Mexican Entrepreneur Flight Benefits US Jerry Pacheco - Albuquerque Journal
go to original June 25, 2012

One result of the drug violence that has occurred in Mexico during the past four years is the wave of Mexican entrepreneurs who have fled to the U.S.

Many of these people have been the victims of extortion by organized crime and/or victims of the decline in the retail, service and entertainment sectors in cities that have been hit hard by the violence such as Juárez, Chihuahua. These Mexican entrepreneurs are bringing their capital, experience and work ethic to the U.S., which is the ultimate beneficiary.

I have worked with both Mexican and American entrepreneurs for nearly 25 years and there are many similarities between the two groups. In the U.S., it is not uncommon for a person to have a main job, possibly at a large corporation or within government, and to have a side job. This is a common strategy also used by Mexican entrepreneurs. When I first started doing business in Mexico, I found it amazing that during the business-card exchange many of the people I was dealing with handed me one card that represented them in their main job. The person would then hand me one or two more cards of other ventures in which they were involved.

Some might view this practice as being somewhat tacky or with suspicion that the person is involved in multiple activities. However, in the Mexican entrepreneurial culture, being a go-getter who is involved in several businesses is celebrated. When I lived in Mexico City, Roberto, an office assistant who worked for the executive suites company from which I was renting space, was responsible for building maintenance and general errands. Every Monday, he would arrive back at the office with a bag of fruit for the people of the office. I complimented him on being so generous and asked him where he would stop to buy the fruit.

He explained that he and his wife operated a fruit stand at one of the many weekend outdoor mercados in the city. During the week, his wife would arrange for fruit deliveries from various suppliers. On Friday night, they would make arrangements to sell the fruit the next day and come up with a pricing scheme. On Saturday and Sunday, they would work furiously to sell the fruit at the mercado. On Sunday night, they would calculate their profits and losses for the week and begin the process all over again for the next week. On Monday, Roberto was back at the office diligently fulfilling his duties after a weekend filled with labor.

I admired Roberto and the many Mexican entrepreneurs I met who were involved in multiple ventures for their work ethic, and for the tenacity in which they went about trying to improve the lives of their families.

Many Americans come from families with the same background. My grandfather at different times was a sawmill worker, logger, rancher, and even a bootlegger as he sought to better his life. His son, my father, used to log in the forests during the day and come back to the city to service chainsaws and lawn mowers for customers in the evenings and on weekends. This entrepreneurial spirit was passed along to me, as I earn money from my own business, teaching university classes, writing this column, and even playing guitar in clubs and restaurants on the weekends.

In both Mexico and the U.S., many entrepreneurs have no choice other than to scramble developing several income streams to make ends meet. This is akin to a business boot camp which serves as the spark to make entrepreneurs on both sides of the border successful at what they do. In short, 40-hour workweeks are not the norm for these entrepreneurs.

When Mexican entrepreneurs with these skills and mindset leave their country for a better life north of the border, the U.S. gains a productive element in an economy where capitalism is admired. In places such as El Paso and Albuquerque one doesn’t have to look far to see how this recently arrived entrepreneurial spirit manifests itself. A drive along Mesa Street in El Paso or the South Valley in Albuquerque yields butcher shops, bakeries, tire stores, clothing boutiques, and mechanics garages that are the physical embodiment of the entrepreneurial risk and investment of recently arrived Mexican immigrants.

This latest wave of entrepreneurialism comes at a time when the U.S. is struggling to pull itself out of its economic doldrums and to compete against other nations of the world. Much as the Germans, Irish, Poles and Slavs did before them, the Mexican entrepreneurs in the U.S. are keeping the American dream alive.

Jerry Pacheco is the executive director of the International Business Accelerator, a nonprofit trade counseling program of the New Mexico Small Business Development Centers Network. He can be reached at jerry@nmiba.com.

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!