Ford and AOL have gotten together to launch the “first-ever Spanish language entrepreneur hub for Latinos.”

It is called Mi Negocio (“my business”) and is located at www.ford.com/go/minegocio

Here are some juicy stats from Ford’s press release:

About 42 percent of all minority businesses are Hispanic-owned, which is more than any other minority group. Ranks of Hispanic entrepreneurship has jumped 30 percent since 1998, and one out of 10 small businesses will be Hispanic-owned by 2007 – jumping to two million from 1.2 million.*

Hispanics also are among the most Internet-savvy of consumers. There are about 13 million Hispanics online, and the average time Hispanics spend online outpaces that of the general U. S. population, according to a study completed earlier this year by America Online and Roper ASW. The study says nearly half of Hispanics who are now using the Internet went online for the first time within the past two years, and now spend about 9.5 hours a week online. More than half say that access to content in Spanish is important to them.

The San Antonio Express-News has an article on the growing number of bilingual (English and Spanish) ads.

Here’s an excerpt:

There are “more Latinos in the United States than there are Canadians in Canada,” Sosa said.

The Census Bureau has announced Hispanics are the nation’s largest minority group, with a population of 38.8 million. And the Santiago Solutions Group, a national multicultural business strategy team, estimates the purchasing power of Hispanics will hit $675 billion this year.

“We find that smart marketers are doing crossover work more and more because they are recognizing the influential role that Hispanics have,” said Manuel Machado of Miami-based Machado/Garcia-Serra Publicidad and president-elect of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies based in Virginia.

For anyone who says that globalization is a one-sided game in which American is always the winner, I submit Kola Real.

Kola Real, known formally as Industrias Ananos, is giving Coca-Cola a run for its money south of the U.S. border. Based out of Peru, Kola Real has succeed by creating a product a lot like Coca-Cola, but cheaper.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Kola Real is doing pretty well outside of Peru too. It now has 4% of the Mexican cola market – the number one market for Coca-Cola. And it is only just getting started.

Here’s an excerpt:

Coke and Pepsi once vied primarily with each other. Today both are fending off down-market alternatives — either so-called B-brands such as Kola Real or private-label drinks sold by Wal-Mart and other big retail chains. These cheaper rivals can cut into Coke and Pepsi’s profits and make it harder for them to raise prices to offset slowing sales.

The trend goes beyond Latin America. Big retailers in Germany, Great Britain and other European markets are selling more private-label cola, and B-brands are aggressive in Poland and Hungary.

One big reason: the switch to plastic. In the 1990s, plastic bottles largely replaced glass, offering a cheaper alternative that lowered newcomers’ cost of entry in the soft-drink industry. Plastic also allowed larger bottles that could be sold cheaply in supermarkets. Supermarkets provide an important outlet for new competitors because Coke and Pepsi often dominate smaller stores.

Kola Real’s strategy is simple: offer big sizes at low prices. In a Carrefour supermarket in Mexico City, a large display of Big Cola beckons shoppers with a price of about 75 cents for a 2.6-liter bottle. Nearby, bottles of Coke go for about $1.30 for a slightly smaller 2.5-liter bottle. On a recent day, housewife Lourdes Avila put four of the Big Cola bottles in her cart and said: “For that price, I’ll try it.”

In a few years we will see many more Kola-Reals take root and succeed against the major multinationals. Perhaps it is human nature (supporting a local company and an underdog) that helps fuel the success of these start-ups. And perhaps it’s just common sense to go with the cheaper brand of cola. Most likely it is a little of both.