Business

The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) and Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) will offer a series of breakfast seminars aimed at helping small and minority businesses. The “Wednesday Workshops,” which will take place every Wednesday morning in September (September 3, 10, 17, and 24), will address the specific needs and training of small and minority owned businesses in the metropolitan area. Included in the four workshops will be detailed information to help businesses find the tools, resources and ideas needed to enhance business development.

“Small businesses, including minority participation, are vital to the continued growth of Maryland’s economy - making up 95 percent of all Maryland companies and employing nearly 40 percent of our workforce,” said Aris Melissaratos, Secretary of the Department of Business and Economic Development. “In order for Maryland’s small businesses to succeed they need greater access to capital, information, resources and opportunity. Our partnership with BCCC in offering these workshops will help to achieve that goal.”

Participants will have the opportunity to meet renowned speakers and panelists from the national and local business community. Speakers will demonstrate how to navigate through the maze of Procurement, Marketing, Finance and New Technology.

The breakfast seminars will run from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and cover the following topics:

September 3 - Marketing Strategies, Branding and Public Relations

September 10 - Financial Planning, Sources of Capital and Growth Strategies

September 17 - Procurement Opportunities, Pros and Cons of Certification and Client Diversification

September 24 - Technology Applications for Small Business, Technology Trends and Electronic Commerce

Interested parties can sign up for the entire conference series or choose the breakfast topic that is of the most important to them. The conferences will take place at the Radisson Hotel At Cross Keys, 100 Village Square, Baltimore. Register at www.WednesdayWorkshops.com <http://www.wednesdayworkshops.com/> or call (410) 757-0905.

Banks reaching out to Hispanic customers

Rachel Sams Staff
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The Federal Reserve Bank has estimated that as many as a fourth of the nation's Latinos do not have bank accounts. That figure has drawn a lot of attention from banks around the country, many of which have stepped up efforts to reach out to potential Latino customers.

A recent report by Heinrich Hispanidad -- an arm of Heinrich, an agency that does advertising and marketing for the financial industry -- evaluates that effort. The report found several of the nation's largest banks to be leaders in creating innovative services and marketing programs to reach the Latino population. The report also found that overall, the nation's banking community could be doing much more to reach out to Latinos.

Many of the nation's major banks now accept the matricula consular, a photo ID issued by the Mexican government to citizens who live and work in the United States, as proof of identification to open a bank account.

But the report found that around the country, many banks had too few Spanish-speaking employees, which led to problems such as putting Spanish-speaking customers in the awkward situation of communicating through a third-party translator.

The report named Bank of America the market leader in innovation and spending to reach Spanish-language customers. Heinrich Hispanidad cited Bank of America, Maryland's largest bank, for quadrupling its advertising spending, buying a stake in Mexico's banking industry, holding classes to train tellers in Spanish and developing a Spanish-language banking Web site. Last year, Bank of America introduced its SafeSend program, which allows Hispanic consumers to send money by phone or electronically to Mexico.

"We've really seen a lot of Hispanic customers coming in with matricula cards," said Rick Tavares, a Bank of America banking center manager in Baltimore. "We've seen a pretty big influx in some of the more Hispanic-based markets, like Fells Point and Brooklyn." Bank of America is working to add more Spanish-speaking employees in the Baltimore
market, officials said.

M&T Bank, which recently purchased Allfirst Financial Inc., has a telephone banking center where customers can request an interpreter who speaks Spanish or other languages, said spokesman Michael Zabel.

M&T has a Spanish-language mortgage banking Web site and is working to make other areas of its main Web site available in Spanish.

M&T also offers financial literacy programs in Spanish, and staffs branches that have a large Spanish-speaking clientele with bilingual employees.

Copyright(c) American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

C.R. Dynamics & Associates open its new Baltimore offices last month, marking the arrival of a large Hispanic-owned business in the city's central business district.
C.R. Dynamics, which provides 24-hour teleservices, has received a major contract to operate Maryland's tourism call center. "We are excited about being a part of Baltimore," said C.R. Dynamics president Charles Ramos. "It is a great, vibrant city and we look forward to working here and helping grow tourism in the state."
C.R. Dynamics officials say the company's Automated Telephone Organization Management System has helped it succeed in the call center industry. The system allows for efficient response to customer calls and volume and also allows businesses to more easily outsource sales and marketing, the company said.
"We are pleased to enter into this partnership with C.R. Dynamics," said Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who was set to join Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley for the ribbon-cutting Tuesday night. "This company represents the broadening pool of minority-owned businesses in the State of Maryland."
Ramos founded CR Dynamics & Associates, Inc., a marketing and sales support outsource firm in 1994. Originally started as a home based business the firm received numerous industry awards such as “Rising Star” and “MVP Quality Award” and grew to a two million dollar a year business within six years. Notable clients have included AT&T, G.E. Information Services, Frito Lay, American Express, Tropicana, EDS and The State of Maryland (Department of Economic Development - Office of Tourism Development, The Maryland Public Service Commission, and Six Flags America).
Today CR Dynamics & Associates, Inc. is headquartered in Downtown Baltimore’s Financial District in the Inner Harbor occupying over 7,600 square feet of real estate which houses a “state of the art” 72 seat outsource call center specializing in inbound and outbound CRM (Customer Relations Management).
Charlie is also a Vicepresident of the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and a member of the board of the Baltimore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

As we close the edition of Coloquio, we receive the note that Governor Ehrlich just named Charlie Ramos to serve on the task force to study "Efficiencies in Procurement". The task force will last for six months, and held its first session on August 1, 2003.

Coloquio congratulates Charlie Ramos for his entrepreneurship and for being a true model to many Hispanics and minority people on how to get ahead through hard work. His progressive approach to move to downtown Baltimore also serves as a model to many other Hispanic enterprises who are doing the same from the surrounding counties and as far away as Washington DC.

By appointing him to a task force, Governor Ehrlich is making good on his promise to support diversity in Maryland. Charlie joins Luis Borunda, Chairman of the Baltimore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce recently named also to a commission to study state contracts.