Des Moines East and South Chamber Form Membership Arm Designed to Better Reach and Benefit Latino Community

In an effort to both increase diversity and better serve our members, the Des Moines East and South Chamber are proud to partner with local Latino community leaders to create a Latino membership arm of the chamber called Empresarios, meaning entrepreneur in Spanish.

Business leaders from the Latino community approached the East and South Chamber for guidance when wanting to start a new group of their own. After working with the Greater Des Moines Partnership to study the history of two previous organizations that were Latino based in Des Moines, both the Latino leaders and the Des Moines East and South Chamber agreed the most beneficial way to proceed was to join forces.

“I think this is an amazing opportunity for the Des Moines East and South Chamber and the Latino community, it is long overdue. We are all excited to see this come to fruition,” says Stacy VanLoon, Chair of the chamber’s diversity tenet. “The Chamber has long valued the strong leadership of Latino businesses and leaders on the East and South side of Des Moines and had a strategic goal of increasing the diversity of its current membership.”

All interested Latino businesses that are not already a member of the chamber simply need to join and will be able to get the benefits of both the East and South Side Chamber of Commerce and Empresarios. 

“I'm excited about my membership with the Des Moines East & South Chamber of Commerce and the creation of Empresarios. I see Empresarios as the arm group within the chamber focused on offering programs that benefit bilingual businesses' growth, integration into mainstream markets, as well as provide a clear channel for Spanish speaking entrepreneurs in the city to join the chamber. New members will benefit from current opportunities at the chamber as well as specific bilingual programs with additional content utilizing the Spanish language. I'm thrilled about the recent election of Karla Alaniz, realtor, as the first Empresarios committee chair and her leadership in taking the steps to attract businesses become chamber members with state of the art bilingual programs and events for business owners in Des Moines,” says Fernando Aveiga, realtor and music producer, and one of the founding members of the new group.

The Des Moines East and South Chamber are thrilled to have started this partnership and excited to officially launch Empresarios in November at a diversity event. Any questions regarding membership can be directed to the chamber President and CEO, Sadie Trytten.

About Des Moines East and South Chamber of Commerce

In an effort to better serve our members, the East and South Des Moines Chambers of Commerce have merged, essentially giving our current and prospective members the benefit of two memberships for the price of one. Together the Chambers presently serve over 300 business members. The Chambers are an affiliate of the Greater Des Moines Partnership. For more information about the Des Moines East and South Chambers of Commerce, please visit dsmeastsouthchamber.org.