TAMPA, Fla. — Continuing our Hispanic Heritage Month coverage, the city of Tampa is welcoming a new director of economic opportunity: Javier Marin, a Colombian native who has spent years attracting businesses to the state of Florida.

What You Need To Know

  • The city of Tampa's new director of economic opportunity is Javier Marin

  • Marin's job is not only to help businesses get off on the right foot, but help them invest in their surroundings

  • With about 107,000 Hispanics in Tampa, Marin says he wants to help others new to the area achieve their American dream

Marin said his new position is an opportunity for growth, not only for him, but for the city as well.

“Just a great sense of community here in Tampa and, I think, that’s what makes us very unique,” he said.

For Marin, Tampa is home, but he said it wasn’t always that.

“I was born in Colombia," he said. "I moved to the U.S. in 1984 — I was 17 at the time. We moved to the New York-New Jersey area. I spoke no English at the time but I had the opportunity to finish high school and go to college.”

Some would say that Marin is the epitome of the American dream. After coming here with his family in the hopes of obtaining a better quality of life, he now gets to help others achieve that dream.

“It has been very rewarding," Marin said. "It is a way to contribute to your local community by identifying companies that may want to move into a location and create more jobs.”

For the last 10 years, Marin has been involved in economic development with experience in global trade and foreign investment — skills he obtained while working as a banker. His job now is not only to help businesses get off on the right foot, but to get them to invest in their surroundings.

“It’s not just about helping companies, but also helping the employees and making sure we work with different partners to upskill people," Marin said.

Sometimes that entails visiting partners face-to-face — partners like Prospera, a Tampa nonprofit that works to help Hispanic-owned businesses succeed.

“We’re looking at 107,000 Hispanics in Tampa,” Marin said, noting that sometimes there are struggles along the way.

“In many cases, people have great ideas," he said. "They have a strong business acumen but they just don’t speak the language at the level that they would need to get some assistance.

"So their ability to come here — to speak their own language, to build something out of their ideas and a business plan — it’s just a great thing because it shows the American dream is real and that anyone can achieve it.”

As Tampa's director of economic opportunity, Marin said he hopes he can make it easier for others to achieve that dream.

“Our belief in that anything is possible, and helping those small businesses grow, is really what makes a city a great city to be in,” he said.