Sen. Teresa Ruiz has a simple measure for government’s role in business. It’s whether someone with a good idea, but no family money behind it, can turn that idea into a real company.
Ruiz made that case Tuesday morning, speaking to BINJE’s Best Top Hispanic Business Leaders honorees at the Joseph A. Unanue Institute at Seton Hall University. Bergen New Bridge served as the Presenting Sponsor for the event; Daily Pay, Bank of America and LISC were Strategic Partners.
Speaking to a group of approximately 200, Ruiz framed the concept as a series of questions, each one about someone in the room or someone they know.
“How do we make it easier for someone who has an idea but doesn’t have generational wealth to have that translate into tangible production?” she said. “How do we take someone who’s already on an e-commerce site and is thinking about perhaps opening up a storefront, but doesn’t quite know how to get to that space?”
Then there’s the young founder.
“How do we take someone who’s just graduated from New Jersey, who happens to be Latino and has found the next app, but doesn’t have the venture capital to fortify their platform and get them to the next level of industry?” she said.
The answer, Ruiz said, starts with seeing the state as it is.
“How do we continue to grow the Garden State in the reality of who we are today?” she said. “All of us looking different, all of us loving differently, all of us with Social Security numbers and without, but all contributing to the economic power and driving of this state.”
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Ruiz said the state still falls short for some contractors, who aren’t identified and don’t have insurance.
The gap, she said, is access. Others can pick up the phone and ask for a contract.
“That doesn’t necessarily happen organically in our communities,” she said. “We have to struggle more until we get a greater footing, but you have the strength in this room.”
She told the room of successful Hispanic Business Leaders that Latinos are part of the nation’s story and have been for a long time.
“We are part of the story, the making, the history, the ongoing greatness of this country,” she said. “For far too long I was under a shadow, feeling kind of run down. This is my country. This is your country. This is our country.”
She also delivered part of her remarks in Spanish, telling the group of leaders how proud she is of them for working so hard to earn the recognition they were receiving.
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Ruiz pointed out several Latino officials in the audience: Assemblyman Gabriel Rodriguez, Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Jacquelyn Suárez and Secretary of Higher Education Margo Chaly. She said that was on purpose.
“I’m identifying these Latinos because these Latinos are in the decision-making process, and so they recognize the lens of what you’re going through,” she said.
That includes the education pipeline for the state’s future workforce, she said. It also includes the paperwork that slows new businesses, which she called “the bureaucratic mess” of permits and business licenses.
Ruiz left the breakfast for Trenton, where Gov. Mikie Sherrill was unveiling her economic plan that day. Before she left, she offered herself as a resource.
“Consider me someone that will help you navigate your process to get to a better place,” she said. “That’s all we want. How do we start, and where do we finish, and did we make it better?”
She said she expects the entrepreneurs she described to get there.
“As businesses grow in the state of New Jersey, we will see Latina empresarias and Latino empresarios leading the way,” she said, “because we are New Jersey.”
