By Jenny Callison
Enquirer contributor

Impressions Maid Services Inc., cleans a stove grate as she polishes a client's home in Blue Ash last week. (Glenn Hartong photos) | ZOOM |

Maira Biddle envisioned her residential and commercial cleaning business as a way of helping herself and others. By using her organizational and marketing skills, the Puerto Rico native strove to build a large enough clientele to employ several fellow Hispanics.

"They're coming into the Cincinnati area, and they are so hungry," she said of Hispanics' desire to better themselves. "They just want to work and feed their family."

Biddle, an active member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cincinnati, is typical of Hispanic business owners, chamber first vice chairman Alfonso Cornejo said.

"Hispanic females are more entrepreneurial than males," he said, adding that many of these women establish home-care companies because that's what they know. "In our culture, they are the 'caring' ones. The majority of our members are home-care agencies."

After 10 years of existence, the Hispanic Chamber recently enrolled its 100th member. The growing roster is just one sign that the Tristate's Spanish-language community is gaining visibility and influence.

"The chamber was dormant for about seven years," Cornejo said. "During the past three years, growth has accelerated; but we are still an all-volunteer organization."

The group's president, Roberto Peraza, recently retired from his position at Procter & Gamble and is devoting full-time energies to developing the chamber.

Kelly Barrett of Sardinia works with First Impressions Maid Services, a company owned by Maira Biddle, a native of Puerto Rico. | ZOOM |

"He saw his retirement as an opportunity to do more, and also to require more from others," Cornejo said.

George Perez, editor of the biweekly Spanish Journal, has seen a difference.

"We have more members and we now have our own offices. We're inviting well-known speakers to the community. Last year, it was the ambassador from Chile; this year, it will be the Brazilian ambassador.

"Both Roberto Peraza and Alfonso Cornejo are very well-known faces in Cincinnati. They are a tremendous help to us because they have insider knowledge. The chamber is representing Hispanic businesses to corporate America, opening doors for them to know about Hispanic businesses."

The Spanish Journal, which has grown in circulation from 2,500 to 15,000 in five years, is a tool for the chamber's business development efforts, Perez said.

"They can use it to show corporate America what's going on, and to demonstrate the amount of business support that is out there."

Entrepreneur Lourdes Leon appreciates the networking and training opportunities available through the chamber.

"It has helped me to get to know other members and other businesses, and for them to know me," the owner of Taqueria Mercado in Fairfield said. "The president has come very often to my place, and has brought other influential people in the business community. The chamber also provides good information about doing business in the area."

The chamber also works to help recent immigrants connect with jobs and with resources. But challenges still remain, as Biddle is the first to admit. While the Tristate's middle-class Hispanic population is growing, many Hispanic immigrants are looking for entry-level positions with companies such as Biddle's First Impressions Maid Service. And they encounter obstacles to holding a steady job.

"One factor is transportation," she said. "Depending on where you are, you're not going to get it. I'm in the Blue Ash area, and my employees have to connect via several buses to get here. For a couple of years, I had employees I would go and pick up, but that just doesn't work any more. My customers were sorry to see them go."

When she took several employees to get driver's licenses, the applicants found that their English was not good enough to allow them to pass the test.

Biddle is trying to increase the resources available to Hispanics by boosting corporate sponsorship of the chamber and by raising the organization's profile.

"When you really look at the whole picture, it's a lot more than running a business," she said. "It's a service for the community."

Opening doors

The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cincinnati sponsors local events:

• This weekend: Festival Hispano offers two days of music, dancing and food from 15 Latin countries. The festival runs noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday at St. Charles Borromeo Church, Fairpark and Seymour avenues, Carthage. Information: 761-1588.

• Oct. 9: "Brazil, the Great Market of South America," at the Millennium Hotel downtown. It begins at 7 p.m. and features Brazilian Ambassador Rubens Antonio Barbosa. Dinner and program cost $50; call the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cincinnati for reservations: 579-3111.

• Oct. 21: Mexican consul Sergio Aguilera speaks about the proposal that consulates issue identity cards to Mexican workers in the United States. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at the chamber office, 3805 Edwards Road, Suite 555. Information: 458-6649.

• Nov. 18: Chamber's first networking event, at JalapeŇo's Restaurante in Madeira. Session starts at 6:30 p.m. Members free; non-members $10. Information: 458-6649.

E-mail jcallison@zoomtown.com.