ROCHESTER — The upcoming free
Hispanic Business Resource and Networking
event, along with a related series of workshops, are aimed at educating and connecting Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs in the Rochester area.
Julie Herrera-Lemler, regional program manager for the
Small Business Development Center,
created this event last year to fill a local need. This is the second annual event.
“I did it because I noticed that there was nothing in our area for the Spanish-speaking business community. There are a lot of things like this in the Twin Cities, but there was nothing in Southern Minnesota,” she said.
The bilingual event is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 17 in the Economic Development Center in the BioBusiness Center building at 221 First Ave. SW. The center is located on the sixth floor of the downtown building.
The event will feature more than 20 organizations with business resources, like SBDC, the Small Business Administration, the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, the Latino Economic Development Center, Rochester Area Economic Development, Inc. and Legal Corps. plus local banks, a mental health provider and more.
“Everyone that has a table at this event will have somebody there that speaks Spanish to support them. It is a bilingual event,” said Herrera-Lemler.
There will be a keynote discussion led by Herrera-Lemler featuring Francisco Lopez, who co-owns the
ice cream shop in Rochester as well as the Lopez and Son construction firm.
The hope is to get as many business owners and people who want to start a business to the event to connect with resources and connect with each other.
“I’m trying to make it a comfortable environment, right, so that they will feel comfortable enough to reach out to each other. Many people don’t know anything about networking. Maybe they will meet people that can help them or that they can collaborate with,” she said.
To foster an atmosphere of community, food will be served and there will be a Kids Corner with activities for families.
The SBDC also is hosting free related business workshops in Spanish as part of Hispanic Heritage Month. A
is scheduled for Sept. 16. On Sept. 23,
will be offered in Spanish.
For more information about the Hispanic Business Resource and Networking or the workshops, contact Herrera-Lemler at jlemler@rochestersbdc.com.
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