Hispano Chamber: Supporting local businesses for 50 years

For 50 years, the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber has been supporting local businesses.

The Chamber was launched by 14 Hispanic men and a Hispanic woman because the Hispanic business community thought it lacked representation in the other chambers.

Ernie CdeBaca has been the president and CEO of the Hispano Chamber since 2017, after he had a long career at Public Service Company of New Mexico, leaving as a vice president.

CdeBaca was the guest on this week's Business Outlook podcast, which focused on small business.

Here's a sample of the episode, which has been edited for clarity.

Business Outlook podcasts are released Monday afternoons and are available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Soundcould.

Can you tell us a little bit about your career and how you ended up leading the Hispano Chamber?

"There was a job in procurement. So I became a buyer at PNM, and started on March 15, 1978. I'll remember that date. I had a great career at PNM, and I was very fortunate, because one of the great things in large corporations is that you have an opportunity to do more than what you signed up for originally. ... I became involved in government affairs in the late 80s and early 90s, which at the time, the city of Albuquerque and PNM were having a difficult time. They were trying to municipalize us. So we had a difficult time with the City Council.

My boss, Marie Eaves, she said, 'Ernie, I need you to go to every Bernalillo County commission meeting, every city council meeting, and you stay there until they leave.'

So I got lucky and I had a good run. I worked at PNM for 37 years and became vice president of government affairs. And it was an honor.

Then in 2014 I left and joined the Hispano Chamber."

Can you tell us a little bit about the Hispano Chamber?

"We're in our 50th year. Our founders were 14 Hispanic men and one woman. They decided they weren't getting the representation and opportunities they needed from the other chambers. Those days we had to borrow offices and typewriters, and they'd bring in crock pots to have Chamber events. We had a lot of help from those founders. ... We grew to be one of the largest Hispanic chambers in the United States."

Today you have more than 1,200 members, including the Albuquerque Journal, and you help more than just Hispanic businesses.

"We started out focused on helping Hispanic-owned businesses. But in New Mexico, we're a melting pot. We're all Hispanic, we're all Native American, we're all Anglo. We're all together and we have a great community. So we're very inclusive. About 60% of our business owners are Hispanic and about 40% are non-Hispanic. We range from Amazon, who is our largest member, to small solo entrepreneurs."

So your career was at PNM, one of New Mexico's largest companies, and you now help new entrepreneurs get started.

"It is so refreshing and exciting when you hear about a small business doing well after you connected them to another business, or they end up going to Kirtland (Air Force Base) and getting a contract. We've had a lot of success and it's inspiring to see the blood, sweat and tears these folks put in.

When I was at PNM I was fortunate because I got a good-sized paycheck every two weeks. To see what these folks do, it just makes you very happy. You want to do anything you can to help connect the businesses to other businesses to help them grow and scale."

What services do you provide to help achieve those goals?

"We have our 'What's brewing in the Q' every month, we have membership orientation meetings, We have our biz gratis events. These are networking opportunities where we celebrate businesses. We believe any business or any business person is one connection away from realizing their dreams.

And then we have programs. We bring in speakers to help teach business owners with marketing, finance, human resources. We do everything we can to support businesses in different ways."

When you're talking to business owners, what are you hearing about the biggest issues they are facing?

I think the two biggest issues are crime, which first thing. Crime has impacted small businesses like crazy. And employees.

Business have store fronts. They have windows. And people are going in and out and just taking things. Retail theft has been crazy. And when (people) vandalize and damage businesses, it's even more hurtful. Because then the business has to fix the window and deal with the insurance company. Insurance companies are tired of dealing with claims, so insurance rates are going up, or they won't insure a business. So then you have to make an investment that you didn't know you wanted, like a steel door.

And we also hear a lot about hiring employees. COVID-19 really changed a lot. Employees are different now, and in some ways that's a good thing. Do employees really need to go into a brick and mortar every day? Can they be effective working remotely? There probably are some trust issues that you have with employees to make sure things get done. I think a lot of businesses are having a hard time hiring and keeping employees."