canyon Way in mid-February, creating the official home of a partnership of the Orange County Inland Empire SBDC and entrepreneurship nonprofit Caravanserai Project. Free programs will include training on how to set up a business, as well as mentorship opportunities. Carolina Rosas Saaverdra, who heads up the new center, said she wants to help clients bring their dream businesses to life—and make them profitable at the same time.
“There are people who work really hard here, and are eager to do things,” she said. “And it starts with having a perspective on, ‘What is it that I want to do?’ more than, ‘What it is that I can do?’”
Many new entrepreneurs in the post-pandemic environment are from historically marginalized communities. The U.S. Treasury reports that the number of self-employed Latino workers in 2023 was 26% higher than it was before the pandemic. Nearly 25% of all new entrepreneurs who formed a business in 2021 were Latino, the data shows.
Here in the desert, where pandemic-induced unemployment affected many low-income workers in sectors like hospitality and agriculture—industries disproportionately staffed by people of color—the Caravan SBDC team is hoping they can boost those numbers even further.
“There are a lot of people waiting for resources so that they can move forward with their businesses,” Rosas Saavedra said.
The center is the result of a unique partnership between two organizations that share similar missions. The SBDC is a decades-old network that receives federal and state funding to run training programs for people who want to start their own businesses.
The Caravanserai Project has a more specific call to action. The nonprofit, founded in 2016, is focused on training and access to capital for entrepreneurs from marginalized and under-resourced communities. One of its most notable previous projects was an eight-month accelerator program called the SEED Lab, certified by the University of California, Riverside Extension. Since June 2022, Caravanserai has worked with more than 200 Hispanic small business entrepreneurs through its Business Readiness Training Program. Then last year, it launched the 2023 Inland Empire Hispanic Small Business Directory, which highlights more than 150 businesses, from child care centers to food trucks to tech start-ups.
Caravanserai executive director Mihai Pătru said that working with UCR and the SBDC has helped elevate the role of the organization—and he credits Rosas Saavedra with accelerating that process to create the new center in less than a year and a half.
“We are unique within SBDC. In such a short time, we’ve transitioned from being a partner with them to being a center,” he said.
Rosas Saavedra, who is from Chile, said she’s inspired to help entrepreneurs who want to create jobs and build businesses that help drive the economy. She has a background as a start-up consultant, specifically working with tech companies, and has worked in biotechnology. As the director of business innovation and curriculum for the Caravanserai Project, Rosas Saavedra said that Caravan SBDC will be open and available to entrepreneurs regardless of their business ideas.
“We want to make sure that people feel like this is a space where they can receive services at no cost, and make sure that they can also continue working with us on those terms,” she said.
Part of the beauty of the new Caravan SBDC center is that it’s building something from the ground up. There are no set guidelines or policies to follow (other than the SBDC rules), which can allow for new tailor-made training programs. Like any business owner, Caravan SBDC plans to pivot with the headwinds and tailwinds of the local economy.
“Data is very important for us,” she said. “If it’s not working in the short term, we switch; we pivot. And this is the beauty of working in an organization that is not huge. … We are able to change fast.”
The Caravan Small Business Development Center is located at 2150 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, No. 3, in Palm Springs. For more information, call 800-616-7232, or visit ociesmallbusiness.org/intake-appointment.