County’s Hispanic chamber plans merger with state group

Prince George’s organization will become a chapter

Thursday, July 13, 2006

by Marcus Moore

Staff Writer

Looking to expand its operations and citing a lack of growth, the Prince George’s Hispanic⁄Latino Chamber of Commerce in Hyattsville will merge with the 300-member Greater Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

‘‘They haven’t been growing because it’s very difficult,” said Alma Preciado, vice president of the larger group’s Silver Spring chapter, who is facilitating the merger. ‘‘By merging with a larger chamber with everything already in place, it makes it easier for them to achieve their objective.”

By the end of the month, the county group, which formed almost three years ago, will operate as a chapter within the larger organization, which has offices in Germantown.

The merger was the idea of the Prince George’s chamber, whose members approved the merger two months ago, Preciado said.

But according to Rosa D. Amo, chairwoman of the county group, Jorge Ribas, president and CEO of the Greater Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, approached the Prince George’s Hispanic group about the merger during a luncheon. Ribas’ group was looking to form a chapter in Prince George’s, with or without a merger with the county group, Amo recalled.

‘‘We knew through other conversations that they were looking to expand,” Amo said.

Following the merger, the county chapter will designate its own vice president to represent it.

Amo, whose term expires Sept. 1, said she is not pursuing a third year at the chamber’s helm. While she plans to stay involved in the chamber, Amo said, the group will find another board member to run the 25-member chapter.

In January, Amo cited language barriers in its struggle to stay viable and grow. This week, she said the merger would help strengthen the chamber.

‘‘They’re a bigger chamber. They have a lot of resources and we’re already established here,” Amo said.

Ribas said the group’s organization contributed to its growing pains.

‘‘It was a matter of how it was organized,” Ribas said. ‘‘Infrastructure is very important.”

The pending merger will help provide a unified voice for the state’s Hispanic and Latino business owners, he said.

‘‘Like any other chamber of commerce that’s forward-thinking, it allows us to grow,” Ribas said. ‘‘It gives a voice to the smaller chambers. Going into the Prince George’s market is important for us. We need to grow to become a larger voice in the state of Maryland.”

The data bear Ribas out. Prince George’s is home to the second most Hispanic-owned businesses in the state, according to the U.S. Census.

The number of such companies firms more than doubled in Prince George’s County from 1997 to 2002, while Anne Arundel and Montgomery counties and Baltimore City experienced increases of more than 30 percent, according to Census data.

More than 1,800 new Hispanic-owned businesses were reported in Prince George’s County in 2002, a 120 percent increase from 1997. One-tenth of the county’s population is Hispanic or Latino, according to Census data.

But the numbers don’t tell the whole story, as the county’s Hispanic-owned businesses consist mainly of ‘‘mom-and-pop” shops, Preciado said.

‘‘They are not really on the map,” Preciado said. ‘‘There are not a lot of big companies.”

Arelis Perez, vice chairwoman of the Prince George’s Hispanic⁄Latino Chamber of Commerce and owner of Perez and Associates real estate, said the merger would strengthen the voice of the state’s Hispanic and Latino community.

‘‘There should be one Hispanic-Latino chamber, and not several chambers,” Perez said.

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in Maryland jumped more than 37 percent from 1997 to 2002, compared with a 31 percent jump nationally, a 2002 survey of business owners found. The typical business reported about $156,000 in sales and receipts — about $15,000 more than the nationwide average.

The survey found that 15,353 Hispanic-owned businesses in Maryland reported nearly $2.4 billion in sales and receipts, up from 11,158 and $1.6 billion, respectively, in 1997. Despite the gain, Hispanics own only about 3 percent of the state’s 443,542 businesses.

Maryland’s Hispanic-owned businesses had a total annual payroll of $2.4 billion in 2002.

Montgomery County, where 13 percent of the population is Hispanic, gained more than 1,700 Hispanic-owned businesses.

‘‘We’re growing faster than anticipated,” Preciado said of the merger. ‘‘We are becoming one, but we have our own identities.”

E-mail Marcus Moore at mmoore@gazette.net.