A new program from the Latin Chamber of Commerce in Las Vegas aims to expand the local workforce by providing small businesses with the tools and knowledge to grow.
The LCC LEADers Program, funded by a $500,000 grant from the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR), offers participants the opportunity to engage in business-accelerator and leadership training. The chamber is also recruiting mentors to be paired with participants throughout the year, said Maite Salazar, the program director.
“We really believe that small businesses want to grow,” Salazar said. “And sometimes they have personnel that they’re looking to nurture and mentor, however, they may not have the time, the capacity, the skills to actually train leaders or nurture leaders within their businesses.”
LCC LEADers will expand the chamber’s existing Executive Business Accelerator. The first cohorts for the accelerator in July will be connected with business coaches from across the U.S., Salazar said.
In September, the Personal Leadership Development series will begin with its first cohort and last five weeks. The idea of this series is to develop leadership skills not only for business owners, Salazar said, but also key personnel in whom they see a potential for leadership.
“We believe that we’ll create more opportunities as we develop leaders,” she said. “It will create more opportunities because businesses can grow ... now that they have leaders who are familiar with their business and who now have the leadership skills to oversee or supervise additional employees as they grow.”
Both tracks, the business accelerator and the leadership series, will be available in Spanish and English, Salazar said. As Latino-owned businesses grow tremendously nationwide, she said, it’s important that Spanish speakers are given the tools to grow.
“There’s just been a growth and a tremendous growth of Hispanic-owned businesses,” she said. “And so we want to make sure that we’re building capacity in our Spanish-speaking community, because … it’s probably one of the fastest-growing small business sectors.”
In addition to coaching and networking opportunities, the “game-changers” for participants in LCC LEADers will be ongoing technical assistance and mentorship opportunities, said Peter Guzman, CEO and president of the Latin Chamber of Commerce.
“What we’re trying to do is get folks to avoid the pitfalls and mistakes that people make early on when they go into business or go on to the next chapter of their journey,” Guzman said. “And this program trains (them) to avoid those pitfalls and those danger areas.”
It gives people confidence if they know they can pick up their phone to call a mentor or the chamber and receive support, he said.
“We’re not just having you go through a program and then dismissing you,” he said. “We’re staying with you — alongside you. And I think that that’s always important.”
Todd Barnes, chief operating officer at RGD Construction, has participated in multiple programs at the Latin Chamber and has already applied for the LCC LEADers program, he said.
The organization not only helps participants better themselves as individuals but also connects them with financing and lending opportunities or other resources that are necessary for running a business, Barnes said.
“I honestly want to do every program that they offer because it’s actually been a benefit to us as a family and our business — which then also helps our family, and the other families that we employ,” said Barnes, whose wife owns RGD Construction, making it a completely minority- and woman-owned general contractor.
For the Barneses, who have self-funded their business for nearly a decade, making connections through the Latin Chamber enabled them to get their first-ever company credit card and do bigger and better nonprofit work.
Typically, Barnes said, he and his wife pay for all the materials and labor needed for nonprofit jobs and get reimbursed about a month to two months later. Having access to lending and financing was a gigantic deal for them, Barnes said.
“Without the Latin Chamber and the program, I truly believe we would have never got that,” he said. “So, personally, it’s been amazing, and I know it’s helped out a lot of our friends and different people.”
He emphasized that the organization is the only one among its peers to offer him and his wife free membership upon completion of a program.
“I feel like they genuinely care about their people, as opposed to just having big numbers,” Barnes said.
It’s the chamber’s goal that the LCC LEADers program begin this summer and carry on for many years, Guzman said.
“If you’re on the fence — whether you should take a chance, take a risk on a new business, a new journey — don’t think twice,” he said. “Join this program. You have nothing to lose and it costs you nothing.”