Mexico contributes to Pennsylvania’s economic development

The importance of Mexico in Pennsylvania’s economy is relevant. According to Mexico’s titular consul in Philadelphia, Carlos Obrador Garrido Cuesta, our country is strategic since it is Pennsylvania’s third largest trading partner and has bilateral trade that amounts to $12.1 billion.

Likewise, Mexico is its second largest export market, after Canada, with a value of $458 million according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity and is also the main buyer of agricultural products from Pennsylvania, including the agricultural economy is based on the production and marketing of corn and sorghum. , wheat, among other crops. Around 200,000 jobs are generated each year through this bilateral trade.

The Mexican companies present in Pennsylvania are very diverse, there are those with large capital like Grupo Bimbo, which in the United States generated 33,736 jobs in 2020 thanks to its organization Bimbo Bakeries USA, or GRUMA, a leading company in sales of packaged tortillas and sale of corn flour.

There are also small and medium-sized businesses that, in the case of Philadelphia (city in Pennsylvania), cover a very large and recognized sector of catering, services, stores, boutiques and even tortilla shops. However, beyond the significant economic benefit generated by these businesses, the Mexican community has succeeded in transforming the spaces in which it settles.

Such is the case of 9th Street in Philadelphia, famous for its Mexican market whose origins date back 30 years, when a group of people from the state of Puebla settled in New York decided to migrate to Philadelphia and install a series of businesses in the region. who, at that time, suffered from unemployment, crime, lack of attention and abandonment. Today, 9th Street is a space of convergence of the Latin and Italian community with great economic and tourist dynamism.

The state of Pennsylvania and in particular the city of Philadelphia, offers great opportunities for people who want to start a business and belong to the migrant community, said Consul Carlos Obrador Garrido, so they have developed policies appropriate public authorities and even the city of Philadelphia has the Office of Immigrant Affairs whose goal is to implement policies and programs to guarantee access to services that strengthen the well-being of immigrant communities in Philadelphia (Office of Immigrant Affairs | Home page | City of Philadelphia (phila.gov).

Likewise, the Mexican Consulate in Philadelphia has managed to establish important alliances to guarantee the economic development and financial inclusion of the migrant community, such as the link with Widener University through which interested people can be part of an entrepreneurship program; or financial institutions such as the Community First Fund which provides mortgages regardless of people’s immigration status or Chase Bank which makes it easier to open bank accounts, as well as accounting firms which help understand the ecosystem of paying taxes.

Thanks to the consulate’s financial inclusion window, people of Mexican origin are guided in accessing these services as well as in business creation procedures such as obtaining operating licenses, specific licenses depending on the sector activity, obtaining ITIN number or personal tax identification number for paying taxes, marketing questions and even commercial links.

In the state of Pennsylvania, the Latino community represents approximately 8.6% of the total population with 1,049,615 residents. Of these, 166,899 people, or about 15%, are of Mexican origin or ancestry according to the United States Census Bureau with 2020 figures. This is undoubtedly a state of opportunities in which the Mexican community and Mexico – Americana stands out for its tenacity, its talent, its work and for the fact that it always wears its cultural heritage with pride.

In this context, the consular representation of Mexico in Philadelphia will host the inauguration of the Fourth Edition of the Consular Entrepreneurship Program for Mexican Women Abroad which will begin this September 18 and through which participating women will obtain a series of tools which will allow them to start their businesses with greater opportunities for success.