Siker also informed attendees that her organization will begin to focus on accountability for giving access to minority businesses. "You
know, 'Well, we can't find any qualified minority business,' so we're trying to call all that talk by prime posting," Siker said. "We're
approaching prime contractors to host one of these events, then ask, 'What's coming up? What do you need? Do you need an electrician,
whatever? In our database, we have over a thousand small businesses, which include minority, woman-owned, disadvantaged, and
emerging businesses. So then once we found out what is needed, we'll query our database and then submit a list to them and then notify
the potential MBE subcontractor of all these opportunities. It's about time that we sit down at the table and get access to contract
opportunities instead of just the big players getting access."
Cuauhtemoc "Temo" Rodriguez, president of Aztlan Business Consultants (ABC), said that his organization helps people get financing
to start and grow their business. "There are a number of reasons for business planning, but we usually get people connected," Rodriguez
said as he introduced ABC. "I'm also on the board of Latino Entrepreneurial Network which is a relatively new organization. We started late
last year and I'm working on getting another nonprofit started. It's basically an organization that's going to help look at the programs that
exist for small business as well as the policies that influence small business so that there can be reports generated to make better
programs and policies for small business. I'm looking to get some people involved in that, try to keep the organization small so that we
can be stable and perhaps grow from there."
Nicole Ralph, founder of a new group in Madison called the International Professional Association, was also enthusiastic at what her
group can do to help. "We started a year ago with about 200 members," Ralph said. "I lived overseas for seven years. When we moved
back to Wisconsin, I found that the international community is there but it is very broad and fragmented. There are different segments and
then there's the cultural, language hodgepodge, so where do you go to find out about all these opportunities? There's no umbrella
organization. So we're very new, and we want to partner with your organization in whatever way we can to help each other out."
Jacqueline Ward, financial coordinator of the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), introduced WWBIC's work.
"We help individuals start and expand their business," Ward said. "We're also a certified financial-development institution; that means we
can offer micro-loans." She distributed a schedule of classes for would-be entrepreneurs and invited the planners to join WWBIC at the
Governor's Mansion on August 16.
A growing force in the U.S. economy
In Wisconsin alone, there are 4,957 Asian American businesses with gross sales receipts of $1.5 billion, according to the 2002 U.S.
Census data. The fuel behind the burst of Asian American-owned businesses throughout the United States, according to Midwest
Chapter's report, was the huge Asian immigration in the last 20 years that accounted for 43% of the 6.3 million U.S. immigrants in the '80s.
"There are 1.5 million Asian American businesses in this country today," Chacko said. "There are about 1.5 million Hispanic-owned
businesses, 1.2 million African American-owned businesses, and 3.2 million women-owned businesses. The government has a
so-called 'minority quota' that is set aside for contracting out to these groups." This is one major way for small, minority businesses to
partner with each other to bid for government contracts, he added.
know, 'Well, we can't find any qualified minority business,' so we're trying to call all that talk by prime posting," Siker said. "We're
approaching prime contractors to host one of these events, then ask, 'What's coming up? What do you need? Do you need an electrician,
whatever? In our database, we have over a thousand small businesses, which include minority, woman-owned, disadvantaged, and
emerging businesses. So then once we found out what is needed, we'll query our database and then submit a list to them and then notify
the potential MBE subcontractor of all these opportunities. It's about time that we sit down at the table and get access to contract
opportunities instead of just the big players getting access."
Cuauhtemoc "Temo" Rodriguez, president of Aztlan Business Consultants (ABC), said that his organization helps people get financing
to start and grow their business. "There are a number of reasons for business planning, but we usually get people connected," Rodriguez
said as he introduced ABC. "I'm also on the board of Latino Entrepreneurial Network which is a relatively new organization. We started late
last year and I'm working on getting another nonprofit started. It's basically an organization that's going to help look at the programs that
exist for small business as well as the policies that influence small business so that there can be reports generated to make better
programs and policies for small business. I'm looking to get some people involved in that, try to keep the organization small so that we
can be stable and perhaps grow from there."
Nicole Ralph, founder of a new group in Madison called the International Professional Association, was also enthusiastic at what her
group can do to help. "We started a year ago with about 200 members," Ralph said. "I lived overseas for seven years. When we moved
back to Wisconsin, I found that the international community is there but it is very broad and fragmented. There are different segments and
then there's the cultural, language hodgepodge, so where do you go to find out about all these opportunities? There's no umbrella
organization. So we're very new, and we want to partner with your organization in whatever way we can to help each other out."
Jacqueline Ward, financial coordinator of the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), introduced WWBIC's work.
"We help individuals start and expand their business," Ward said. "We're also a certified financial-development institution; that means we
can offer micro-loans." She distributed a schedule of classes for would-be entrepreneurs and invited the planners to join WWBIC at the
Governor's Mansion on August 16.
A growing force in the U.S. economy
In Wisconsin alone, there are 4,957 Asian American businesses with gross sales receipts of $1.5 billion, according to the 2002 U.S.
Census data. The fuel behind the burst of Asian American-owned businesses throughout the United States, according to Midwest
Chapter's report, was the huge Asian immigration in the last 20 years that accounted for 43% of the 6.3 million U.S. immigrants in the '80s.
"There are 1.5 million Asian American businesses in this country today," Chacko said. "There are about 1.5 million Hispanic-owned
businesses, 1.2 million African American-owned businesses, and 3.2 million women-owned businesses. The government has a
so-called 'minority quota' that is set aside for contracting out to these groups." This is one major way for small, minority businesses to
partner with each other to bid for government contracts, he added.
***************
BE A MEMBER OF USPAACC
1915 N Martin Luther King Dr.
Suite 213L
Milwaukee, WI 53212
www.uspaacc-wi.com
(414) 267-2488; Fax (414) 267-2489
Membership Benefits:
* Receive USPAACC Quarterly Newsletter, EastWest Report
* Receive USPAACC monthly E-News
* Receive national and region-specific announcements on events and contract opportunities
* Access to USPAACC database (create company profile; view title and summary of opportunities; search for corporate members and
suppliers and submit online requests for connection to corporate members and suppliers)
1915 N Martin Luther King Dr.
Suite 213L
Milwaukee, WI 53212
www.uspaacc-wi.com
(414) 267-2488; Fax (414) 267-2489
Membership Benefits:
* Receive USPAACC Quarterly Newsletter, EastWest Report
* Receive USPAACC monthly E-News
* Receive national and region-specific announcements on events and contract opportunities
* Access to USPAACC database (create company profile; view title and summary of opportunities; search for corporate members and
suppliers and submit online requests for connection to corporate members and suppliers)
| U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce (USPAACC) - Wisconsin Chapter to be launched!! by Heidi M. Pascual |
| Ritu Sharma |
| Varghese Chacko |
| Leni Siker |
| Jane Huang |
Varghese Chacko used to be a small business owner who started his
warehousing, distribution and marketing services in a garage. Today, he
has 50 employees and has started a bank, the Asian American
Community Bank of Des Plaines, IL. Chacko wanted to help other Asian
American entrepreneurs like him succeed so he joined the US Pan Asian
American Chamber of Commerce and became its Midwest president.
Most recently, he began to help Wisconsin Asian American business
owners start their own chapter of USPAACC. The US Pan Asian American
Chamber of Commerce, a national organization based in Washington,
D.C., has been working hard since its founding in 1984 to promote
business opportunities for Asian American and other minority-owned
warehousing, distribution and marketing services in a garage. Today, he
has 50 employees and has started a bank, the Asian American
Community Bank of Des Plaines, IL. Chacko wanted to help other Asian
American entrepreneurs like him succeed so he joined the US Pan Asian
American Chamber of Commerce and became its Midwest president.
Most recently, he began to help Wisconsin Asian American business
owners start their own chapter of USPAACC. The US Pan Asian American
Chamber of Commerce, a national organization based in Washington,
D.C., has been working hard since its founding in 1984 to promote
business opportunities for Asian American and other minority-owned
businesses across the United States. Its Midwest Chapter helps members find business opportunities in
the Asian market; get minority business enterprise (MBE) certification; join a growing business-to
business network; get access to industry experts and consultants who can help; meet with corporate and
government decision-makers who can help procure contracts; and participate in trade missions and
diversity managers' forums, among other things.
With these avowed USPAACC goals, a core group of Asian American entrepreneurs met in Milwaukee
on July 31 to plan the launching of USPAACC-Wisconsin Chapter by the end of September or early
October, and from there, recruit as many members as possible. Spearheaded by Ritu Sharma,
president/owner of Polymorph Media Solutions, the planning session was attended by Leni Siker (WI
Minority Business Opportunity Center), Heidi Pascual (Asian Wisconzine), Jane Huang (DragonTech
Solutions), Jacqueline Ward (WWBIC), Cuauhtemoc "Temo" Rodriguez (Aztlan Business Consultants)
ABC, and Nicole Ralph (International Professional Association), among others.
"What we're trying to do here is to have a unified, all-inclusive network of Asian professionals and
business owners," Sharma said. "We want to be a go-to organization for giving information on how to start
a business, to stay in business, how to connect with each other, how to go about getting state and
corporate contracts, and help each other learn more and grow more."
Jane Huang, who has worked in government for 10 years and has done a lot of IT consulting, noted that
there is indeed a need to work together and to not treat each other as competitors. "I want to contribute to
this group by promoting that sense of working together," Huang said, observing that people can work on
large projects that individually can't be done.
Leni Siker currently runs the Wisconsin Minority Business Opportunity Center that's funded by the U.S.
Dept of Commerce through the minority business development agencies, to provide minority business in
Wisconsin with better access to capital and better access to contract opportunity (website www.mboc.org).
"We've been in existence since February 2003, and since then, we have almost disseminated over a
billion dollars of contract opportunities," Siker reported. "I think we also pursued $40-some million in
contract opportunities, and our annual goal is $25 million in contracts and $10 million in financial
transactions. We're facilitating about $25 million worth of contracts to minorities and $10 million worth of
contracts for helping them get loans and funding. That's pretty much what we do."
the Asian market; get minority business enterprise (MBE) certification; join a growing business-to
business network; get access to industry experts and consultants who can help; meet with corporate and
government decision-makers who can help procure contracts; and participate in trade missions and
diversity managers' forums, among other things.
With these avowed USPAACC goals, a core group of Asian American entrepreneurs met in Milwaukee
on July 31 to plan the launching of USPAACC-Wisconsin Chapter by the end of September or early
October, and from there, recruit as many members as possible. Spearheaded by Ritu Sharma,
president/owner of Polymorph Media Solutions, the planning session was attended by Leni Siker (WI
Minority Business Opportunity Center), Heidi Pascual (Asian Wisconzine), Jane Huang (DragonTech
Solutions), Jacqueline Ward (WWBIC), Cuauhtemoc "Temo" Rodriguez (Aztlan Business Consultants)
ABC, and Nicole Ralph (International Professional Association), among others.
"What we're trying to do here is to have a unified, all-inclusive network of Asian professionals and
business owners," Sharma said. "We want to be a go-to organization for giving information on how to start
a business, to stay in business, how to connect with each other, how to go about getting state and
corporate contracts, and help each other learn more and grow more."
Jane Huang, who has worked in government for 10 years and has done a lot of IT consulting, noted that
there is indeed a need to work together and to not treat each other as competitors. "I want to contribute to
this group by promoting that sense of working together," Huang said, observing that people can work on
large projects that individually can't be done.
Leni Siker currently runs the Wisconsin Minority Business Opportunity Center that's funded by the U.S.
Dept of Commerce through the minority business development agencies, to provide minority business in
Wisconsin with better access to capital and better access to contract opportunity (website www.mboc.org).
"We've been in existence since February 2003, and since then, we have almost disseminated over a
billion dollars of contract opportunities," Siker reported. "I think we also pursued $40-some million in
contract opportunities, and our annual goal is $25 million in contracts and $10 million in financial
transactions. We're facilitating about $25 million worth of contracts to minorities and $10 million worth of
contracts for helping them get loans and funding. That's pretty much what we do."