As a mother, you do everything to protect your child. You follow all safety suggestions, laws, and doctors’ advice just to ensure that you get to watch your child grow up and enjoy their life. But what happens when something out of your control threatens the life of your child, and ultimately ends up taking it? What happens when you finally know who played a role in taking away that piece of you? 

Small business is big business in Florida. At least according to the Florida SBDC State of Small Business Report, which finds that the Sunshine State is home to 2.5 million small businesses, employs more than 40 percent of the state’s private-sector workforce, and contributes to nearly 44 percent of the state GDP. Florida is the third most populous state in the United States, boosting the fourth largest state economy in the country, at $1.1 trillion.

Florida has a rich immigrant history. Immigration is responsible for an estimated 30 % of our state’s annual growth, as we have long been a destination for immigrants from all over the world to build their own American Dream. Today, immigrants make up about 20 % of our state’s population, and 394,000 of the immigrants currently living in Florida have started their own businesses, bringing in an estimated $8.1 billion to the economy.