Chamber aims to help Hispanic businesses

With a growing population of Hispanic residents, the Habersham County Chamber of Commerce is attempting to expand its services and outreach to help current and potential Hispanic business owners see success and grow in representation.

“From a county perspective, we would love to have more Latino businesses represented in our membership,” Chamber President Mary Beth Horton said. “From a community perspective, it is to present opportunities to strengthen and develop all of our businesses. As a whole, we just want to strengthen all of our small businesses.”

A partnership between the Habersham County Chamber of Commerce and the Latin American Chamber of Commerce, Georgia (LACC) was established back in October 2021 and has since worked together to create a relationship that will help bridge gaps in Latino businesses owners might experience in the community.

The LACC was formed 24 years ago by a group of Latino business owners who wanted to support other Latino owners and help them grow their businesses. Since then, the LACC has looked to grow its partnerships across the state of Georgia.

Maria Peck, who runs Mark of the Potter in Clarkesville with her husband, said she got involved in trying to create the partnership because as a local Latina business owner, it was vital for her to help others avoid some of the mistakes she made when she opened her first business.

“As a Latina business owner, when I started my first business in 2008, a restaurant, I did not know that there were so many services offered to Latino owners,” Peck said. “I didn’t know what I didn’t know. But once I started my restaurant, which I self-funded, and got into the actual role of operations, I realized I didn’t know the proper way to run a business in this county.”

After selling her business and beginning to work for a non-profit organization, Peck said it became her life mission to help support businesses and minorities.

“I wanted them to know that there are tools and resources and organizations that exist out there to support us as business owners,” Peck said. “The work that I do is strictly to support other businesses in Georgia with the tools that they need to build a strong foundation for a business that they can potentially leave for their family, to their children and then their grandchildren…to help build that generational wealth at home.”

Through her business, Peck became aware of the Habersham County Chamber of Commerce and knew that a partnership would be beneficial to the county.

“Cornelia is 38 percent Latino and about 50 percent of the student body is Latino,” Peck said. “We understand that there is a large number of Latinos living in Habersham and they are not being served when it comes to businesses.”

The partnership has since gone “tremendously,” said Horton.

“Since we formed our partnership last October, we have met several times to have brainstorming sessions to address the different needs that are here in our community,” Horton said.

While Peck said it has been a slow start due to the pandemic, they are continuing their work to build something lasting.

“We are starting from the ground up,” Peck said. “It is basically a grassroots effort in the community to build trust and community support around this effort.”

A marketing seminar was hosted at El Patron, which Peck said had a good turnout, in Cornelia and the chamber is currently planning to host a finance resource seminar in the upcoming month.

“It has been absolutely wonderful,” Peck said. “Mary Beth and the Chamber have been huge champions of the work that we do.”

Peck said they hope to continue to build relationships with Hispanic business owners in the county who would allow events to be held at their business.

“We want to hold them in a space where they feel safe,” Peck said, adding that support is also available in Spanish. “It is our goal to support other businesses so they can start and grow in their communities. We can do it in Spanish and we can do it in English, the goal is to just support with the tools they need for a strong foundation.”

Knowing where to start seems to be one of the biggest needs that have come up during brainstorming, said Horton.

“It’s to let our Latino and Hispanic-owned businesses understand the different resources that they need to grow their business. Where to get insurance, what licenses they need, and additional funding,” Horton said.

By having access to that information, Guy Ramos, of Headwaters Realty in Clarkesville, said more members of the Hispanic community will contribute and showcase their amazing culture. Ramos, originally from Brazil, learned Spanish while living in Miami to better serve the Hispanic community.

“Latino businesses, they are very hardworking,” Ramos said. “Really good people and Cornelia is 38 percent Latino so they can bring a lot to the table, everywhere, if they are involved in everything.”

Creating avenues for information to be more accessible creates opportunities for those members of the community to really be involved.

“The more they are integrated the more they can give and people see what they can do,” Ramos said. “They have a rich culture. The Latino community has a lot to offer and they can even offer a different point of view…everybody has the ability to give.”

The LACC will be having a table set up at the first upcoming Hispanic Heritage Month on Sept. 24 during the City of Cornelia’s Big Red Apple Festival, which Horton said is being put on in collaboration with the Habersham County Historical Society and has been amplified with the help of the LACC. For more information about joining the chamber or how to be involved in the partnership, contact Mary Beth Horton at president@habershamchamber.com.