¡Bienvenidos a Miami! ICIC and Hispanic Small Biz Take Over the Sunshine State

Above: Gloria Estefan, with members of USHCC as she accepts the 2011 Ultimate Latina award

This past week I’ve been spending some time in Miami. No, no. Not vacation. I wish! Instead, I flew down on behalf of ICIC to join the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for its 32^nd Annual Convention (you can follow Twitter feed updates at #USHCC32). Here, the Latino community came together to learn from one another and celebrate stories of job growth and economic value-creation.

The convention is especially important to ICIC because – for the first time – USHCC has teamed up with us as a nominating partner for the 2012 Inner City 100. As a partner, they nominate companies from within their own network for the program, and then galvanize local chambers to nominate companies as well.

How did we secure them as a nominating partner? Well, the connection between ICIC and USHCC runs deeper than you might imagine. Indeed, the current USHCC chairwoman is Nina Vaca-Humrichouse. Name sound familiar? Nina is a formal Inner City 100 Winner! She’s the CEO of Pinnacle Technical Resources, a company based out of Dallas.

ICIC could not be happier to see one of its own achieve such a high-level position within such a diverse and ever-expanding business community. At the convention, a representative from Visa (one of the event’s sponsors) called Nina an inspiration to many. We couldn’t agree more. Congrats, Nina!

The convention kicked off with an energetic opening ceremony Sunday night at the Fontainebleau Hotel in South Beach, and from there did not lose any steam. 

On Monday, attendees picked a track of workshops to attend depending on whether they were a Hispanic Business Enterprise (HBE), a corporate partner of the USHCC or a local chamber.  For small businesses, presentations on subjects like social media, technology and capital were provided to equip Latino CEOs with the tools necessary to scale their operations. 

As the manager of the Inner City 100 program, I found it encouraging that the USHCC was providing these resources to the fastest-growing ethnic demographic of small business owners in the United States—Hispanics. These resources will allow HBEs to scale their operations, hire new employees and ultimately – provide a net benefit to the overall economy. 

During lunch, we were treated to keynote speeches from Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Galina Espinoza of Latina magazine and Maria Elena Salinas of Noticiero Univision. Univision honored local native Gloria Estefan (and yes, the Miami Sound Machine was there, looking as stunning as ever!) as their 2011 Ultimate Latina recipient for her tireless efforts to bring Latinos into both the economic and the political landscape of our nation.

Afterward, HBEs attending the convention were able to participate in the USHCC Business Matchmaking Session. Here they were paired with procurement officials from government agencies and Fortune 500 companies to learn how to scale their operations in order to do business with larger clients.  It was also a great opportunity for these small businesses to network as they try to wade their way through corporate or government procurement systems—which are notoriously like trying to run a marathon when the furthest you’ve ever run was around the block. 

Tuesday then opened up with the Million Dollar Club Breakfast, which honored select companies (generally the larger Fortune 500-types) that had integrated HBEs into their procurement and strategic sourcing strategies.   For example, though AT&T, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson and Ford had procured anywhere between $100 million to $500 million in contracts with HBEs over the previous year, Wal-Mart had spent approximately $2 billion.  Given that approximately 40% of inner city firms are comprised of minority entrepreneurs, ICIC is thrilled to see these large corporate firms address social responsibility by bringing commerce and jobs into both minority and urban communities. 

Towards the end of the day, HBEs were welcomed to the Business Expo so they could explore additional contracts with supplier diversity and procurement officials.  Many local chambers such as the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce had booths here to connect people to local chambers. 

The Business Expo had a “halftime,” so to speak, with the Hispanic Business Enterprise Elite Luncheon where the USHCC recognizes Hispanic-owned businesses that have demonstrated impressive leadership and contributed to the strength of their communities through fast revenue growth and job creation.  Three of the companies recognized at this year’s luncheon were the Related Group of Miami, NextGen of St. Louis and InGenesis of San Antonio—all three of which have been nominated by the USHCC for the 2012 Inner City 100.  It was exciting to see these companies get the recognition they deserve for creating shared value with their community.

My hat goes off to the USHCC for a tremendous event that was truly a showcase for the arrival of Latino-owned businesses.  Like USHCC, we here at ICIC want to give minority-owned businesses tools to keep moving towards the next stage of growth. We have programs for management education and access to networks that will help small business owners continue to grow their operations through its Inner City 100 and Inner City Capital Connections programs.  To nominate for either one of these programs, please visit us online.

BY Alex Rodriguez on September 22nd, 2011

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