Hispanic chamber will help city’s economy, says board chairwoman

Adrienne Foster fills a lot of roles, the most recent being her post as chairwoman of the Wichita Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Foster, 43, was on the board for several years before taking over as chairwoman in May. The Roeland Park resident also is the executive director for Gov. Sam Brownback’s Hispanic and Latino American Affairs Commission and the Kansas Department of Commerce’s director of minority and women workforce development services.

Foster said she has some big plans for the chamber. Eagle business reporter Bryan Horwath sat down with her to get her thoughts on the city’s business climate.

Q: How have things gone so far for you in your new role with the Hispanic chamber?

A: “It’s going well. I like to see results pretty quick, but I have to remember that things take a while. …

“I am happy to say that we’ve nearly doubled our membership since May. We had less than 50 members before and now we have 80-something, so we’re getting there. My goal is 100 members by the end of the year, and I hope to be at 150 by that time.”

Q: Following the departure of Abel Perez in 2011, the Hispanic chamber hasn’t had an executive director in a while. Any news on that front?

A: “We hope to have an executive director within the year, but, really, before we can ask anyone to take that leadership role, we have to have our ducks in a row. We have been working with Butler Community College in an effort to revamp our website, which is one thing that we had to do. It’s a lot to ask of someone to come in as an executive director and drop them everything that needs to be done.

“We need to have events like coffee with the mayor, and we need to have programming where our members know that they can come here as a resource. The chamber is a huge resource for business owners.”

Q: You do a lot of work for the state in Topeka and live in Roeland Park, where you were once mayor. How much time do you spend in Wichita?

A: “Being the board chair is a volunteer position, so my regular job is working in Topeka. I find myself in Wichita more often than not lately.

“What I see is that during this next year, people are going to be trying us out here to see what we’re about. People will be looking at us and what we do to see if the dollars that we ask for our membership are worth it. Our membership here is very reasonable – for an individual, it’s $125 (per year) and it’s a little less for a nonprofit.”

Q: What does the Hispanic business community in Wichita need in general and what does it need from the Hispanic chamber?

A: “Last year, in my state role, we interviewed 50 Hispanic businesses across the state and many of them were in Wichita because Wichita has the largest percentage of Hispanic-owned businesses in the state. What we heard from them is that they need to have better communication with city hall so that they can, for example, understand how to comply with laws.

“We had three individuals here that wanted a food truck license, but they don’t know how to go through that process. I went to city hall and sat down with the head of zoning and was walked through the process, so we were able to then walk those individuals through it.

“Inspections are a huge deal because the most common Hispanic-owned businesses in Wichita are restaurants, followed by automotive-related businesses and insurance. Knowing what types of resources are available as far as banking and receiving loans, that’s also very important. A lot of people simply don’t know the process. They have an idea of what they want to do, but they need more information.”

Q: How could a boost to the Hispanic business community in Wichita help the city’s overall economy?

A: “The Hispanic population (about 16 percent of Wichita’s population) and the number of businesses, those numbers are just going to go up – everyone can see that in the Census numbers and various other surveys. Also, Hispanic women are leading as far as starting and growing businesses both in the U.S. as a whole and here in Kansas. Minority women in general are one of the fastest-growing segments of the population for entrepreneurs. We need to have resources available for these businesses owners.

“I think we’re really going to help Wichita’s economy. We’re going to show business owners that we’re worth investing in.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Hispanic chamber will help city’s economy, says board chairwoman."