Business Basics : Latino Forum Focuses on Financing Options, Entrepreneurial Tips

Three years after she struggled to start her own Spanish-language magazine, Silvia Ichar wishes she knew then what she learned in just four hours on Saturday.

Ichar was one of about 100 small-business owners who attended the first business-finance forum held by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Orange County in Santa Ana.

“I’m pleased to see so many people coming here for the information I should have gotten three years ago,” she said. “Ninety percent of what happened to me I never anticipated because of my little knowledge.”

The forum, co-sponsored by the Small Business Administration, brought together three dozen lenders including commercial banking giants, small community banks and CDC Small Business Finance Corp., a nonprofit that facilitates loans for start-up companies.

“Right now is the best time to be looking for money if you’re a small business, because the options have never been better,” said Frederic Anthony, an assistant vice president for community development at Wells Fargo Bank. “I think there’s enough for all of us to take a piece of the profitability pie.”

If the corner bank where they keep their checking account denies them loans, many business owners think they’re finished, said Hispanic Chamber board member Henry Mendoza.

“A lot of these people have no idea where to go,” he said. “This is basically to help them learn what alternatives are out there.”

In addition to making the lenders available, organizers offered discussions of networking, credit awareness, creating a business plan and other topics. Seminars were given simultaneously in English and Spanish.

“People assume if you’re in business, you speak English,” Anthony said. “That may be the case, but there’s a comfort level.”

Enrique Turret, owner of the 10-year-old Maggis Cleaning Services of Mission Viejo, said he came Saturday to learn about financing options.

“I’m trying to find out what kind of opportunities are there to try to expand,” he said.

Mendoza said Latino small-business owners, like their counterparts from other ethnic backgrounds, simply want information they can use to grow their companies.

“They want to be part of the American Dream. ‘How do I make money? How do I keep it?’ ” he said. “It’s easy to build a widget in your garage; how do you take that to the next level?”

When Ichar started Para Todos, a San Juan Capistrano-based bimonthly she now plans to expand into Los Angeles County, she didn’t know where to get loans. She didn’t realize the importance of having a business plan, not only as a guide for her company’s growth but also to show potential lenders she knows what she’s doing with her company.

“I was devastated with the expenses and the time I was investing,” she said. “Now I feel like I’ve domesticated the beast and I can start enjoying it.”