Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1169853
www.negociosnow.com 8 October 2019 Embrace Latino power in the economy, says USHCC president Negocios Now had the opportunity to sit down with Ramiro Cavazos who has been president and CEO of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for the past 10 months. Here's what he had to report about his first few months at the helm. SPECIAL EDITION By Carmen Rivera N N: Tell us about the first 10 months of your appointment at the USHCC and how things are shaping up. Cavazos: I am so grate- ful to be supported by the Latino chambers around the country, our board of directors, corporate mem- bers who know the future of America's economy is reliant on Latino consu- mers, the Latino workfor- ce, and Latino busines- ses. For me these past 10 months have been a joy, meeting people whom I've never met before and who have a common purpose: to grow the prosperity and wealth of Latino busines- ses in America. The most important job I see us doing is uniting Latinos, whether we're Cuban or Mexi- can, or Puerto Rican or Domi- nican, and to put that aside and realize we are a dynamic piece of America's future and as Latinos we are one. I see my job as being one that puts the pieces in place with the help of our mem- bers and our chambers. I ran the San Antonio Hispa- nic chamber for more than 10 years. My background is in creating jobs, and buil- ding economic develop- ment. I was the City of San Antonio's economic develo- pment director, so for me this is my life's work. It's contagious when you support others; they sup- port you back, and I see that momentum building in America. So we need to focus on issues that are important to us: access to capital, capacity building, contracts, contacts and bet- ter communications bet- ween all of us to let people know that we're here, and we're strong, and we sup- port and believe in oursel- ves, and we're powerful. The Latino community is powerful, and we need to own that power. We need to embrace that power because we have ourselves to depend upon as we see that the environment in this country right now is very much a challenge for small businesses. We also need free trade. We need to make sure that we don't have any more barriers, or tariffs, to doing business with the rest of the world. We are the lar- gest economy and the most powerful economy in the world because of the Latino, and that to me is the power of what we need to own, knowing that the country needs us. We are the future so we need a strong United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, an organization that empowers people but also gives them the tools they need and inspires them to be united and sup- port one another.