Latino business owners are being underserved by an insurance industry that prioritizes accessibility over education and ultimately leaves these entrepreneurs underinsured and vulnerable.
Over the past decade, Latino-owned businesses have grown by 44%, compared to just 4% among non-Latino firms, according to the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative. Yet this growth hasn't translated into tailored support. Insurance carriers continue to treat Latino clients as an afterthought, offering generic policies with minimal explanation, limited cultural awareness, and little effort to build trust.
Monica Adwani (pictured) has spent nearly 20 years in corporate and independent insurance roles. Raised in Puerto Rico and now based in Massachusetts, she's seen how systemic oversights - from a lack of bilingual agents to performative DEI programs - fail to meet the needs of Latino entrepreneurs. Real inclusion means designing policies with these communities in mind, not just translating the pitch.
"People don't see insurance as something that protects them; they see it as an expense," Adwani said.
For many Latino entrepreneurs, insurance feels like a costly obligation rather than a safeguard. That disconnect comes from a lack of education about how coverage works.
"We need to teach them that, if they have a total loss, the insurance payout will be far greater than what they've paid," Adwani said.
But while buying insurance has never been easier, understanding it hasn't kept pace. Online platforms offer low premiums with little clarity, luring business owners into policies that may leave them exposed.
"There is so much accessibility online, whereas there is very little education," she said. "Saving a few hundred dollars now could cost them their entire business later."
Adwani believes much of the problem lies in how insurance is sold. Translating materials into Spanish isn't enough - it's about resonating with a diverse population's cultural and linguistic nuances.
"Not everything you say in Spanish will resonate with everyone," she said. From Spanish dialects to Portuguese and French influences, Latino communities aren't a monolith. Effective outreach requires understanding, not assumption.
Carriers, she argued, must move beyond generic strategies. It starts with identifying customer personas, assessing their real needs, and building access points that reflect those insights.
"One is identifying the persona. Second, identifying the needs. And third, making it accessible."
With some insurance companies scaling back DEI programs, Adwani warned of long-term fallout.
"Without DEI-driven design, they won't consider language needs, structures, community values," she said.
The consequences are tangible: generic products that don't reflect community realities and leave Latino business owners chronically underinsured.
"You cannot find one Latina – or any minority, for that matter – that finds insurance valuable," Adwani said.
The trust deficit is made worse by the industry's lack of representation. Adjusters and agents often don't speak the language, and claims get mishandled or denied - not because they're invalid, but because the client can't communicate.
"I've been doing this for 18 years, and I have yet to encounter a bilingual adjuster," she said.
It's not just a service issue; it's a compliance risk. Without culturally competent licensing, training, or accountability structures, Adwani warned of growing exposure to errors and omissions.
Beyond systemic design flaws, Adwani pointed to institutional bias. She recalled how a Black-owned agency had to "beg for five years" for a carrier appointment. Her experience breaking ground as the first Latina to be recognized and win industry public awards in Massachusetts insurance sharpened her view.
"I've been the first Latina female to break barriers within the industry here, but how come I have to be the first one, and there hasn't been another one since me?" she said.
That visibility has come at a cost. When she began focusing on Latino clients, Adwani lost long-standing relationships.
"I had relationships of 16 years that, when I decided to focus on the Latino community, they stopped talking to me,” she said. “Carriers that do not want to appoint me because I work with the Latino industry."
Her outlook changed dramatically after she experienced the exclusion herself.
"When I was not serving the Latino community, I thought that people were exaggerating. When I crossed that bridge and I'm here now, I know it's not an exaggeration, because I have felt it myself."
Adwani doesn't believe the solution lies in lower premiums or flashy DEI pledges. Latino business owners need practical, culturally competent support: risk consulting, flexible payment options, and insurance products tailored to their realities.
"I don't think Latino businesses want cheaper insurance. I think they want insurance that makes sense for their reality."
What's at stake is more than market share - it's legacy.
"I feel that carriers without DEI, they are missing on the opportunity of helping create legacy businesses," she said. "They're missing on breaking the systematic disadvantage that these communities need."
For Adwani, the mission is clear: meet communities where they are, with the tools they need, and build lasting trust.
"When we meet them where they are, with flexible tools and empathetic support," she said, "we don't just earn clients, we empower and keep an entire community together."
