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As Latino-owned businesses see steady growth — increasing from 5% of Delaware’s businesses in 2022 to 6% in 2023 — women remain largely underrepresented in the state’s economic landscape. But inside the Delaware Alliance of Latino Entrepreneurs, which includes nearly 440 Latino members, almost half the members are women — a sign of shifting dynamics.

Across the nation, Latinos have also become one of the fastest-growing entrepreneurial groups. A 2023 report found that 36% of all new businesses launched that year were Latino-owned.

That growth is part of what inspired the creation of Delaware’s first-ever Latina Business Summit, which will be hosted by La Plaza Delaware at Avenue United Methodist Church in Milford on June 14.

“We wanted to do something specifically with women,” said Mary Dupont, executive director of La Plaza Delaware. “And also we were thinking about different events that La Plaza likes to have, sort of community-wide events … but we never really focused specifically on women and we thought that the time was right this year to do something like this.”

La Plaza already offers business expos, summits, eight-week entrepreneurial courses and one-on-one coaching sessions. But this is the organization’s first event solely dedicated to Latina women — a gathering designed not only to inform, but to inspire. Organizers hope it will be a space where women can share stories, build confidence and speak freely about the challenges they face, especially ones they may not feel comfortable discussing in mixed-gender rooms.

“This is going to be a place and a time when we can talk about, you know, kind of living in a macho society,” Dupont said. “A lot of Latin American countries, women are more of the support person. She’s the mother, the sister, the wife, and those things come first, and it’s not a ‘me me me’ kind of society for women.”

Dupont said supporting the family business matters, but that it’s just as important for women to see themselves not only as wives or daughters, but as the driving force behind its success.

“They just sort of step into those roles and they don’t even ask the question, they just keep the business going … And behind the scenes are the very, very strong, powerful women, the mothers, the daughters, that are basically making things happen,” she added.