The Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce, which launched a business network last year to support Latino entrepreneurs, has announced that the Hispanic social business network has grown quite a bit in just a few months.

Latino entrepreneurs are networking like ever before. According to the Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce's (HISCEC) recent release, its private business network has reached more than 5,000 users in the short time since its autumn launch last year, "making it one of the fastest growing Hispanic private business networks in the country."

"The Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce is a social enterprise, using the power of business for social good, "said German M. Bravo, Chief Technology Officer for the Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce in the release. "Our business model allows us to be financially self-sustaining, providing thousands of business owners a free platform to connect, build business relationships and grow their businesses."

HISCEC launched its network for Latino entrepreneurs knowing that some business owners might be a little intimidated by enterprise requirements of the new digital world: building a webpage, networking, getting exposure, and figuring out other technical details.

When the organization announced the launch of its business network in early Sept. 2013, as we previously reported, 58 percent of businesses in the U.S. still did not have a web presence -- a statistic that only grew higher when applied to the Latino business community.

HISCEC's "Get Hispanic Businesses Online" initiative launched with the goal of getting 100,000 Hispanic-owned businesses up and running on the internet, providing web presence-building tools, marketing support, and other internet business tools to help promote e-commerce and foster growth.

"The Hispanic Chamber of E-commerce offers internet marketing services that help to promote businesses in a way that's out-of-the-box creatively and in tempo with today's marketplace. We want to foster the adoption of Internet business tools to help Hispanic-owned businesses to become more competitive," said Tayde Aburto, Founder of the Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce at launch. "We do it using a user-friendly platform with a private social network, E-Commerce and marketing tools. Simply put, our organization is all about securing relationships that increase sales, business' competitiveness and create a healthy bottom line for everyone involved," 

At the time of launch, these tools were priced at $100 per year, but according to the most recent release, HISCEC has made basic membership its private business network free.

"We truly love small business owners and are passionate for the ongoing success of Hispanic-owned companies, in all industries and across the United States," said Aburto. "That's why we make membership, including a full range of basic services, available completely for free. We are the only Hispanic business association of our kind to do this, and it is entirely because of our true zeal for seeing Hispanic businesses thrive on the Internet and in the communities that they serve."

Feeling entrepreneurial? You can check out HISCEC and some of its members at the Latino iConnect conference in San Diego on March 5.