HispanicBusiness

Rather than circling the wagons and trusting no one, Mr. Rivera took a step that many entrepreneurs find difficult: He began delegating, and surprisingly, he realized he had to entrust even more to his employees.

“Being able to let go means you must trust people,” he says. “I trust the people around me. A lot of them were my friends before. Two of my brothers work for me, my brother-in-law works for me, and the people who work around me are very close.”

About the time of the embezzlement incident, Spectrum Communications found a niche in the marketplace that would allow it to compete against such big-name rivals as Lucent Technologies, AT&T, Pacific Bell, and GTE. In 1996, the company was awarded the contract to integrate networking technology for the Riverlink Project, the first wide-scale deployment of communications networking technology in California’s education system. School clients this year include the Corona-Norco, Pomona, and Palm Springs unified school districts.

To ensure that Spectrum’s time continues, Mr. Rivera is moving to diversify. Two years ago, he realized that his company was connecting kids to the Internet.

“There’s a lot of material on the Internet that’s inappropriate for kids,” he says. “At that point I realized there would need to be some sort of filtration system – there would be a law to require filtering. So I came up with a company called Safe Sites, which provides sites suitable for kids.”

Now called Meshworx, the wholly owned subsidiary of Spectrum Communications promises to tap new sources of revenue in the future. For the next five years, Mr. Rivera says, he would like to see Spectrum continue on the infrastructure side and be diversified into Internet products through Meshworx. He also hopes to open two new offices, in San Diego and San Francisco or Sacramento.

“When I start thinking about all the things I’ve done, as a kid and as an adult, I see it’s kind of been in my blood to be an entrepreneur,” he says. “It wasn’t about the money to start with. I like the money, but the fun part has always been having a challenge.”

Selection of the Entrepreneur of the Year

The Entrepreneur of the Year 2000 was selected from a pool of more than 300 candidates nominated by HISPANIC BUSINESS readers and Hispanic CEOs. An analysis of financial performance for 1998 and 1999 narrowed the pool to 10 finalists. A panel of judges then reviewed the finalists’ application data and scored their responses to questions regarding business performance, management, employee training and development, and involvement in fostering entrepreneurship.

The judging process for Entrepreneur of the Year requires the nominees to submit sensitive company financial data and is therefore strictly confidential. Judges and all those concerned with selection of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award are committed to upholding and maintaining that confidentiality.

This year’s judges were Glenn Yago, director of capital studies, the Milken Institute, Santa Monica, California; Antonio Bernardo, assistant professor of finance, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA; J. Mario Molina, CEO, Molina Healthcare, Long Beach, California; Rocky Delgadillo, deputy mayor, Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, Los Angeles; and Mabel Tinjaca, author of the book Visiones: Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the United States, Overland Park, Kansas.

EOY Finalists

Edward Gonzalez
G&G Advertising, Orlando, FL ● $16.8 million