Spotlight On: Liliam López, President & CEO, South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Spotlight On: Liliam López, President & CEO, South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

2022-09-14T12:29:57-04:00September 14th, 2022|Economy, Miami, Spotlight On|

2 min read September 2022 Liliam López, president and CEO of the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, shared with Invest: how the chamber is helping to support Miami’s small business community, as well as challenges in the market that she and her members have identified and are working to resolve.

Where do you see the greatest opportunities for economic development in Miami right now? 

I believe that there are many economic opportunities in Miami. For example, regarding development, we have traditionally underdeveloped neighborhoods like Alapattah, Overtown and so many other places that will become and are already becoming coveted areas due to their central location. People prefer to live in cities than in suburbs, and Miami has become a place that attracts people from all over the world. That is why we see development everywhere regardless of inflation and high costs. The reason is that Miami has become the Capital of the Americas. This is the place everyone wants to live, and we have seen it after the pandemic.  

The thousands of people moving here demonstrates that we are the place to be. This means that there are still opportunities. The tech industry is growing, the tourism and hospitality industry is better than ever. Hotel occupancy has been at its best. The fact that Miami is becoming less affordable to live in is a challenge, and we may lose young talent which can be a problem for companies and, in the long run, halt our growth. Graduates from the country’s top universities might think twice about relocating to Miami due to the high property values, which is important to consider if you want to attract good employees. However, I still believe that Miami is completely different to any other city and will continue to see development in different sectors.

What are your members and local businesses asking for the chamber to provide? 

They want us to connect them with others, which we do, and it is something that I just love. Sometimes it proves to be a bit difficult because they want me to be at the forefront of creating those connections in a very hands-on manner. I try as much as I can to bring that personal touch but with over 1,600 members, it often becomes difficult, but we have great staff to deal with our members. We remain committed to our purpose of providing the personal connection and of bridging opportunities to our local businesses. That is what we are here for. Without that, we lose our purpose as a chamber. 

How have your programs and initiatives helped connect businesses with local, freshly graduated talent? 

We have several youth programs and work with Miami-Dade County Public Schools.  Our Foundation has provided over $800,000 worth of paid internships, scholarships and a unique program called the Education Enrichment Program where we take high school students who compete for a trip that is sponsored by Southwest Airlines and the SFLHCC Foundation. We work with students, provide training through partners, and try to connect them with future employers after they graduate. These students are smart but come from financially disadvantaged families, making it difficult for them to reach their goals in life. We have taken students on paid trips to provide them with job opportunities by visiting companies in cities such as San Francisco, Dallas, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. to name a few. The program has been in existence for over 16 years. 

The challenges after COVID are that young people prefer to work from home. I have talked to several high-level executives’ members, and they have expressed a concern that seems like everyone pretty much has. If a young person starts working from home, the leadership, and colleagues of said company do not see you daily. This can be detrimental when the time comes for a job promotion. The leadership of companies like to see who works well, who has initiative, who relates well to others. If a young employee works from home, when the time comes to go up the corporate ladder, they may not get noticed. The person that gets the top position may not be a local. It worries me that many top positions may eventually be filled by non-locals due to everything being hybrid. We have a significant talent pool available here in Miami. When it comes to big corporations, they do national searches. That is where the African Americans and the Hispanics are at a loss. If you work from home, those possibilities of growth and development may not be there for you later.

What is your outlook for the chamber over the near term and your top priorities? 

We have always been a successful organization, but we have grown so much in these past two and a half years. We just welcomed eight new members in the span of two days. We are continuously out there with our message to businesses. We opened and have been doing live events since September of 2020, obviously with lots of precaution, but we felt that many people wanted to start networking personally and were Zoom fatigued. We are probably the only chamber in South Florida that is giving cash grants to small businesses through our Elevate Together program in a partnership with Office Depot and JP Morgan Chase. Those grants are businesses with five or less employees. In 2021 we gave out $40,000. For 2022 we are well on our way to giving out $50,000. This program comes with a mentoring portion with experts on different business subjects which is essential for those businesses to grow. We are here to support the small business community because they are the ones that provide the most jobs in our city, state and nation. Small businesses are our top priority!

For more information, visit: 

https://sflhcc.com/index.php

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