During the grand opening of the Hispanic Innovation Center Chicago (HICC), José I. Sordo, HICC president and founder announced the start of operations in Q1 2017 to a remarkable diverse 148-VIP audience, including Senators, US Reps, Alderman and members of the Latin American Consulates in Chicago, University Reps, Business leaders and Hispanic Community leaders. The event was kick-off with a special message delivered by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner. He emphasized that the HICC advocates bridging cultural understanding, building international relationships and sparking constructive dialogue for all stakeholder parties. HICC provides International Hispanic entrepreneurs access to experienced professional resources to understand the US Market, develop effective business plans, access US based talent, connect, network and transform their businesses with help of the Chicago professional business community.

According to Jaime di Paulo, president of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce, “the HICC Our social mission is central to the work. HICC’s primary goal as a social enterprise is to further our mission and the profits earned through our business model support our employment program. Working with low-income, bilingual, bi-cultural young adults, providing them with employment opportunities and preparing them for community-based advocacy allows us to achieve our social purpose.” HICC’s business plan calls out to uplift the US Hispanic Community, by recruiting, training and promoting ~200 local-based, bilingual, bi-cultural digital jobs over a 3-year period, starting in January 2017. Sordo said “Mexican entrepreneurs possess competitive advantages that no other leaders in the world have; skills which other entrepreneurs don’t take full advantage of when positioning their local businesses on the global market. We are energized with the possibilities of bringing innovative solutions to the very competitive landscape of Chicago.”