Refundo offers mobile banking for Spanish speakers
By Jose Pagliery, CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) –– Roger Chinchilla and Grimaldy Dominguez grew up watching Latin American families struggle in Queens, New York. As entrepreneurs, the two have created a free mobile banking system to help Hispanics keep track of their money.
Chinchilla came as a toddler from Honduras in 1986, and Dominguez arrived from the Dominican Republic as a child in 1993. As they tell it, both grew tired of watching workers pay sharp fees to cash paychecks at check cashers.
In 2009, two years after they launched the accounting software company Rushtax, they realized an opportunity to help their underserved area.
Many of the customers who turned to them for tax preparation didn't have a bank account to deposit their tax return. The guys decided to stem the money flow to check cashers by establishing bank accounts their clients could access from their cell phones.
On the rise: Immigrant entrepreneurs
By Jose Pagliery, CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) –– Working for a new company? There's a more than one-in-four chance your new boss wasn't born here.
Immigrants created 28% of all new firms last year. They were also twice as likely to start a new business when compared to those born in the United States.
It's a notable shift. Nearly all new firms are small, and many are hiring new workers, seeking small business loans and shaking up established industries.
What's behind the rise of immigrant entrepreneurs?
El Pichy Films: A joke turned into a company
For one, immigrants are over-represented in lower wage sectors like construction, which was hard hit during the economic crisis, according to Rob Fairlie, a professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz.
About In America
What defines you? Maybe it’s the shade of your skin, the place you grew up, the accent in your words, the make up of your family, the gender you were born with, the intimate relationships you chose to have or your generation? As the American identity changes we will be there to report it. In America is a venue for creative and timely sharing of news that explores who we are. Reach us at inamerica@cnn.com.
Black in America
iReport
