Posted 9:48 am Sunday, July 27, 2008
Business Office Offers Guidance To Hispanic Business Owners
By GREG JUNEK
Business Editor
Ask Hispanics what they need the most to start a business, and they often say information, direction and guidance. And they want to obtain that information from people they can trust.
Business Editor
Ask Hispanics what they need the most to start a business, and they often say information, direction and guidance. And they want to obtain that information from people they can trust.
I’ve always felt, and I think it has been proven, that they have to have confidence in you, know that you’re there and that what you’re doing will be a benefit to them,” said Price Arredondo, director of the Hispanic Business Services office in the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce building.
Since it began, the Hispanic business office has tried to get out get to know the Hispanic business community, he said.
Arredondo’s office is part of the Hispanic Business Alliance established last year. The alliance is a partnership between Tyler Junior College, The University of Texas at Tyler, the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce, foundations and business interests in the community.
Arredondo said he found the Hispanic business community needs support in areas that include having the correct permits to operate and knowing what is required in the city development process.
Probably about 80 percent of the Tyler Hispanic community is immigrant, Arredondo said.
“What we find, the same type of profile of those folks we’re assisting is that the majority of them are probably second generation. We’re helping some third-generation businesses.”
Most of the people the center serves come from a working class, and although they might have had a business in their native country, they are often not used to the kinds of government programs that are offered to small businesses, Arredondo said.
“They have never dealt with government, with banks or with chambers of commerce,” he said. “So, yes, it is a special challenge in that it takes a process to get them connected.”
Jose Lucio, owner of Beckham Shoe Repair, agrees.
“You’ve got to have money, but I think it’s probably more, you know, guidance,” Lucio said. “You can borrow the money, but you’ve got to have the vision of what it takes to do every step.”
SUPPORT
Flor Navas-Jones, president of the Hispanic Business Alliance, said one of the most important things current or future Hispanic business owners should know of is the alliance and its business office in the chamber building.
“What they need the most is to know about this program and to know that there are many agencies in the community that will support them in their venture,” she said.
Arredondo said his office started building database of Hispanic owned businesses shortly after he arrived about a year ago. The database has 600-700 businesses in it.
“I think that there’s probably in the vicinity of maybe 1,000 out there in the Tyler area, and that’s one of the things that we’re trying to do is constantly identify those businesses,” he said.
The center looks at the “doing business as” filings and sales tax permits.
“We get on an average about 15 or 20 businesses a month that have been opened by Hispanic individuals,” Arredondo said.
Arredondo said he sees two segments of the Hispanic business community.
“One is that individual who wants to start a business who has no idea of all the permits that are required, and then that other individual who is already in business and needs to expand or needs assistance,” he said. “What we’ve tried to do is put a mix of programs that will address those two segments of the Hispanic business community.”
For example, Arredondo’s office has assembled a group of CPAs that will help business owners shore up their accounting.
“We’ve identified other resources that we use, because I really don’t see us as duplicating, but really leveraging off of what’s already out here in the community, whether it’s at the SBDC at TJC or the university or other resources that we can access that are either locally here, but we can access even those that are outside of the Tyler area. So through a combination of those efforts, we’ve put together some resources and a group of volunteers through the Hispanic Business Alliance to be able to address some of those needs.”
GROWING POPULATION
Smith County’s population was composed of just less than 10 percent of Hispanic people in 2000, Arredondo said. That percentage has grown to nearly 20 percent.
“It kind of goes along with the statewide trends,” he said.
Arredondo’s office can refer people who need loans to start or expand a business to a micro loan program through Accion Texas.
“The owners might not have a working relationship with a bank, so this is a great opportunity to be able to have a program that fills that need, that underserved market,” he said.
Now, the office hopes to track the businesses and see where they are in their plans in a year.
“They’ve built a history, where, maybe for their next loan they can go to the bank,” Arredondo said. “They’ll have some good financials and a good payment history. It helps a community; it’s part of that economic initiative. It’s a small part, but it’s a very important part.”
Some Hispanic-owned businesses cater to the specific needs of the Hispanic community. Others, such as Lucio’s see people of all ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds.
“It depends on the business and what type of product or service they’re providing,” Mrs. Navas-Jones said. “But I don’t think it’s any different than any other business.”
Do Hispanic business owners want to do business with all sectors of the community?
“Of course, they want to,” Mrs. Navas-Jones said. “They do want to have a diversity within their clientele. They want to have people feeling comfortable coming into their place of business.”
She noted Taqueria El Lugar, a restaurant that drew people from as far as south Tyler at lunch hour to its location on Gentry Parkway, has expanded.
“The Hispanic business owners are not just staying in the northeast side of down; now they’re beginning to venture into the community down south, which is exactly what we wanted,” Mrs. Navas-Jones said. “None of us at the chamber or the Hispanic Business Forum want to have a separate economy; we want the economy to be together.”
