T-Mobile promotes business opportunities for Latino entrepreneurs

LatinaLista — The January-June 2008 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) analyzed the nation’s cell phone habits and found that it’s a trend that is growing in popularity across all ethnic and economic lines.
“If the percentage of adults living in cell-only households continues to grow at the rate it has been growing for the past four years, I have projected that it will exceed 25 percent by the end of 2008,” Stephen J. Blumberg, a senior scientist at the National Center for Health Statistics, wrote in an e-mail message to reporters at the New York Times.

Yet, the one group that is driving this trend are Latinos. Twenty-two percent of Latinos are more likely than Anglos or African Americans to be living in a household serviced only by a cell phone.
This may explain why mobile phone companies are creating special marketing campaigns targeting Hispanic consumers. One company, T-Mobile is even taking it a step further and actively recruiting Latino entrepreneurs in a special campaign called “Estamos Juntos.”
The company is creating Latino-targeting stores by setting up business in Hispanic-heavy neighborhoods and creating stores that are visually and culturally appealing to Latino customers, from the color of the paint to the background music once people enter the store.
T-Mobile wants Latinos to run these businesses and so they are providing a special site for those interested to sign up. The company says it makes it so easy for the would-be entrepreneur “by providing everything from store build-outs and financial assistance to in-store training and account management systems.”
Yet, T-Mobile says it sees great potential in Latino consumers — maybe it’s because we like to talk so much 🙂