{"id":395265,"date":"2026-09-09T23:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T23:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/395265\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T23:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T23:30:18","slug":"tampa-latin-chamber-helps-entrepreneurs-build-connections-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/395265\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Latin Chamber helps entrepreneurs build connections"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tampa Bay Latin Chamber of Commerce<\/a> is working to help small business owners build professional connections through networking events, luncheons, and business development programs, an effort one Tampa Bay entrepreneur says helped expand his business.<\/p>\n

For architect Allan Nunez, partner at Asquared Developments<\/a>, building homes is the visible part of his work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re kind of doing some last-minute adjustments, starting to really wrap the project up,\u201d Nunez said while visiting one of his projects.<\/p>\n

He says building relationships that lead to projects can be just as important.<\/p>\n

Nunez co-owns the business he started with his father in 2021. Like many new business owners, he said one of the early challenges was developing a client base and making the professional connections needed to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more you\u2019re connected with people, the better you\u2019re going to be to face whatever situation a project may encounter,\u201d Nunez said.<\/p>\n

Nunez said one of those connections came through a Tampa Bay Latin Chamber networking event, and it led to a tangible step for his company.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that specific meeting that I came to, I ended up starting an office here,\u201d Nunez said.<\/p>\n

Since then, Nunez has gone from attending chamber events seeking opportunities to sitting on a chamber panel and sharing what he has learned with other entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Latin Chamber has more than 300 members.<\/p>\n

Its president, Diana Walker, said the goal is to create professional relationships that go beyond exchanging business cards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want people to have connections, not necessarily just to do business, but develop those relationships so that you can call on those contacts later on,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n

The chamber holds networking events and luncheons and offers programs where entrepreneurs can learn from other business experts.<\/p>\n

Nunez said those connections helped provide something he did not have when he started: a larger professional community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more you surround yourself with community and helpful leaders, they kind of guide you in the right direction or point you in the right direction to be successful,\u201d Nunez said.<\/p>\n

Five years after starting his company, Nunez said the relationships he began building through that first event are now part of how he continues to grow his business. He has also gone from looking for a way into the room to helping other entrepreneurs once they get there.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Latin Chamber holds networking events each month. Its next \u201cCoffee with Connections\u201d is scheduled for Sept. 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Latin Chamber of Commerce is working to help small business owners build professional connections through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2031,558,276,6076,115,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-395265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-local-business","tag-business","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-lizbeth-gutierrez","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}