Author: Paola Viviana Murillo, Founder & Director, Latincouver and Founder, My Latin Store.
When you are an entrepreneur it doesn't matter where you are or where you are from, you just have an inner burning wish to do something where you can use your talents and launch them to the world.
Born in Colombia, I later lived in Lexington Kentucky for 9 years where I went to school for business and marketing. It is also where I started my first company - PVM IMPORTS - selling US clothes to Colombians and Colombian jewelry to people in the US. Kentucky was definitely home for me, and it was a place where I could find many Latino stores and even some Salvadoran and Mexican restaurants. I had a Univision TV channel to watch my Colombian soap operas. Telemarketers spoke to me in Spanish when they were calling to sell me insurance or any number of other things. My date nights always were at a Mexican restaurant to make a good impression (although I am Colombian), but what I realized was that there was a huge awareness of the Latino community in the US. Today the US represents the second biggest Spanish country in the world with over 55 million people.
In the winter of 2005, I moved to Montreal, the city of lights in Canada, where the streets are full of life and the French style of living attracted my Latino blood. Going to the Jean Talon market reminds me of going grocery shopping with my Dad to the Plaza de Mercado Paloquemao en Bogotá.
From the beginning, I knew I was going to bring something to sell in Canada, so I did my research and decided it was either going to be coffee or women's lingerie. I decided that lingerie was going to be my better option since women in both regions have a lot of similarities. I secured exclusivity from a well-known Colombian woman to sell her women's underwear in Canada. I was excited about this new venture! My fashionable snow jacket from Colombia; however, didn't do the job when it came to dealing with the weather in Montreal. There were days when I had to wait at the bus stop while my tears were frozen half way in my face and I sometimes felt as if my nose was going to fall down. Soon, I realized that I wasn't equipped for this beautiful city.
Weeks later, my brother asked me to move to Vancouver bragging about the beautiful nature and a free soul spirit city that was surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Vancouver is home to the well known lululemon athletic apparel and it's a city where women are into yoga and hiking. I had to change my plan when I arrived in Vancouver about what kind of venture I was going to have as my colors and accent were very unique. There was more knowledge about noodles and sushi than tacos and Arepas. It was time for me to adapt to seeing signs in Mandarin and Punjabi rather than in French or Spanish.
My first job in Vancouver was in recruitment. I realized that Canada was looking for a lot of talent since companies were desperate to find the right candidates. My second job was working with the federal government preparing for the 2010 Olympic Games.
I will never forget the question that was once asked of our communication team. "In the opening of the games we need to represent all the cultures that we have in BC."
I raised my hand and asked, "Can I help find the Latino community?" The response was “Latino? Do we really have many Latinos in BC?” And I responded that of course we have many Latin American cultures here. This lack of awareness broke my heart but it also inspired me to find a new passion and my next purpose - creating a voice for the Latinos in BC.
I wanted to bring Latinos together so they can help each other while we create an awareness of who we are and what we can offer to our new home.
Latin America and Canada
The mining industry probably is the first and oldest connection between Canada and Latin America when it began in the 20th century and especially since 1989 when Canadian companies increased their involvement dramatically. By 2009, the Canadian larger-company mineral exploration market in the Latin American region was valued at US$1.7 billion and of course British Columbia is also the home of many mining companies. This connection became an opportunity to increase knowledge about Latin America and create a true Latin American Plaza in BC.
One of the best things that happened to me in my journey was meeting the Honorary Consul of Costa Rica, Antonio Arreaga, who was my mentor and who guided me through all my efforts to bring the Latin American community to BC. Organizations like the Hispanic Congress around Expo 1985 and the Canadian Council of the Americas had laid the foundation.
It wasn't easy navigating and understanding a growing Latin community when we couldn't be fully counted within the official Stats Canada numbers. In the 2006 census, according to Stats Canada, of the 31,241,030 million total population of Canada only 362,120 were identified as coming from Hispanic countries.
The Hispanic Congress in Toronto asked to do a special study to better understand our Hispanic population since these numbers weren't reflecting all of our community.
Their study counted people who were born in one of the 22 countries that speak Spanish, whose mother language was Spanish, and were children of two Spanish immigrants in Canada. After this study was completed, a new number for the Hispanic population living in Canada was 741,760 Hispanics with 98,685 in British Columbia. The official numbers; however, still fail to capture the full size of our community as in 2011, the official Hispanic population count was just 35,465.
We wanted to better understand our Latino community in BC, so in 2015 we worked with the Latin American consulates who were a good source of information since they were closely connected with their own communities. Here are some interesting facts. The Salvadorans and Chileans are the first ones from the Latino community to settle in Canada when they were fleeing from internal wars in the late ‘80s. There are now around 17,000 Salvadoreans including the second or third generations in Canada. The Mexican population is around 50,000, Colombian 10,000, and Brazilians around 11,000. We estimated that there were around 150,000 Latin Americans living in BC in 2015. These numbers are based on the same principle from the revised study from Stats Canada with the addition of migrant workers and international students.
“El rebusco”
One of the things that I have found since I started with Latincouver is that we have a very young and active community. Many people are immigrating as permanent residents or with student visas which brings some great qualified skilled workers to Canada.
By nature, Latinos understand the concept of “el rebusco", or "todero” which means you will find something to offer or something to do in order to advance in your life. I found Latinos in BC have a very entrepreneurial spirit and I could easily say that 1 of every 5 people I know already has a business or is ready to launch one.
I know as a cultural group in BC we are still not as well known as in the US, but I am very proud of the work of Latincouver for the last 14 years and of the over 5000 volunteers who have shared our culture through hundreds of events which have fostered many business opportunities. I believe social media and even the pandemic has encouraged entrepreneurs in the Americas to come together.
Today I am able to train with a personal trainer located in Peru, or have a great speaker located in the US, or close a real estate transaction between Vancouver and Mexico. I know Latin Americans and the world are going through some political challenges but there is also an opportunity for the people who are hands-on to put their talents to work and unite forces to make a difference within our community.
My happy ending is that after dedicating 14 years to build bridges between Canada and Latin America with any of my 3 ventures, Latincouver, Mirrai Marketing Group, and MyLatinStore, I feel complete because as a new mom of an 8 month-old baby, I am able to connect my little one with my Colombian roots.
For more information on Latincouver, please visit www.latincouver.ca.
