Illinois SBDC at the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Led by Jaime Di Paulo – President and CEO, and Silvia Bonilla – Director and Lead Business Advisor, the Illinois Small BusinessDevelopment Center at the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (Illinois SBDC at IHCC) provides counseling and technicalassistance to business owners with a special focus on delivering bilingual (English/Spanish) culturally-sensitive guidance andassistance to Latino entrepreneurs and business owners throughout Chicagoland..

IHCC has operated the Illinois SBDC at IHCC for over twenty years. During that time, they have developed a technical assistancemodel that is grounded in and reflects the unique characteristics of the Latino businesses that it serves. Their focus is reflected inthe results that the Illinois SBDC at IHCC has delivered since its inception, including the creation and retention of over twelve-thousand jobs and tens of millions of dollars in new revenue generated by the business it serves. Just as importantly, the IllinoisSBDC at IHCC is the single biggest contributor serving Latino business owners and entrepreneurs within the Illinois SmallBusiness Development Center Network.

The economic and public health crisis caused by the pandemichas brought to the surface the inherent challenges that governmententities have reaching under-served, unrepresented communities, and the Illinois SBDCat IHCC has been at the ready to ameliorate these challenges. The performance of theIllinois SBDC at IHCC over the years and during the pandemic continues to exceedexpectations, as performance goals have not been only met, but are consistentlyexceeded.