Business barriers? … Group aims to help Hispanic entrepreneurs succeed

They’re already tough tasks: Applying for a start-up loan, navigating the maze of small-business regulation, catering to broad markets.

Add a language barrier or cultural differences, and the difficulties of entrepreneurship multiply.

By Megan Hinds
Times-News writer

http://www.magicvalley.com/news/business/index.asp?StoryID=5800

That hasn’t escaped business leaders’ attention. A group designed to provide support for Hispanic business professionals in Mini-Cassia has reorganized.

The area’s Hispanic Business Association is again holding meetings and recruiting members, said Joan Asson, executive director of the Mini-Cassia Chamber of Commerce.

The group originally formed in 1999 in Rupert but "died out" due to lack of community support and participation, Asson said. Renewed interest in the association is a result of the increasing number of Hispanic-owned businesses in Mini-Cassia. But few of those businesses belong to the chamber, Asson said.

"Over the years, we’ve had a huge amount of Hispanic-owned businesses come into the area," she said. "They aren’t in the minority anymore — we’re fortunate to have them."

For example, about 60 percent of the businesses around Rupert’s town square are Hispanic-owned, said Susie Rios of the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor’s Mini-Cassia Job Service. Rios is part of a group of businesswomen who are working with the chamber to reorganize the Hispanic Business Association.

That number alone proves the need for a business association that can serve as a conduit between the Mini-Cassia chamber and Hispanic business professionals, Asson said.

Universal challenges — compounded by language

The challenges all business owners face when starting out can be compounded for Hispanic business owners, especially for those who are more comfortable speaking Spanish, Rios said.

"Any employer lacks information on how to start a business — a lot of times they might not understand rules and regulations that they need to know," Rios said. "If you have a language barrier, that makes it more difficult."

Rios was a chamber member when she owned Plaza Azteca in Burley, a clothing shop that specialized in dresses for weddings, proms and quinceaneras. She recently closed the family-operated business when her daughters went to college.

"It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do," Rios said.

Now, in addition to her work at Job Service, she does the accounting work for her husband Jorge’s business, JR Pivot Service in Burley. The couple plans to join the chamber again through Jorge’s business, Susie Rios said.

Jorge Rios, who is originally from the Mexican state of Jalisco, came to the United States years ago and worked in California’s agriculture industry while taking English as a Second Language classes. He then trained to become a journeyman, skilled in electricity and irrigation systems. After working part time for an irrigation company in Burley for several years, he started JR Pivot Service three years ago.

Tapping into the larger community

About 90 percent of the Hispanic-owned businesses in Mini-Cassia are owned by Mexican immigrants like Jorge Rios, said retired Burley businesswoman Gladys Esquibel, who also is working to reorganize the Hispanic Business Association.

Many Latinos originally came to Mini-Cassia for seasonal agricultural work, Esquibel said. But as years passed, more Latinos who owned businesses in their native countries came to the area to join their families and to start businesses to serve the area’s Latino community.

That’s another area where a Hispanic business group can step in to help, said Alice Whitney, president of the Hispanic Business Association in Boise. There’s a good reason Hispanic business owners, especially those originally from Mexico, may be reluctant to join a chamber of commerce, she said.

"In Mexico, only the rich join chambers," Whitney said. "(Everyone else) is too busy making a living. It comes down to, ‘Am I going to give $100 to the chamber, or am I going to put it in inventory?"

Hispanic business groups can help local chambers of commerce to explain the value of joining the chamber, like business promotion and networking opportunities, Whitney said. And the groups can help business owners understand the importance of catering to all consumers instead of only a niche group, she said.

While Hispanic-owned businesses can fill a niche for the Hispanic community, businesses must be careful not to alienate the community as a whole, she said.

"They should ask themselves, ‘What does my community want from me, and who am I serving?’" Whitney said.

One way of looking at the issue is by looking at supermarkets, Whitney said.

If a mainstream supermarket closes and a Hispanic business owner purchases the store, the new owner should keep similar inventory to what was in the store previously, while expanding a section of goods for its Hispanic customers, she said.

Filling the entire supermarket with inventory that caters predominantly to Hispanic customers could alienate the store’s non-Hispanic customers, and in turn, create animosity within the community as a whole.

"It’s about the integration of our communities," Whitney said. "(Hispanic business owners) need someone to come in and say, ‘Maybe you’ve narrowed your focus too much.’"

Model organization

Boise’s Hispanic Business Association serves as a model for members of the Mini-Cassia group, Esquibel said, especially in its community outreach work.

Among other accomplishments, the Boise chapter has created a statewide Hispanic business directory, hosts career development seminars and career days, participates in trade shows promoting Hispanic businesses and runs an internship program and a scholarship fund.

The Boise chapter also serves as Idaho’s chapter of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a national organization that serves as a network for Hispanic businesses.

"They’ve done a tremendous amount of work," Esquibel said.

Mini-Cassia association members plan to work with Boise chapter members to collaborate on projects and establish similar programs, Esquibel said.

The first steps to establish Mini-Cassia’s Hispanic Business Association took place July 13. Chamber executive Asson called on Esquibel and the other businesswomen to identify and contact potential members, Esquibel said.

Through door-to-door visits and phone calls, the group identified more than 60 Hispanic Mini-Cassia business owners and invited them to the group’s first meeting July 13. Almost a quarter of those invited turned out — mostly owners of businesses on Rupert’s square, Esquibel said.

The meeting was a success, Esquibel said, due in part to the efforts of the chamber to cater to those who prefer to speak Spanish in business matters. Asson spoke to the group in English, while Esquibel translated.

"Probably everybody there could speak a little English," Esquibel said. "But coming to an all-English chamber meeting would pose issues for some people. There was a need to communicate so everyone could feel comfortable."

Times-News business writer Megan Hinds can be reached at 735-3238 or [email protected].