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Greater Chamber's Doing Business in San Antonio Connects Small Businesses to Big Opportunities
“I am looking to connect with people who crave homemade tortillas,” Douglas Brown, catering sales manager with Alamo Cafe, said.
For Alamo Cafe, that may have been the simplest way to describe the goal. But the connections made at the Greater San Antonio Chamber’s Doing Business in San Antonio conference and luncheon, went far beyond what was on the menu.
The event, held Tuesday, Sept. 1, at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter in downtown San Antonio, brought together small and midsize businesses from across the region with some of San Antonio’s biggest economic drivers — including HDR Inc., CPS Energy and VIA Metropolitan Transit — to learn how they could grow their businesses, cut costs, pursue contracts and connect with financial resources.
Kevin Dinnin, Greater San Antonio Chamber Board Chair, encouraged business owners to view the event as more than a networking opportunity and to take an active role in San Antonio’s future.
“You’re here because you want your business to grow,” Dinnin said. “In order to do that, I strongly encourage you to be a stakeholder in this community beyond your business. It makes a difference.”
The event came as keynote speaker Luis Torres, Senior Business Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ San Antonio Branch, described San Antonio’s economy as moving at a slower but steady pace.
“I would describe the economy right now as stable,” Torres said. “We are not contracting or growing at a really high rate.”
One of the main takeaways Torres wanted the crowd to understand about San Antonio’s economy was simple: Businesses aren’t doing much hiring, but they aren’t laying off workers either.
“It’s slower, but events like this create that positive energy that potentially could create more of that positive growth,” Torres said.
Torres said the relationships businesses form through events like Doing Business in San Antonio could also have an impact beyond individual companies.
“These relationships build a lot of positivity and allow them to make better decisions to help the community be better informed,” Torres said.
Building those relationships was exactly why Alyse Armstrong, a marketing coordinator with Emerald Fox Marketing and Consulting, came to the conference.
“I knew a lot of our mutual connections would be here,” Armstrong said. “But I wanted to also learn more about what the Greater San Antonio Chamber had to offer, along with what a top expert in the global economy has to say about San Antonio’s economy right now.”
What made Doing Business in San Antonio more than a typical luncheon were the breakout sessions that gave small-business owners direct access to some of the region’s largest public and private organizations, including CPS Energy, VIA Metropolitan Transit, University Health, the San Antonio River Authority, UT San Antonio, Bexar County, the City of San Antonio, JCB and San Antonio Water System (SAWS).
Jeff Webster, Greater San Antonio Chamber President & CEO, said the goal behind Doing Business in San Antonio was simple: keep more business — and more dollars — in the region.
“When we created Doing Business in San Antonio, my goal was, how do we keep more and more of this work in San Antonio?” Webster said. “How do we help business owners, large or small, corporate or entrepreneur? How do we keep that work here?”
But Webster reminded business owners that making those connections ultimately required them to take the next step.
“Just being a member of the chamber doesn’t make it rain on you,” Webster said. “You’ve got to be engaged. We’re offering an opportunity to engage. Take it. Meet somebody, get a new contract, find a new business partner.”