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Arizona is home to local business leaders of diverse backgrounds and expertise, and the Fuerza Local Business Accelerator Program is designed to support local Latino business owners.

Local First Arizona, a nonprofit that supports local business, established Fuerza Local to help Latino business owners strengthen their financial and business skills. 聽

鈥淔uerza Local was established in 2013 and now today we have graduated nearly 400 Latino business owners,鈥� said Tanair铆 Ochoa-Mart铆nez, Fuerza Local director. 鈥淪o, it is a unique six-month business accelerator program that is solely in Spanish, all of our curriculum is in Spanish and is taught by concept experts,鈥�

Participants must attend 17 courses throughout the six-month period and there is a graduation celebration at the end where the participants are gifted a $1,000-scholarship toward their business, Ochoa-Mart铆nez explained.

Fuerza Local offers a variety of useful lessons for business owners, including a cultural money-saving tool.

鈥淎ny good business owner needs to have a practice of savings, right? We鈥檙e showing them that a Tanda, more culturally in Latin America, is used to help people when they鈥檙e in need,鈥� Ochoa-Mart铆nez said.

The Tanda consists of a group joining together to gather money from the members and rotate loaning the collected money to a group member.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a very old tradition of saving money and helping people in need, but we do it the more modern way,鈥� Ochoa-Mart铆nez said.

The payments are reported to Experian, a credit reporting company, to help the business owners establish or build credit.

In addition to strengthening the participants鈥� financial literacy, Fuerza Local connects them with business leaders who can help with other professional skills.

鈥淎ll the instructors are local business leaders that are bilingual and content experts and they also become mentors,鈥� Ochoa-Mart铆nez said.

Local business leaders help the participants improve professional skills and connect with the community. The participants can also connect with- and learn from- each other.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a really diverse mix of students that participate in the classes from the ages 18 all the way to 80,鈥� Ochoa-Mart铆nez explained. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really strong cohort of diversity and different backgrounds.鈥�

Ochoa-Mart铆nez said Local First Arizona works to 鈥渟trengthen the local economy of Arizona through different aspects and we have a lot of different programming going on.鈥�

She added, 鈥淚t鈥檚 building that trust and supporting local businesses and just creating that sense of community鈥� It鈥檚 really connecting everyone at the end of the day.鈥�

Fuerza Local operates in seven communities and is recruiting participants. Those interested can learn more and apply at .