LATINO FIRMS GET BOOST; COMMITTEE AIMS TO UP BUSINESSES' REPRESENTATION.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

The first thing Ernie Pineda did when he became the Panorama City branch manager for Pan American Bank in early 1995 was search out a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. But he was out of luck - there wasn't one in the San Fernando Valley.

He did the next best thing and joined the Mid-Valley Chamber of Commerce but quickly concluded that Latino businesses were underrepresented.

``I was somewhat surprised, because there is a very large Latino community in the San Fernando Valley, and there isn't a local business group that represents the demographics in the area,'' said Pineda, who came to the United States from El Salvador in 1976.

So about a year ago, when former Mid-Valley chamber President Kenneth Gerston brought up the subject of Latino representation - or rather, its limited representation - Pineda teamed up with fellow chamber member Eduardo Estrada to answer the call.

Thus was born the Latino Business Development Committee, aimed at bringing more Latinos into the chamber fold to help them boost their business and to help non-Latino businesses in the Latino community.

``This is an effort to help revitalize the economic recovery for our community,'' Pineda said.

Latinos comprise only 2 percent to 3 percent of the roughly 600 members of the chamber in an otherwise heavily Latino area. So chamber leaders know there is an acute need to beef up Latino representation in the organization.

``We want more Latino members; we want more representation of our group in the area,'' Pineda said. ``There are a lot of Latino businesses in the area, and we want to create an interest in those individuals to join in the Mid-Valley chamber.

``We are part of the community, and they should be part of the chamber.''

The committee is now gearing up for its first big event, the Latino Consumer Expo, scheduled for Aug. 23 at the Panorama Mall.

The expo, presented by the Daily News, will bring together businesses with local Latino consumers, Estrada said.

``Basically we're . . . making it possible for them to target the Latino market,'' he said.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, whose district includes the mid-Valley area, said the area's Latino businesses would benefit by resources provided by the Mid-Valley chamber. Latino and non-Latino merchants and consumers each stand to benefit, he said.

``The customers need to understand the businesses in the community, and as part of that, the non-Latino businesses need to better understand how to market and provide services to the Latino customer,'' Alarcon said. ``It really is an exchange that meets the needs of all the members of the chamber.''

Estrada and Pineda both credit Gerston with giving the committee the impetus it needed to get off the ground.

Gerston, chief executive officer of Continental Coin and Jewelry Co. in Van Nuys, said he had long noticed the gap between the small Latino presence and the large number of Latino-owned businesses in the area. He was, frankly, peeved by that.

``We have a wonderful Latino community that we haven't tapped into, that we haven't tried to develop on a business level,'' he said.

The Latino Business Development Committee isn't the only group actively seeking to promote local Latino business. Later this year the Latin Business Association will open an affiliate office in the San Fernando Valley.

Unlike a chamber, whose primary role is to provide businesses with networking opportunities, the Los Angeles-based Latin Business Association - which requires that its directors and officers be Latino - would more actively bring business opportunities to merchants, said Frank Moran, president of the association.

Though he applauded the Latino Business Development Committee, he worried that the two organizations' activities could clash.

``I would say it's a smart move on their part, though once the LBA would re-establish itself in the community it would be important for their members and ours to work together,'' Moran said.

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Photo: (color) Ernie Pineda, left, and Eduardo Estrada lead the Latino business committee.

Tina Gerson/Daily News