This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Maysee Herr, CEO of the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce.
Herr provides insights on the communities served by the Milwaukee-based organization, as well as the chamber’s efforts to foster entrepreneurship and economic growth for underrepresented groups.
“Our mission is to economically uplift some of the most underserved communities, through helping build small business startups, helping them to grow and helping them to sustain,” she said.
The group was formed about 20 years ago as a community development financial institution, or CDFI, Herr explained. Along with lending services, the chamber also offers one-on-one consulting for business owners in Wisconsin.
According to Herr, recent economic challenges have driven an increase in entrepreneurship among the groups that often work with the chamber.
“Not unique to the Hmong community or Asian community, but COVID really made people reflect … perhaps this is the time to start something that is my own,” she said. “Not necessarily working for someone else, but starting something that I can call my own, while contributing to my family and the economy.”
The discussion also touches on hurdles faced by Hmong community members, as well as a trend of young people in these communities leaving the state to find job openings. But Herr stresses that Wisconsin provides a wide array of opportunities for those willing to pursue them.
“There’s certainly a place here for these small business owners and entrepreneurs of diverse backgrounds,” she said.
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
