June 10, 2004

Almaden Business Association celebrates one-year anniversary

By Lorraine Gabbert
Staff Writer

The Almaden Business Association (ABA) celebrated its one-year anniversary at its monthly meeting on Thursday. Vice Mayor Pat Dando, San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Cunneen, and about 50 ABA members and local business leaders attended the meeting at Amato’s Pizzeria.

According to Almaden Business Association Chairman Doug Keller, the primary mission of the organization is to provide representation and leverage for businesses in the Almaden and Blossom Valleys to help them grow their companies and be successful. “We also bring in speakers from the city to help businesses understand regulations they need to be aware of, how changing economic conditions might impact them, and participate in community service projects,” he noted.

ABA Co-President Bob Swan is pleased at how the organization has grown, as well as the level of interaction between the members. He believes that the organization has succeeded in providing a common voice for its members as well as in serving the community.

“You see here small businesses that have been established for many years, as well as people that are just starting their business,” said Dando. “That’s the strength of this organization—you have experienced business operators mixing with the new, and they help each other.”

In its first year, Vice Mayor Pat Dando, who was instrumental in its creation, has seen the Almaden Business Association grow by leaps and bounds. “We started out with about 12 members, and now they have over 70,” she enthused. “Especially in a down economy, businesses might tend to turn inward. Our hope was that we would see just the opposite happen, and sure enough, here we are today.”

“We are absolutely delighted,” shared Keller. “I’m really amazed. I remember when Jim and the vice mayor helmed the first meeting at Chevy’s a year ago and asked if there was any interest in the Almaden area for people to get together and form a business association. We’re still growing.”

“Great endeavors come from great collaboration, and that’s really how this idea came about,” recalled Cunneen.

When he became Chamber CEO in 2001, Cunneen said he realized that the vibrant economic neighborhood districts throughout San Jose lacked an organized business voice, and contacted the city to make that change. He made this vision a reality by forming a partnership between the Chamber of Commerce, Vice Mayor Pat Dando, and the Office of Economic Development. “The San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce is an urban-based regional chamber with the core of our base, San Jose businesses,” commented Cunneen. “We felt that our future was about being fiercely local in our communities and Almaden Valley was the natural place to kick off this vision.

It is a community with very special values, unique culture, and families and businesses that care about Almaden—it could almost be a city on its own—and Pat could be its mayor. You can see the power of the network of being involved. Through the Chamber of Commerce, we can provide you with resources and the reach you might not normally have, and that kind of support is going to continue. There are also a lot of political things we do to fight your battles and create a positive business climate, such as back political candidates. The city gains from this, too. It can identify issues that are unique to an area that policy-makers might not normally hear about.”

“It is a pleasure to be here to celebrate your success, and to let you know how important your businesses are to our city,” said the Dando. “Because we live in Silicon Valley, cities get wrapped up in those big, sexy, corporate companies that everyone thinks produce the engine that drives our local economy. That’s completely wrong. The fact of the matter is that 49,000 jobs within San Jose are small businesses, and those small businesses hire about 45 percent of the people that live in San Jose. Small businesses are the backbone of our country, our local economy, and the success of San Jose.”

“One of the reasons that we started the Almaden Business Association was to give you the opportunity to form partnerships with each other, because we have found that businesses are much more successful if they get to know not only who the complementary businesses are, but who the competing businesses are,” noted Dando.

“The old adage, ‘rising water raises all boats,’ is the same in our local economy. As you start to do better, your neighboring businesses will start to do better, so it was very important that we gave you the opportunity to meet other businesses in our community. The second reason was to have you combine your interests, your needs, and your concerns when it comes to marketing. The third reason we thought it was a good idea to have a business association was to give you an opportunity to get involved in your community at a real grass roots, people level, and I am so proud of the work that you have done in that area just in one year’s time. We have come a long way in accomplishing the three goals of this organization in a very short period of time.”

The meeting also included a presentation by Keller entitled, “Monopolize Your Marketplace: How to Separate Your Business from the Competition,” which focused on creating effective advertising.

The Almaden Business Association meets regularly on the first Thursday of the month. Their next meeting is an evening mixer, scheduled for Thursday, July 1, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Baja Fresh at 1008 Blossom Hill Road. To find out more about the Almaden Business Association, e-mail them at: dkeller@y2marketing.com or almadenbizassn@pacbell.net.