"The Place to Be"

New Mexico Business Journal, August, 2000

Loretta Armenta is head of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber, which is poised to move into new headquarters hard by the new Hispanic Cultural Center. Things are looking up.

As the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce celebrates its 25th year of service to the Duke City business community, President and CEO Loretta Armenta looks forward to the future with optimism. The organization began with 30 to 40 members and was the first chamber in the state to implement a school-to-work program in partnership with a secondary school system. Today its membership has grown to more than 1,400, and the Chamber broke ground this spring for its new headquarters located on Fourth Street in Barelas, which will provide the opportunity to greatly expand its programs.

A New Mexico native, Armenta grew up in Santa Fe. She joined the Chamber in 1991, assuming the leadership position six years later, after a stint as project director for what is now known as the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Prior to that, she had spent eight years as executive director for the March of Dimes and 12 years as a financial advisor for The Prudential, a job she says she loved.

Although very much a modern woman, Armenta is an admirer of the Victorian era. She does beadwork and Victorian decoupage; and when she travels, she collects old wrapping paper and reproductions of Victorian artwork, which she uses to create tables and breakfast bar stools. She and her husband, Ray, a consultant with the Department of Energy, have three children: KOB-TV newscaster Monica; Denise, who holds a M.S.W degree and works with youth at risk; and a son Andre, who is deceased.

Armenta spoke recently with the New Mexico Business Journal's Ralph Odenwald.

NMBJ: What role does the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce serve in the city? business life?

ARMENTA: To foster economic growth for small businesses. We try to help address the concerns that small businesses have, and there are many. We tend to think about bottom line, what businesses are going to take to the bank. That's very important, but equally important is providing information about legal issues, tax issues, marketing, public relations. A tremendous challenge for business tight now is insurance, for instance. Every day the cost of employee benefits increases. It is extremely challenging today for small business to stay in business and continue to grow.

Our members are mainly from Albuquerque, and about 82 percent of our businesses are small businesses, 25 employees and under. The majority within that group have ten or fewer employees. We actually have members from all over New Mexico and even across the United States, and we even have a few members in some of the Latin American countries.

NMBJ: What kinds of programs do you sponsor to accomplish these aims?

ARMENTA: We do several things. For instance, we have the El Cambio lunch every month. In order to support our restaurant members, we hold the luncheon at one of these places, and anywhere from 100 to 125 people attend. The people get to stand up for two or three minutes and talk about who they are and the service they have to offer.

Another thing we do is the mercados, which are the networking mini-trade fairs. We do those six times a year. For $150, you can come and put up a booth displaying your products and services. Those generally generate an audience of 200 to 300 people. We give very nice gifts--trips, computers, gift certificates--so people like to do this. We have membership lunches four times a year. We hold workshops and seminars. We are doing a big one on e-commerce in October. We do some on procurement with Sandia Labs and Intel and some of the other big businesses. We do one on the impact of health insurance on business.

NMBJ: Hispanic Business Magazine publishes a list of the 500 largest Hispanic-owned businesses in the country, and about 30 of those are in New Mexico. Are many of those businesses members of your organization

ARMENTA: Almost all of them. I think only two out of that group are not members.

NMBJ: Do they have a different role in the organization from the small business members?

ARMENTA: No, but they very much serve as role models. The fact that they've been able to take a small business and grow it into a member of the Hispanic 500 is not only impressive, it shows their ability to make economic things happen. Therefore, a number of those people serve on our board. The presidents and CEOs of those organizations have served as chairmen of the board at one time or another. That's giving back to the community, which is so important.

NMBJ: How does your organization compare in size with some of the others around the country?

ARMENTA: We are probably one of the three largest Hispanic chambers in the country, and I think we will be bigger in a lot of different ways. For instance, in November we will move into a new $1.7 million building in Barelas, which will contain the Barelas Job Opportunity Center. That's a first for us and a first for Hispanic chambers across the country. The building will be about 12,000 square feet, including the job center. We will have four office outreach sites to encourage small business. Someone who wants to start up a business and needs 600 square feet can come and rent the space probably a little below fair market. We will be right in the middle of what I see now as the hub of the city, with the downtown redevelopment that is going on. On the south end it will be anchored by National Hispanic Cultural Center. We're sort of on the cutting edge.