“Small Business Enterprises and Latino Entrepreneurship: An Enclave or Mainstream Activity in South Texas?”

We surveyed 298 Latino small businesses in South Texas, a minority-majority region, in the summer of 2010. The survey focused on Latino entrepreneurship and in this paper we report findings associated with business start-up, immigration status of the entrepreneur, the sphere of business operations within formal or informal markets, the role of language in business operations, and the impact of the US-Mexico border in business success. We explore Latino entrepreneurship in the region as an enclave or mainstream activity developing a typology of business income chances associated with immigration documentation and business start-up rationale. Lastly, using multivariate analysis we find gender, financial access, residence, and business language significant determinants in business orientation between necessity-driven and opportunity-driven Latino enterprises.