'Born to lead.' (Latin Business Association president Ana Barbosa)

Entrepreneur Ana Barbosa puts her unique stamp on the Latin Business Association

Ana Barbosa recognized early on that she "had a thirst for meeting and understanding people," and originally planned to quench it by becoming an airline stewardess.

Well, that ambition has long been grounded. Barbosa has since discovered her entrepreneurial spirit and leadership ability. She has owned three companies, and is currently a partner in the third and newest one. She is also serving her second term as president of the Latin Business Association.

"I really do believe I was born to lead," says the executive, who describes herself as a "high energy" person with a "curiosity for life."

When Barbosa came on board as LBA president in 1992, she helped to transform the organization from being run like a "small business" to being run like a "big business," she says. "Until that time, the LBA board had been very involved in the operation of the organization, the president had also essentially taken the role of the executive director, and the LBA only had two paid staff members."

But membership at the LBA was growing, and Barbosa helped change the organization's structure during her first year in office so the LBA would fit into its bigger shoes.

Under Barbosa's leadership, the East L.A.-based association hired nine additional staff members, including an executive director. Barbosa and her board set up new departments, such as membership and business development, that these staff members now run.

Also, many members who were increasingly successful financially became active volunteers on committees, Barbosa says.

As a consequence of all this, the LBA board now plays more of the role of a typical board, setting policy and letting the staff and committees implement it, Barbosa says.

The Los Angeles chapter is the only LBA chapter in the country and it may also eventually serve as a role model for affiliate offices. The association had been getting calls from people around the country requesting that such offices be set up elsewhere, Barbosa says.

Thus, the Los Angeles LBA office had to be organized so affiliate offices, if and when they are set up, will be set up in a uniform manner, Barbosa says. She made sure manuals and office procedures were set up for this purpose.

During this year, Barbosa's second and final one as president, the organization is trying to encourage local corporations to hire Latinos for upper-level management positions. Most LBA presidents serve one, one-year term, but Barbosa was elected a second time.

"We don't look at this as a social responsibility any more. It's a business decision," Barbosa says.

Diversity helps a corporation generate a broad range of ideas and be more successful with social issues, she explains.

Throughout her presidency, Barbosa has helped the LBA grow to be recognized as one of the most powerful business groups in the United States, Cecilia Martinez notes. Martinez has worked with the LBA for seven years and is manager of promotions for Arcadia-based Vons Companies Inc.

"I like her aggressiveness," Martinez says.

"She has always struck me as a very dedicated and loyal person, to the LBA and to Hispanics as a whole," adds John Rodriguez, a vendor administrator in the Pomona Office of GTE who sits on the LBA board.

But Barbosa could sometimes use a little more tact when addressing political issues, Rodriguez says. Sometimes she is a little harsh, he notes.

Barbosa devotes 10 to 15 hours per week to the LBA and spends the remainder of her time with her newly formed company, City of Commerce-based Torrez/Barbosa Inc. She formed this real estate development and consulting company in partnership with the LBA treasurer, who is also a developer.

The company plans a late-1993 ground-breaking on a housing project for at-risk youths, and is completing a financing package for a health-care facility for senior citizens. Barbosa's main role in the company is to conduct marketing and feasibility studies and to meet with community leaders to determine their needs, she says.

Late last month, Barbosa was in the midst of an intensive, 12-day real estate finance and development course at USC. Even her appearance was that of a stereo-typical college student, as she showed up on campus sporting plaid shorts, a button-down white blouse and a backpack in which to tote her notebook.

Barbosa says she took the class to gain the tools necessary to run her new company, such as finding the best use for a site and putting together financing packages.

Barbosa formed her first company, ACMA Venture Group, in 1987, deriving the acronym from the first letter of each of her four daughters' names. ACMA provided consulting to companies wanting to do business in Mexico. ACMA still exists, technically, but it is not currently operating.

Barbosa's experience with ACMA led her to another venture, Marine Coatings International. That company contracted with utility companies to coat transformers with a special corrosion-preventing paint.

"I just learned how to run this business," she says. "When you're an entrepreneur, it's like a gut feeling" that a certain type of business will succeed.

Good thing Barbosa paid attention to her intuition. Within two years, Marine Coatings was raking in more than $1 million in annual revenues. Barbosa sold the company to her partner in 1989.

But Barbosa didn't start out wanting to be an entrepreneur. She wanted to be an airline stewardess, and attended a stewardess training program at Mt. San Antonio College at age 20.

But a trip to Washington, D.C., with her husband, who was attending law school there for a quarter, opened her eyes and introduced her to the world of academia, she says.

She came back to L.A. determined to get a college degree. She attended Santa Monica College and graduated from California State University at Los Angeles, with an undergraduate degree in business administration.

She also gave birth to two daughters while attending school. The day preceding her first daughter's birth, Barbosa went to school at Cal State L.A., went to her job as a teller at a bank, went back to class, got home at 11 p.m., went to the hospital at 1:30 a.m., gave birth at 6 a.m., and was back in school a week later to take her final exams.

Snapshot

Ana Barbosa

Native of: Guadalajara, Mexico

Resident of: Rowland Heights

Age: 41

Education: Bachelor's degree in business administration from California State University at Los Angeles