Latinos mean business in southern Utah

St. George, Utah – A concept to bring together local entrepreneurs was hatched a few weeks ago by a St. George business owner. He had no idea how many would actually arrive.
As it happened, there was a lot.

Over 120 attendees crammed into the Blues Katz Rock & Roll Grill for the inaugural meeting of the Southern Utah Latino Business Alliance. Desai Madrigal, who founded the organization, expects it will increase visibility for and influence locally-owned businesses in southern Utah.

Madrigal recognized the need for a Southern Utah Latino Business Alliance since she owns and operates a home inspection company in Washington and Iron counties. He had the concept about five weeks ago, and he scheduled the launch date of August 22 for local business owners to get together.

“I really think that if you just set a date, then things will happen,” Madrigal declared. “So we put in a lot of effort to get here and had a fantastic turnout.”

According to Madrigal, the goal of SULBA is straightforward: to link all of the businesses and customers, Latino and non-Latino, and to inform them of the resources accessible to them.

“I think that educating people about the resources that are available to them through education is one of our main objectives,” Madrigal stated. We’re going to focus on the issue of inadequate education. and then establishing connections between individuals.

News was disseminated via Juan FM, a Hispanic radio station in St. George, and social media. According to Suleyma Plancarte, morning anchor of Juan FM, the Latino community in southern Utah is like a family that has to come together.

“Our own circle is the Latino community.” People are being forced to step outside of their comfort zones and take on greater challenges as a result of this occurrence, according to Plancarte. “This is something we’ve been waiting for a long time.”

Even with the attendance, it wasn’t simple. Desai received a few “No”s before the Washington Area Chamber of Commerce quickly agreed to work with him.

“I kind of realized that there isn’t much of a community down here after trying with a chamber up north,” Madrigal remarked. And the conversation was along the lines of, “You know, we’ll see, or maybe let’s try to, you know, look down the road.”

However, relationships were formed over tacos and beverages at the cafe and the passing of business cards.

Realtor and co-owner Cristina Zavala said, “I feel so proud and excited because that type of connection is so important to our people.” “Networking, just establishing connections with other resources and, of course, advertising their company. This is really significant, and I can’t wait to see what will come of it.