Denver, CO – The National Hispanic Business Information Clearinghouse (Hispanic BIC) will conduct a Hispanic Business Forum on Tuesday, June 30 at the Mi Tierra Restaurant located at 2528 S. Kedzie Avenue in Chicago’s Little Village.  The event begins at 2:30pm with the Forum taking place between 3:00pm – 5:00pm

The Forum will feature the introduction of the Hispanic BIC website, www.hispanicbic.org, a free bilingual website that contains national and local business information that assists Hispanic entrepreneurs in starting and running a successful business.  The Forum will also feature a roundtable of experts who will discuss several key topics essential to small businesses:  Accessing Money; Marketing; Management; and Technology. 

The roundtable panelists include:

• Ivan Irizarry, Deputy District Director for the SBA’s Illinois District Office, will discuss different loan programs as well as small business opportunities related to the Recovery Act;
• Victoria Negrete, CEO of Impact-O, a nationally recognized  Hispanic Marketing and Advertising firm, will discuss different marketing strategies for new and existing Hispanic owned businesses;
• Lt. Col Jeff Collins, Professor of Military Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will discuss management and leadership techniques and their importance to building a successful business, and;
• Stephen Galvan, Principal of Galvan & Associates, will discuss the importance of technology and the basic technology requirements a small business needs to be successful.

The Forum will also feature Sal Gomez, business owner and Founder of the Hispanic BIC. Michael Barrera, President of the Hispanic BIC, will serve as the Moderator.  The Chicago Forum is part of a national series of Hispanic Business Forums that will be held in 2009 in New York, Denver, San Antonio and Los Angeles.  For more information or to register for any of the forums please contact Rovi Domondon Sharp at rdsharp@sourceone.com or (303) 832-8600 ext 580.

The National Hispanic Business Information Clearinghouse (Hispanic BIC) is a non-profit organization that provides a free, bilingual website featuring critical information on MONEY, MARKETS, MANAGEMENT, TECHNOLOGY and PROCUREMENT to support the creation and growth of Hispanic-owned businesses. The Hispanic BIC website offers business-related articles, training videos, local city resources, demographic information, a small-business search engine and other tools to help Hispanic entrepreneurs achieve the American dream of owning a successful business. 

The Hispanic BIC is supported by founding sponsors Western Union and the U.S. Department of Labor, and two platinum sponsors, Microsoft and U.S. Army.  The Chicago Hispanic Business Forum is also sponsored by Nissan North America, Inc.