Suarez: Support small business and international opportunities

The McAllen Chamber of Commerce is really proud to represent over 1,200 small businesses. Small businesses are the heart of our local economy, representing about 60 percent of our local economy. For us that is a really important statistic and a really important number. 

We are very happy to be here supporting Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos, trying to speak to their communities about the opportunities that exist in McAllen. McAllen has been noted by CNN and NerdWallet as one of the easiest places to start up a new business. As so for us the message is important. We are here to support small business. We are here to continue to grow our economy and support growth for our overall community through the support of small business.

And there is no better opportunity that now to take advantage of the conditions that exist and the strength of the economy that we have. We talked about the fact that if the Hispanic population in the United States was a country it would represent the fifth largest economy with over a three billion dollar GDP. And when we look at all of the companies that are owned in the United States over a million employees are employed by Hispanic owned companies that generate a payroll of over hundred billion dollars a year. One of every four new companies in the United States is owned by an Hispanic and about five million people that are employed by Hispanic companies are generating about $800 billion dollars to the U.S. economy a year. 

And in the McAllen area we continue to see a lot of growth. When we look at retail sales tax, last year we generated about $93 million. This year we are seeing a trend of about 3.4 percent growth in that area. When we look at lodging tax receipts we generated about $4.9 million last year. This year the impressive thing is it is about a 14 percent growth. And when we look at the overall new construction of homes, in the city of McAllen we are constructing about 1,700 homes a year. This year alone we have seen about a 19 percent growth. When we look at the average value of a home in McAllen, that average value is about $265,000. And when we are looking at the importance of that international connectivity we are seeing about 4.5 million vehicles are crossing northbound from Reynosa into McAllen via the Hidalgo Bridge. And about a seven percent growth this year. 

And so for us the message is clear. Support small business. It is an investment in everybody’s economy in the region. And support international opportunities because that is the window of opportunity that continues to expand this local economy. So, we are very proud as the McAllen Chamber of Commerce to be offering that message today. We really encourage our small business community to hop on our social media, to hop onto our website at www.mcallenchamber.com, or call us at our office at 956-682-2871 and find out how the chamber can partner with you to help you. At the end of the day, the Chamber is about sharing our tools, support and giving you access to all of our network so your path to success can be a lot faster and a little bit easier. 

Editor’s Note: The above commentary was provided by Elizabeth Suarez, president of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, to reporters from KRGV-TV and the Rio Grande Guardian at a conference hosted by the McAllen chapter of Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos. AEM brought dozens of business owners from the south of Mexico to the Rio Grande Valley to learn about doing business in the United States. The business owners also visited Pharr and Brownsville. The McAllen leg of the tour took place at the McAllen Convention Center. 

Editor’s Note: Here, below, is an audio recording of Suarez’s remarks at the conference. The remarks are in Spanish.

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