ALFREDO M. AMEZCUA : An Emerging Hispanic Force : Growth Spurs Chamber to Look Beyond Borders

Some might have considered the setting grim. But because the company promised to be good, more than 250 business people showed up for cocktails and shop talk in a rose garden fronting the main chapel at Melrose Abbey Mortuary in Anaheim.

The tree-lined garden is where relatives and friends converge to mourn the loss of a loved one. But on this quiet Thursday evening in late May, it had been reserved for the monthly mixer of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Orange County.

“In meeting there, we’re not saying that we’re a dead or dying organization,” said Alfredo M. Amezcua, a Santa Ana lawyer. “We wanted to show that we’re not picky about where we meet, and we do not discriminate so long as they support the chamber’s goals of developing the Hispanic business community.”

Indeed, his organization is far from dead. In fact, as the newly elected president of the 3-year-old trade group, Amezcua is the head of one of the fastest-growing nonprofit organizations in Orange County.

When it began, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Orange County had fewer than 25 members and was not seen as a key player in the county’s economic development. Today, the chamber has approximately 500 members, among them some of Orange County’s largest corporations and most respected entrepreneurs--people such as Fernando Niebla, who owns one of the largest minority-owned, high-tech manufacturing concerns in the nation. Lately, the chamber has taken on a new importance as talks on a U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement appear to be moving ahead.

Even Washington acknowledges the growing importance of the group. When President Bush visited Orange County in April to meet with the prime minister of Japan, he also met with Southland Latino business leaders--one of whom was a chamber member, to drum up support for the pact.

Amezcua’s (his name is pronounced ah-MEZ-qua) goal is to double the chamber’s membership by the end of 1992.

Last month, the U.S. Census Bureau released figures showing that the number of Latino-owned businesses in Orange County grew by 82%, to 9,683 between 1982 and 1987. Those figures ranked Orange County the sixth-largest center for Latino business in the nation.

Amezcua plans to tap the chamber’s wealth of market information--which includes the buying habits and customs of the county’s 564,828 Latinos--to use in persuading more corporations to become sponsors. With more corporate support for the chamber, Amezcua says, he believes his group can create more ambitious programs for Latinos who own small businesses in the county.

In a recent interview with Times staff writer Cristina Lee, Amezcua discussed the growth of the county’s Latino-owned businesses and, as leader of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, what he plans for the organization.

Q. Recently, the Census Bureau released its latest figures on Hispanic-owned businesses, which show a tremendous increase in Orange County. What accounts for this growth?

A. The 1990 census results showed that Orange County’s Hispanic population rose to about 23% of the county’s population. If you would include the undocumented individuals, I would venture to say that the county’s Hispanic population could easily be over 25%.

As the Hispanic population grows, so will the number of businesses that serve this ethnic community. This is the major factor in the growth of Hispanic business in Orange County.

We’ve seen two types of business growth. One comes from the new legalized Hispanic individuals--those who obtained permanent residence through the Immigration Reform Act of 1986. These are the individuals reluctant to do any real investment or any long-range planning for their future in the United States until they felt they could stay permanently.

From our estimate and discussions with officials from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, we have close to--if not a little bit over--200,000 individuals who qualified for immigrant status in Orange County. When you compare that data to our total county population, we’re talking about 8.3% of the county’s 2.4-million population. And a significant number of that percentage of Hispanics--made up largely of Mexicans--are becoming pretty much settled, and they’re willing to take a risk in business and make long-range investments.

This is one segment of our population that has taken advantage of the entrepreneurial spirit of this country. We found that this segment is providing services that are associated with customs in Mexico, so many go into the restaurant business and provide food from certain parts of Mexico. We also found that this group tends to be very loyal to brand names of basic home products that they came to know when they first arrived in this country, and we found that this brand loyalty is easily passed on to the next generation.

Q. What about the second segment of Hispanic business people?

A. The second segment is native-born Americans of Mexican descent, who have basically captured the opportunity to reach out to the Hispanic community and provide services and products that are culturally sensitive and useful to the Hispanic population. These products and services are sold through the Hispanic media.

A good example is Hispanic attorneys like me. A lot of us nowadays have developed practices to serve that segment of the population--the new immigrants. In most instances, these new immigrants become our best customers and, by word of mouth, they refer many new clients to us. They’re very loyal, they pay their bills on time, and they’re very appreciative and responsible because they look at legal professional services, like medical services, as highly respectable and necessary work that has a direct bearing on their lives.

When they start collecting data for the 1992 census on Hispanic-owned businesses, I would venture to say that we will have a much higher percentage growth than the 82% growth rate released last month, which was based on data collected in 1987. Orange County’s Hispanic population has changed a lot since 1987. We have a more dynamic and enterprising population than four years ago. As our community feels more comfortable in the business setting and becomes more educated and more cohesive, we’ll see a lot of new Hispanic businesses starting up. More entrepreneurs and professionals will attempt to become part of the business melting pot of Orange County.

Q. What is your trade group doing to raise the profile of Hispanic businesses?

A. The various Hispanic chambers of commerce throughout the nation are encouraging the Hispanic business community of each state to increase business with each other.

Oftentimes, representatives from out-of-state Hispanic business organizations and board members of the U.S.-Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., join us during our quarterly meetings to discuss interstate commerce between Hispanic-owned businesses in New Mexico, Texas and California . The idea behind this is to help Hispanic business people capture the growing purchasing power of Hispanics by instilling pride among Hispanic consumers, especially the second-generation Hispanic-Americans about products and services provided by their own people in the United States. Of course, this effort is being developed without excluding the general U.S. market.

Q. Is the effort of developing interstate Hispanic trade working?

A. Yes, it’s working. We’re starting to see New Mexico’s Hispanic businesses sell their leather goods and potteries to Hispanic middlemen in California, who in turn sell these products wholesale to large U.S. department stores and supermarket chains.

We’re gathering more information about successful Hispanic businesses in other states, and we try to publicize some of them.

Our chamber publishes a monthly newsletter that highlights Orange County business affairs as well as the business experiences of local entrepreneurs. These newsletters are circulated nationwide to all the other Hispanic chambers of commerce to increase communication between Hispanic businesses in the country. We also get newsletters from other Hispanic chambers in the country, and we distribute this information to our members.

As a result, the newsletters serve as a unifying factor for many Hispanic business people. The experience of other Hispanic businesses can also create role models for other Hispanic business people and young Hispanics to follow.

Q. How does your group rank among the various Hispanic chambers of commerce in the country?

A. We’re viewed as a new melting pot for Hispanic business.

Earlier this month, the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce decided to hold its next quarterly meeting in October in Orange County. This is the first time that our group will host the state organization. By holding the meeting here, Orange County is being recognized as a place where Hispanic business is taking root and rapidly growing.

Q. In what businesses would Hispanic entrepreneurs tend to succeed? And why?

A. The service sector will continue to command a substantial share of Hispanic business in the 1990s. We thrive in the service industry because less capital is needed to start a business in that area, and the profit margin is oftentimes substantial.

For example, when I started practicing law and decided to concentrate on the Hispanic community, I didn’t need a large sum of money to operate. All I needed was office space in the business center of Santa Ana, secretarial support and office equipment. Doctors, dentists or accountants do not need substantial capital to start their own practice or business.

In retail trade, the Hispanic entrepreneur has been successful in selling clothing, shoes, jewelry and household appliances to other Hispanics. This is because Hispanic business people understand the taste and priorities of Hispanic consumers and then tailor their advertising according to those priorities.

Hispanic businesses are pretty weak in the area of manufacturing because it requires a substantial amount of initial capital investment and a high level of technical know-how.

Q. What are the biggest obstacles to the development of Hispanic businesses in Orange County?

A. One of the biggest problems Hispanic business people--like most minority- and women-owned businesses--face is the lack of credit history. This means many will not have access to capital to start or expand their businesses. It’s tough for start-up Hispanic businesses to get a bank loan, but most recently we’ve begun to see many lending institutions attempting to reach the Hispanic market by establishing lending programs accessible to the small-business person.

Another problem is understanding new technology. Many Hispanics have yet to reach the technical sophistication to be involved in businesses that serve the computer, manufacturing or communications industries. However, we anticipate in the next decade that as more Hispanics work for the computer and communications industry, they’ll learn more about new technology and eventually learn enough technological skills to start their own high-tech businesses.

At the same time, as more Hispanics achieve higher levels of education--by obtaining degrees in engineering, computer science and business administration--I expect more to enter the high-tech industry and develop their expertise.

Q. As president of the chamber, what do you hope to accomplish during your term?

A. I want to bring in more corporate sponsors to our organization. Currently, we have 13 and we’re hoping to double that number by the end of my term.

We’ve started developing a number of programs that will benefit and lure more corporate members. These benefits will include providing corporate members with up-to-date Hispanic market data such as food preferences and shopping habits. We will also provide them with marketing tools to reach the Hispanic market by providing advice on what Spanish-language media would be appropriate for their kind of products and services.

Of course, these services will be provided at no cost to the corporate sponsors.

In addition, we will be issuing a quarterly corporate-sponsored newsletter for our corporate members. It will provide executive summaries of market developments in Orange County as well as Southern California’s growing Hispanic community.

We will be convening quarterly executive meetings with corporate sponsors and chief executive officers of Orange County companies. This way, we can increase person-to-person contacts between the Hispanic chamber members and non-Hispanic corporate sponsors. We plan to begin this program later this summer.

Another objective is to bring a cadre of financial institutions to make capital accessible to our members. We began discussing with several local banks, savings and loans and other financial institutions about providing loans to the chamber’s members at a competitive market rate.

Many have shown a tremendous interest in using our organization as the vehicle to enter the growing Hispanic business market. I hope to get at least five financial institutions to cooperate with our organization in providing technical assistance and capitalization to our members. Several lending institutions told us that they’re very interested in creating a special loan program for Hispanic business people only, but it’s too early to say what their plans are. There are no existing funding programs aimed at Hispanic businesses alone. However, there are programs aimed at small businesses in general.

Q. How important is a free-trade agreement between the United States and Mexico to Orange County’s Hispanic community?

A. It is very important. Since most of Orange County’s Hispanic population came from Mexico, this agreement will give them a chance to play a key role in promoting trade between the two countries. The agreement will also open new opportunities for many bilingual Hispanic professionals--such as lawyers, engineers, accountants and trade consultants--who know the cultures, economies and legal systems of both countries.

Q. What have you done to underscore the importance of the U.S.-Mexico free-trade agreement to the Hispanic business community?

A. Our organization was one of the first trade groups in the nation to speak out in support of the free-trade agreement. We’ve worked closely with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as well as with congressional representatives from Orange County and with Mexico’s consul general’s office in Los Angeles to put the free-trade agreement on a fast-track authority that will allow President Bush to begin negotiations on the pact with Mexico.

We have sponsored round-table discussions and conducted seminars on the free-trade agreement within Orange County, while other Hispanic chambers of commerce have done similar programs in their communities. We have established a special international affairs office within the chamber to address the international trading needs of our members. The new office will monitor and provide up-to-date information on the development of the U.S.-Mexico free-trade agreement to our members.

We’re also pushing for federal legislation that will provide special federal tax incentives to lending institutions that would provide loans to Hispanic companies seeking to do business with Mexico.