ASIAN AMERICAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS MEET WITH GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN SILICON VALLEY TO DISCUSS THE STATE AND FUTURE OF AAPI BUSINESSES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[April 4, 2023]
Contact: Emily Fuder (efuder@nationalace.org)
ASIAN AMERICAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS MEET WITH GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN SILICON VALLEY TO DISCUSS THE STATE AND FUTURE OF AAPI BUSINESSES
[March 31, Silicon Valley, California] – The National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (National ACE), alongside affiliate partners, Asian American for Better Community, Benefit Tomorrow, Mandarin Business Association, and Chinese Institute of Engineers Association, hosted an AAPISTRONG Small Business Roundtable for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) small business owners to discuss the current state of business in Silicon Valley.
The AAPISTRONG Small Business Roundtable is an open forum for AAPI business owners in the United States to connect with policymakers, corporate partners, and community members to find solutions for the barriers facing minority-owned small businesses today. The Silicon Valley event is National ACE’s second roundtable this year.
With over 70 attendees, participants discussed the unique challenges facing Silicon Valley’s residents and small business owners. The conversation explored visibility of small businesses, anti-AAPI discrimination, access to capital, fair and equal pay, inaccessible permitting language and procedures, and safety and security.
Chiling Tong, National ACE President and CEO, speaking at the small business roundtable
Mayor Lily Mei of Fremont addressed the support needed for AAPI small businesses to address existing concerns: “During the pandemic, a lot of small businesses are looking for leaders they can trust. One thing is to have an ombudsman to contact small businesses and provide walkthroughs to resources or services. It’s important for public officials to highlight their services and how they support small businesses. Fremont has ‘restaurant day’ or ‘manufacturing day’ to help businesses. Without small businesses succeeding, the city cannot succeed.”
Many raised concerns over the accessibility of federal agencies and the ongoing discrimination faced by AAPI citizens. Luisa Blue, Vice President of AAPI Victory Alliance, said: “In terms of employees, small businesses struggle just to get funding. There aren’t translated forms or people who speak your language. Title VI says that any entity in the Federal government has to provide translated material. The law isn't even applied to federal agencies: how can someone report a hate crime to the FBI when the webpage isn’t available in enough languages?”
Xiaolan Zhang, a small business owner, expressed frustrations regarding discrimination and exploitation her and other AAPI small business owners faced, saying, “We always lack information. We need to let people know how to do this. This guy charged me 20% of the loan to help me and other AAPIs apply for government loans. We need places like National ACE to teach us how to apply ourselves, so we know it’s really true. We need firsthand information. Not a lot of Asian people know, and I am tired of people taking advantage of us.”
Evan Law, California State Assembly, speaking at the small business roundtable
Joining AAPI entrepreneurs at the event were Mayor Hung Wei, City of Cupertino; Mayor Lily Mei, City of Fremont; Yan Zhao, Vice Mayor of Saratoga City; Evan Low, California State Assembly; Sukhee Kang, Regional Administrator, GSA’s Pacific Rim/Northwest/Arctic Region; Justin Lock, Senior Counsel and Chief of Staff, Community Relations Service, U.S. Department of Justice; Elmy Bermejo, Regional Administrator, Small Business Administration; Ben Raju, Director of Program Management, Small Business Administration; Luisa Blue, Vice President, AAPI Victory Alliance; Raquel Gonzalez, Market President, Silicon Valley, Bank of America; Hannah Wang Lopez, Small Business Growth, Wells Fargo; and Jason Chan, Director of External Affairs, Corporate External Affairs, AT&T, National ACE Boardmember.
“Our business community continues to face many challenges. From access to capital and contracts, to capacity building, maintaining sustainability, language accessibility, and discrimination, AA & NHPI entrepreneurs must overcome many barriers when starting, retaining, or scaling their business. Our policymakers play a significant role in protecting our community, allowing our small businesses to operate safely, and creating prosperity,” said National ACE President and CEO, Chiling Tong. “This conversation will help policymakers to understand the unmet needs of our community so we can find solutions.”
March 31, 2023, AAPISTRONG Silicon Valley Small Business Roundtable, Silicon Valley, CA
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About National ACE:
National ACE’s mission is to serve as a strong advocate of AAPI business interests and positive change on all issues that enhance and advance the goals and aspirations of AAPI business owners, entrepreneurs, and corporate leaders. National ACE strives to do this through supporting and promoting issues that impact the AAPI business community, improving the economic development and economic impact of the AAPI community, advancing coalitions and enhancing community building, and fostering the next generation of AAPI entrepreneurs and executives. National ACE provides a unified voice for the business interests of AAPIs nationally. Learn more at www.nationalace.org or www.aapistrong.com.
