New Ogden Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to promote, offer resources to businesses
OGDEN — The latest chapter in the story of Hispanic businesses in Ogden involves, fittingly, a new chapter.
Next month, the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce-Ogden Chapter will open its doors for business. And that business, by all accounts, is good.
Luis Lopez, an Ogden city council member, says having a new and revitalized Hispanic chamber of commerce in the city is an important step in the city’s growth.
“I think it’s a realization that the Hispanic community in Ogden is large,” Lopez said. “There are lots of Hispanic businesses here.”
Roughly one-third of Ogden’s population is Hispanic or Latino, according to 2010 U.S. Census data — a fraction that represents about 25,000 people.
Francisco Sotelo, president and CEO of the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Salt Lake City, wants to make sure that any of those 25,000 who’d like to open a business have the option to do so.
“Ten percent of the firms in Ogden are Hispanic,” Sotelo said. “There’s a great opportunity for us to increase that number.”
Although there has been an Ogden Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for a number of years, more recently it’s been only a shell of an organization.
“It dwindled down over the years and was pretty inactive,” Lopez explained.
That original group, while legally dissolved as a chamber of commerce, will continue to operate a scholarship foundation, according to Angel Chaparro, an Ogden-area businessman who was instrumental in pushing for a the new chapter.
“For at least three years I’ve been working on the board at the Utah Hispanic Chamber, and I’ve been in their ear the whole time about an Ogden chapter,” Chaparro said.
Chaparro, a State Farm Insurance agent who grew up in Ogden and whose family has operated a number of businesses over the years, says many of the members of the original Hispanic chamber organization will be absorbed into the new group.
Chaparro says that — at least for the time being — the Ogden group will be a chapter of the larger Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which is based in Salt Lake City.
“We thought, ‘Why reinvent the wheel?'” Chaparro said of the organization, which already offers extensive educational and networking options. “They’re good at what they do.”
But the eventual goal is to grow the Ogden group from a chapter into its own, separate organization.
“It’s something in discussion,” Chaparro said. “The longterm vision is that it becomes its own organization here, while still maintaining a sister relationship with the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Salt Lake City.”
Sotelo says the new chapter has been about two years in the making. Although the group is already planning educational and networking events — an after-hours mixer is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 25 — the new office probably won’t open its bricks-and-mortar location until the last week in March. Chapter organizers are currently looking for an office location.
In January, a joint resolution by the Ogden City Council and mayor — joined by Weber County, Weber State University, the Ogden-Weber Tech College and the Ogden Weber Chamber of Commerce — welcomed and recognized the new Ogden Chapter of the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. And a reception for the new group was held Jan. 20 in the Hurst Center for Lifelong Learning at Weber State.
Lopez sees the resolution and reception as more than just a symbolic gesture.
“People in our community have felt alienated,” he said. “So to see all these groups supporting them, it means a lot.”
Chuck Leonhardt, president of the Ogden Weber Chamber of Commerce, said he looks forward to a coordinated effort between the two groups.
“We want to make northern Utah the new epicenter for business in the state and region, and that requires everyone rowing together,” he said.
Leonhardt sees a synergistic partnership developing between the Ogden Weber Chamber of Commerce and the new Ogden Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
“I guess I’d say we welcome them with open arms and hope our business community can rally around their efforts to promote business growth in this area,” he said.
Lopez said it isn’t just Hispanic-owned businesses that are important to Ogden — Hispanic consumers represent a big chunk of the purchasing power in the area.
“A third of our population is a whole bunch of people,” Lopez said. “If we don’t pay attention to whatever needs this community is having, everybody loses.”
Sotelo pointed out that the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is a diverse organization. While 60 percent of its members are Hispanic, 40 percent are not.
“Our goal is to ensure businesses and our community prosper overall,” Sotelo said. “We specialize in support for the Hispanic community, but ultimately … we’re all American businesses. Ultimately, we’re doing good for the community at large.”
Olga De la Cruz, senior vice president of business development for the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber’s events in Salt Lake City draw 50 to 100 business owners.
“And we anticipate having the same in Ogden,” she said.
De la Cruz said a mixer held in Ogden almost a year ago that was designed to test the waters for an Ogden chapter drew more than 100 people.
Lopez said language and culture can sometimes be a barrier to opening a new business, and believes the new chapter will be able to help with this problem. And Chaparro said the biggest benefit of the new chapter will be its ability to connect local businesses with educational and networking resources.
“I want to stress that it is the Hispanic chamber for Ogden,” Chaparro said. “But in the end, it’s all still business.”
Contact Mark Saal at 801-625-4272, or msaal@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @Saalman. Like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SEMarkSaal.
