Asian businesses now can get help from new chamber

When the going gets tough, many Asian business owners tend to "stick it out alone," says Kin Ng.

Ng, a partner with MJAS Architects, hopes that the new Utah Asian Chamber of Commerce will help change that.

"I think it's an opportunity to bring people together and at the same time, it allows involvement of younger people," said Ng, a board member of the emerging chamber.

"As I see it, the Asian community kind of goes it alone, that's the situation in the state of Utah," he said. "They don't know what's available."

The chamber, which met this past week in Salt Lake Community College's downtown campus, is affiliated with the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and supported by Salt Lake County.

The Utah Asian Chamber of Commerce was established in February but has been in the planning stages for more than a year, said president Mimi Pedersen. Its inaugural fund-raising gala will be Oct. 1 at the downtown Hilton.

The purpose of the new chamber is to foster Asian professionals and businesses and to provide mentoring, networking and training, Pedersen said.

At the recent meeting, Dale Carpenter, director of business and economic development for Salt Lake County, offered his office's services to the chamber in areas such as business loans, job training and international trade.

Utah's Asian population is small, comprising just under 2 percent of the state's population, according to the 2000 Census. It's also very diverse in culture and language.

Pedersen said at least eight nationalities are represented on the chamber's board of directors. Pedersen, a Japanese native who has also lived in San Diego, said it's easier to bring diverse cultures together in Salt Lake City.

"In San Diego, we tend to split among Asian (nationalities) and fight among each other," she said. "Here in Salt Lake, we have so small a population, it's easy to get along."

Sam Wong, president of Universal Systems, said his engineering firm grew from one employee when he and Lin Wong opened in 1989 to 18 employees.

Wong said he'd like to play a mentoring role for business owners who are just starting out.

"When we help, it comes back," he said. "It's not just ourselves as one company. It's a community."

Utah Asian Chamber of Commerce meetings are held on the last Wednesday of each month. For information, contact Pedersen at (801) 485-3705.

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