Esperanza Teasdale de PepsiCo
For PepsiCo, small companies owned by Latino women are truly powerful – they’re the fastest-growing entrepreneurial segment and they’re opening six times more businesses than the national average, said Esperanza Teasdale, VP and general director of the Hispanic Business Unit of PepsiCo Beverages North America. The executive acknowledged, however, that Hispanic companies are quite vulnerable to systemic problems and have to struggle against cultural barriers. For that reason, PepsiCo decided to take note of these obstacles and focus on them through campaigns like Jefa-Owned (Latino lady boss-owned). “Which in essence aims at getting them ahead, in order to celebrate them and recognize them for being the champions and incredible leaders that they are,” she said. Teasdale gave as an example such champions as Lucy Haro, owner for 15 years of the Qusqo Bistro & Gallery,a restaurant of Peruvian cuisine located in Los Angeles where the Jefas campaign was launched this year. “In the neighborhood one can see so many businesses all around that have been closed, including a giant supermarket, but Teasdale’s still prospers, still has the doors open. She naturally had to learn how to do new things like preparing and organizing food-to-go, and she’s still there doing ingenioius things for artists in the community. It’s probably her natural resilience that keeps her operating, I believe that’s what we have to acknowledge.” This was the second year of the Jefa-Owned campaign meant to highlight the female Latino owners of small food businesses, and it was done in alliance with the famous chef, restaurant owner and author Lorena Garcia. In this context and for National Women’s Month, last March 31 they celebrated National Jefa Day, during which they picked eight Latino businesses in different U.S. cities where the PepsiCo Juntos Crecimos (Together We Grow) campaign paid the bill for the first 200 customers ordering from the pre-selected menu.“From the viewpoint of visibility, it will be enormous for these businesses to be seen, to be identified in the press, to be talked about in the local press, so that people wll go there and enjoy the food, lend their support to the owners, and then with luck, that will put them on the map” Lorena said.
Negocios latinos recibirán ayuda bajo iniciativa de US$50 millones de PepsiCo
