California’s First-Ever Southeast Asian Business Study Launched to Further Upward Economic Mobility for Local Business Owners

Dao Lor grew up on a small family farm and has lived the struggles facing many Southeast Asian business and agricultural communities firsthand. He now serves as The Fresno Center Program Manager and Steering Committee Chair of SCALE Fresno. His mother arrived in the United States with only a fourth- to fifth-grade education and turned to the craftsmanship she knew best. But local business models weren't built to support her, or other Southeast Asian refugees like her.

Unique challenges were posed for Southeast Asian entrepreneurs and farmers because they were not considered an underserved population by the government and therefore were not provided with additional resources. Hmong and Laotian populations were categorized as part of the broader Asian population, who were studied statistically and demonstrated overall high performance in business metrics, which is a stark contrast from these communities' daily realities. In 1975, many Hmong and Laotian people resettled in the U.S. after fleeing violent political persecution. "These refugees came to this country with nothing and pursued business because it was a way of surviving, so a lot of these business owners and farmers do not have formal training," Dao said.

Dao was inspired to change the trajectory for Southeast Asian business owners after becoming painfully aware of the lack of resources to support their endeavors. "There were no concrete studies that showed what the Southeast Asian community is going through," Dao said. "We came to the U.S. as refugees and quickly discovered no one was there to help. The Southeast Asian community is not getting the assistance that they need from the government." He became aware, he said, "that the system was not set up to champion us."

As the county with the largest Hmong population in California, at nearly 37,300 Hmong residents, Fresno County was selected as the first-ever California region to undergo a comprehensive Southeast Asian business study. The study was launched with $150,000 from the James Irvine Foundation. Alongside Dao Lor, Access Plus Capital CEO Tate Hill and Vice President of Impact Ushan Samarakone commissioned the Southeast Asian Business Study. Ushan, who recently passed away, was a strong proponent of uplifting the Southeast Asian community and was memorialized at the September 17^th SCALE Fresno Summit commencement with a moment of silence. He is credited with creating the itinerary for the inaugural summit.

The study underscored the challenges faced by Southeast Asian business owners. “It’s nice to see concrete data on paper and not just my assumptions,” Dao said. The study unveiled that nearly 75% of the 205 study respondents had never applied for a business loan. For Southeast Asian business owners, poor credit, a lack of understanding of the loan application process and an inability to secure lending were highlighted as key obstacles. “It’s cultural to not go into debt at the start of business,” Dao said, regarding why Southeast Asian business owners are discouraged from securing loans. Other challenges for Southeast Asian business owners include a lack of marketing and price point knowledge and the rising cost of rent and supplies.

Dao intends for the study to result in transformative change for the Southeast Asian business and farming communities. “The impact is raising awareness of the need; it is coaching business owners on lending practices”, Dao said. “This is the need and the baseline to where we want to land.” Dao is hopeful that summit attendees will share ideas from the summit in their own counties to replicate the study and that donors will support SCALE Fresno. He would also like for there to be a more intentional focus on providing Southeast Asian business owners with technical assistance. “There should be cultural competency and the elimination of technical business jargon for explaining concepts to business owners, who may not have received any formal training in their fields”, Dao said.

Progress toward greater economic inclusion for the Southeast Asian community is already happening. Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria is working to pass a funding policy that will enable small family farmers to secure money for their first agricultural land purchases.

To read the results from the Southeast Asian Business Study, click here. For information on donating or to learn how you else you can support the Southeast Asian business and farming communities, visit www.scalefresno.org/southeast-asian-business-study and follow SCALE Fresno on LinkedIn @SCALEFresno.