Negocios Now

22 Diciembre 2008 Septiembre 2011 NegociosNow Una buena oportunidad para crecer Women Business Devolopment Center celebra sus 25 años en McCormick Place en su conferencia anual el próximo día 14 de septiembre. AAR & Associates ya lleva 12 años como líder de tecnología para empresas y su otro gran empren- dimiento, el Latino Fashion Week, llevará a cabo su quinta edición en este 2011. Pero en algunos momentos de A su vida, cuando su motivación no andaba por las nubes, Rosa- les recibió el empuje necesario de parte del Women's Business Development Center (WBDC). Hoy, como miembro de la mesa directiva de esa organización, pretende apoyar a otras mujeres empresarias hacia el mundo de los negocios e invita a la 25º Confe- rencia Anual de Mujeres Empren- dedoras del WBDC, que se llevará a cabo el 14 de septiembre en McCormick Place-West de Chica- go (informes en www.WBDC.org o 312.853.3477, ext. 24). "Ese día se podrán hacer contac- tos con corporaciones, otros nego- cios e instituciones de gobierno", dice Rosales, actual presidenta de Arabel Alva Rosales no la asustan los grandes desa- fíos. De hecho, su compañía la Cámara de Comercio Hispa- na de Illinois, sobre el tradicional encuentro anual de McCormick Place. "Es una gran oportunidad para crecer". Antes de concretar su debut empresarial, Rosales pasó tres años planeando su lanzamiento, elaborando proyectos y recar- gándose con una contagiosa motivación en los encuentros anuales de WBDC, que en algún momento tuvieron a Oprah Win- frey como oradora principal. "Para este año la presentadora especial es una sorpresa", señala Rosales con un entusiasmo casi infantil. Además de esa sorpresa hay varias personalidades confirma- das. En los paneles especiales esta- rán Leylani Cardoso, presidenta de Bolzano Handbags y vicepre- sidenta de la empresa Duty Free International, que posee 30 loca- les en el mundo; Maxine Clark, el cerebro detrás de Bear, Build-A- Bear Workshop, Inc., un negocio que atrae la atención de los niños y los dólares de sus padres en 400 comercios a nivel mundial; Cathy Hughes, fundadora de Radio One, la empresa radial afroamerica- na más grande de Estados Uni- dos; y Lynn Tilton, fundadora de Patriarch Partners, la compañía de propiedad femenina más grande del país, con ingresos de 8 billones de dólares. A la conferencia asistirán unos 200 representantes gubernamen- tales y corporativos. Además se podrán concertar reuniones de antemano con ciertos ejecutivos y se entregarán premios a empresa- rias exitosas en el Salón de la Fama de WBDC. Rosales, quien se considera totalmente bilingüe y bicultural, cree que abrirse a otras culturas, idiomas y oportunidades es esen- cial para el suceso comercial. El encuentro del 14 de septiembre es precisamente un paso clave para ese crecimiento personal. "Las mujeres se van a motivar escu- chando historias personales", enfatiza Rosales. "Yo he visto cam- biar vidas después de la conferen- cia anual". www.negociosnow.com Cortesía Arabel Alva Rosales Presidenta de la Cámara Hispana de Comercio de Illinois. From page 21 businesses here, help them grow, and you will create a more robust local economy.' For our Latina businesses, this is critically important because many are younger entrepreneurial ventures. They need the opportunity to build scale, to partner with a large corporation that has identified them and said, 'you have great potential.' They get a stamp of approval. It is a five-year commitment to do busi- ness so that they can plan and they can book scale. With that assurance, some of the minority firms that have been selected have added shifts to their manufacturing operations. That creates jobs. Yours is one of the most presti- gious nonprofit organizations in the country. Before leading Chicago United, you were a businesswoman. Additionally, you have received numerous awards and recognition from the Small Business Administra- tion and any number of important organizations. Do you still feel like an entrepreneur? Once it's in your blood, it's always Brian Morowczynski Gloria Castillo has been recognized for her advocacy on behalf of minorities and women-owned enterprise. in your blood; it never goes away. I can tell you that entrepreneurialism will always be a part of me. Chicago United felt like an en-trepreneurial venture from the first day because when I came to the organization I was able to use all of my small-busi- ness skills: budgeting, hiring people, which products are you going to offer? How are you going to offer them? How are you going to bring in new customers, if you will? In this case it's our members. What are you going to do to market and brand the organization? All of those things that you do as an entrepreneur, I applied here at Chicago United. There is no question that once you have entre- preneurial blood that is what runs through your veins, and it makes you feel very connected to other Lati- na business owners. You like to see them do well. You want to see them succeed. You know how hard it is. What advice do you have for Latina and other minority business owners in these difficult economic times? Have a clear business plan that includes defining your target finan- cial ratios. Build into your processes means by which you measure those metrics so that v when they go out of scale you are in a good position to make corrections. Don't be afraid to make mis-takes. But it's definitely best to recognize quickly that you're making one and fix it fast. Don't think it's going to correct itself later. Make sure you have a really solid busi- ness plan. You can go to the Women's Business Development Center and they will help you put together a solid business plan and that will take you so much farther than thinking, "I can just do this by gut." You don't want a business "by gut." It's all about being very clear that I'm now a businessper- son. It's realizing: "I'm going to treat my business as if it were a major cor- poration. My business is every bit as important. I've got to plan ahead the same way that they plan ahead." That would be my advice.

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