“No Americano extra” is what Gov. Martin O?Malley told a group of Hispanic business people when they taught him the Spanish version of one of his signature lines ? “There is no such thing as a spare American.”
At Wednesday?s sixth annual Maryland Hispanic Business Conference in Linthicum, O?Malley announced a new outreach program for Spanish-speaking business people called Empresa and reaffirmed his commitment to increasing the minority business share of state contracting.
“I do not believe that multiculturalism is bunk,” O?Malley said, an allusion to a comment once made by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. “Multiculturalism is a strength,” he said to applause.
Luwanda Jenkins, special secretary of the Governor?s Office of Minority Affairs, said the new program would tailor existing programs for minorities and small businesses “to the specific needs of the Hispanic business community. While there is a great deal of capacity [for business], they have difficulty navigating the tricky [workings] of government procurement.”
Bill Villanueva, the state?s Hispanic business-outreach manager, said Empresa largely involves translating materials into Spanish. The Hispanic businesses are able to do the work, “they just need a little bit of guidance” on U.S. business practices and a bridge across the language barrier, he said.
There are about 15,000 Hispanic-owned businesses in Maryland, about 4,700 of them owned by women, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. From 1997 to 2002, the number went up about 15 percent statewide and 120 percent in Prince George?s County.
Veronica Cool, a Wachovia Bank vice president and adviser to the O?Malley administration who chaired the conference, said the new program “says volumes” about the governor?s commitment. “Now, we?re a recognized force.
“We are a very big consumer base,” Cool said. “We?re coming, we?re here, we?ve got the money.”
Maria Welch, president of the Baltimore Hispanic chamber, said, “We see the administration has all the good intentions and are putting all the right people in place.”
