Our History

In 1991, we began this journey of helping Hispanic entrepreneurs start, sustain, and grow their businesses, to achieve community prosperity.

HERE ARE HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR STORY:

We were founded in Tampa by a Hispanic entrepreneur, as part of the Hispanic Business Institute, with support from the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County.

With support from Orange County Mayor Linda Chapin, an HCCMO committee started a national research to find a successful model to invest in Hispanic entrepreneurs in Central Florida, and they found it very nearby in Tampa.

The organization (then called Hispanic Business Initiative Fund) was replicated in the Orlando area with support from Orange County and City of Orlando.

We founded the Don Quijote Awards with co-host HCCMO, to recognize business owners and professionals.

We established the first satellite office within the Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce, with support from El Osceola Star and other local Hispanic leaders.

We became a Resource Partner for collaboration with other economic development organizations in the Orange County National Entrepreneur Center.

The Hispanic Business Initiative Fund West Coast and Hispanic Business Initiative Fund of Greater Orlando merged into one 501c3 organization.

We established operations in Miami within and with the support of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, to reach the South Florida’s abundant. Hispanic entrepreneur community

Opened our first stand-alone South Florida office in the City of Doral at the Miami Free Zone, adjacent to small businesses, traders and fellow economic development organizations

We began delivering services in additional areas of Florida beyond the Central, South and West Coast regions, including West Palm Beach, Ft. Myers, Cape Coral, Naples, Ft. Walton Beach, and Jacksonville. The first annual Success Stories Luncheon was hosted in South Florida to celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship and recognize, as in Tampa and Orlando, exemplary local technical assistance clients, based on growth, innovation and community impact.

We began delivering services outside of Florida, with quarterly business seminars in Spanish and individual consulting to entrepreneurs in Charlotte, North Carolina’s rapidly growing Hispanic community.

We completed our 25th year of service and rebranded from HBIF to Prospera (some still miss the old name, but it was really hard to remember for most!).

Just one year later, we established a permanent office with full-time staff in Charlotte, NC, co-located with the LACCC.

We developed PROPEL to offer services in other U.S. markets and help meet the need for specialized support for Hispanic entrepreneurs across our country.

The COVID-19 pandemic took us by surprise but found us prepared to transition overnight to remote operations, so we were able to continue helping our clients, holding their hands and identifying solutions to confront this crisis.