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The Authority On African-American Conventions, Incentives, & Leisure Travel |
VIEW FROM THE CHAMBER
Michael Bennett
The African American Chamber of Commerce San Antonio (AACCSA) has a stellar reputation in the greater San Antonio and Bexar (pronounced bear) County region for strong advocacy on behalf of the African-American business community. Their accomplishments to date have been many. Established in 1993, the AACCSA was organized to promote, support and establish African-American businesses and create a collective wealth and organized economic development.
The Chamber’s accomplishments to date include: the San Antonio Business Development Fund, a community development fund with assets over $2 million; a project with the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau to set aside marketing funds to attract African-American conventions and tourists; the South Texas Regional Certification Program, which eased the process of minority certification to do business with government entities; and the University of Texas Austin MBA Program---a small business educational development program offering training and expertise in the fundamentals of business management.
The MBA program known, as the Community Minority Business Advancement Program (CMBA) is a challenging seven-week program designed to enhance the marketing, management, finance, and accounting skills of owners and managers of small to mid-sized businesses. The CMBA is offered at a cost of just $250 per participant.
Many of the participants would be unable to afford this education if not for the CMBA program.
Lou Miller, president of the Chamber, owns an insurance company and a hotel. He was recently elected to the board of directors for the National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners (NCBMP) at their convention in Las Vegas. His election is a testament to his dedication and devotion to the chamber he represents and tourism in general.
Through relationships Miller established as head of the AACCSA, he and a group of investors, mostly from San Antonio, are about to break ground on a new hotel in Sugar Land, TX near Houston.
The marketing program the AACCSA started in conjunction with the San Antonio CVB has not been funded the past few years, but Miller says a recent change in leadership at the CVB will hopefully rejuvenate the program. “Niche marketing is the way to go for all CVBs…especially the multicultural market,” claims Miller, who says the changing demographics demand they go after this business that’s well into the billions of dollars and growing.
Another area of vital importance to Miller is work the chamber does with the San Antonio Business Development Fund. Managed by a Board of Governors, many of them bankers, this fund makes loans to small businesses that can’t use the more conventional means of obtaining funds directly from a bank.
Miller and the AACCSA have fought for diversity on all levels, not just in business ownership. The University of Texas San Antonio commissioned a study a few years back entitled “Diversity First.” The study examined the ethnic diversity of nine companies doing business in the Alamo City. As you might have guessed, the study painted a rather bleak picture. Out of 109 Board of Director slots, African-Americans occupied just three. Miller and the AACCSA decided to take an active role in changing the landscape of these boards by engaging the services of former U.S. Representative Henry B. Gonzalez, then head of the finance and banking committee. The AACCSA targeted banks on this list in large measure because they are regulated by the federal government. Their actions resulted in some banks adding or increasing the African-American representation on their boards and Miller sees a general improvement in recent years across all businesses in the city.
To reach the AACCSA, call (210) 490-1624.