Latino businesses get new advocate

A local Latino business group launched Thursday, calling itself “the go-to organization” for companies wanting to tap into the Obama administration’s stimulus package.

And although most agree there’s room for another group advocating for Latino-owned businesses, there is debate over what the Latino Business Chamber of Greater Los Angeles will do that isn’t already being done.

The Latino Business Chamber says it offers increased access to top Washington decision makers such as Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke.

“We’ve already had meetings with Geithner and Bernanke and . . . we’re in a position now to advocate for small business in a way the other groups in the area just can’t,” said Jorge Corralejo, chairman of the Latino Business Chamber. “We see a void in terms of what is being offered for small businesses in Los Angeles, and we’re addressing that.”

The chamber also will help local businesses navigate government procedures to tap into stimulus funds and planned green-energy projects, said Bob Holguin, the chamber’s director of business assistance programs. Equipping Latino business owners with skills and resources they don’t already have is another part of the group’s goals, Holguin said.

“It’s going to be more than workshops and seminars,” Holguin said. “We will be providing one-on-one CPA assistance. We’re helping businesses with their marketing plans and identifying their demographic markets. We’ll be able to use our resources to get businesses the things they need to survive and grow in this economy, things that they wouldn’t be able to get themselves.”

The Latino chamber will be able to provide loans and arrange microloan programs to businesses that can’t get a loan from a bank, he said.

Ruben Guerra, chairman of the 35-year-old Latin Business Assn., said he was happy to see a new group form but saw little distinction in what’s being offered by the two.

“There is nothing new that they’re providing that isn’t already provided by every other chamber in Los Angeles,” Guerra said. “But the more the merrier. We support all those who support our community.”

The Latino Business Chamber, he said, is essentially a smaller version of the Latin Business Assn.

“They’re going to be centralized here in L.A., and we’re essentially a national organization,” Guerra said. “We’re based in Southern California and we haven’t forgotten about our community, but we have offices across the state and we have a history of people working in D.C.”

The difference between the Latino Business Chamber and L.A.’s other Latino business groups is in their approaches, said Richard Davis, chief executive of U.S. Bancorp, which has pledged $300,000 over three years to the chamber.

“The Latino Business Chamber will be reaching out to local businesses, while the existing groups seem to have more of a ‘let them come to us’ take on things,” Davis said.

Hugo Merida, president of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, said the new chamber could fill a void.

“I don’t think it’s going to be an overlap between the two of us, but they just started, so we’ll see,” Merida said of the Latino Business Chamber. “As long as they are transparent and they really want to help local businesses, they will survive. If they exist just for personal interests and not for the interests of the community, then they will disappear.”

The Latin Business Assn. focuses “more on the corporate America side of things,” he said, while the Hispanic organization concentrates on helping small and immigrant-owned businesses, supporting fair-trade agreements between Latin America and the U.S. and finding ways to strengthen economies in Latin American countries.

The shared focus on small business at the Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and the Latino Business Chamber could be good for local Latino entrepreneurs, Merida said.

“There is room for all of us,” he said.

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