Yes, Vargas said, but 81 years before Jamestown was founded, a Spanish explorer named Lucas Vazquez De Ayllon founded a colony on the site of Jamestown called San Miguel de Guandape.
By the numbers
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Then Vargas broke from the history lesson and spoke about the here and now: Recent Census projections say that by 2050, 25 percent of the United States' population will be Hispanic.
If you don't figure out how to market to and do business with this group, Vargas said, "Guess what? You are going to be left out in the cold."
Vargas owns VARCom Solutions, a marketing consulting firm in Herndon, and was asked to speak at the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce's Hispanic Business Outreach event May 23 about the need to reach out to the growing number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the area.
This year, the U.S. Census announced that the Hispanic population had grown to nearly 15 percent of the nation's population, up from just under 13 percent in 2000.
In Loudoun, in 2000, Hispanics made up 6 percent of the population. According to the most recent U.S. Census data, 9.3 percent of Loudoun residents are Hispanic.
The number of Hispanic-owned businesses has climbed in the county as well. Latest statistics reveal that there are 1,040 Hispanic-owned businesses in Loudoun, with revenues totaling $125,693,000.
The driving force behind the event on May 23 was Florencia Loren, who is originally from Venezuela but is now a Realtor with her husband's real estate business, Mike Wagner and the Next Level Team, in Leesburg. It is affiliated with Keller Williams Realty.
In November 2006, Loren and several other Chamber members formed the Hispanic Business Outreach Committee, hoping to encourage the Hispanic community to become more involved with the Chamber of Commerce.
Her inspiration is the Hispanic Business Council at the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce that Danny Vargas runs.
Chamber president Tony Howard, Loren said, was very supportive of forming a similar group in Loudoun.
"We are looking for people to be involved, to share ideas and make us grow," she said. "We are very excited. Networking events, programs and seminars are planned for the future.
Robin Suomi, head of the Loudoun Small Business Development Center, also spoke May 23. Suomi is not a Spanish speaker, but she read her remarks first in Spanish, and apologized for her accent. She did this, she said, to show how important it is to try to bridge the language barrier.
"If you want to do business, you need to be able to communicate," she said. The center, she said, is looking for Spanish-speaking volunteers to be bilingual business counselors. The center already offers a workshop in Spanish on how to start a small business.
Vargas ended his remarks with good news.
"[Hispanics] love doing business," Vargas said, "but I'll let you in on a little secret, we have a lot of fun."
The crowd laughed, and the networking and mingling picked up where it had left off.
Contact the reporter at akeisman@timespapers.com
