Running head: CITY HALL VISIT

City Hall Visit

Day 2

The Chicago Seminar on Business and Society

BE/SO-425

Kristie Archer
International College of the Cayman Islands
May 18th, 2016

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The visit to Chicagos city hall was a very insightful and educational experience. Being
able to meet and take a group picture with Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago was also a
memorable experience too; he appeared to be a very friendly and approachable individual. After
our meet and greet with Mayor Emanuel, we had a sit-down meeting and discussion with
Roxanne Nava, who is the Chief Small Business Officer for the Department of Business Affairs
and Consumer Protection for the city of Chicago. Mrs. Nava has relevant experience to back her
current position, as she grew up in a family that owned various small businesses, was a loans
officer for many years and manages businesses presently. She mentioned that by watching her
parents owning businesses, but making no profit, she learned from the experience and used it in
her future business endeavors. At one point during the discussion she asked the group if we were
to own a business in the future what would it be? Something that I thought she highlighted that
was very important in owning your own business is to ensure you are doing what you love and
that its something you feel passionate about. Everyones business ideas were interesting and
some were geared toward something more personal, rather than profit based. Mrs. Nava
explained that you can own a Social Enterprise which is a compromise between a charity and a
business. According to the text, a social enterprise is a term that refers to an organization that
uses business strategies for the purpose of improving human and environmental well-being
(Lawrence & Weber, 2014, p. 59). Although social enterprises often earn profit, their primary
purpose is not to maximize returns to shareholders (Lawrence & Weber, 2014, p. 59).
From Mrs. Navas discussion with the group, what I found to be most interesting
to learn was the various departments within her immediate department. Departments such as:
licensing and permits, complaints, and zoning. Instead of the various departments being scattered
across the city the mayor has placed them all under one roof. The purpose of that change was to

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show and achieve more support for small business owners. Not just from the government, but
other local businesses as well that support small business ventures. That change has now made it
easier for these individuals to complete the process in a timely and efficient manner. The Small
Business Centers initiative is surrounded around, How city hall should be behind them, and
How can we support you? According to the text under the sub-title, Seeking a Collaborative
Partnership, it states that In some situations, the government may work closely with business
to build a collaborative partnership and seek mutually beneficial goals. They see each other as
key partners in the relationship and work openly to achieve common objectives (Lawrence &
Weber, 2014, p. 162). I didnt realize that in Cayman we also have a department named the
Department of Commerce and Investment (DCI), which is seemingly very similar to the Office
of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. Another similarity is that we also have a lot of
small businesses in Cayman, but not as many as Chicago.
Mrs. Nava also touched on the budget for the Office of Business Affairs and Consumer
Protection. She said its about 10 million and that there about 68,000 small businesses in
Chicago. The difference between a small business versus a big business, employee wise is that a
small business employs anywhere between 10-500 employees. She also explained that 70% of
licenses are issued online, but would have to come into their offices for a background check, a
fingerprint scan, and a copy of their ID.
What was also interesting was a concept she explained that many businesses are doing to
utilize business space more efficiently and in a new innovative way; a concept called incubation.
Incubation, as she explained, is a where various businesses not only share the same office space
but help each other and work collaboratively too. An example she gave was a woman who
started a meditation space for a fee, and then all of the other businesses within the office would

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come on a daily basis for a meditation/relaxation break or time out. She also spoke on some of
the greatest challenges small businesses face and they are: lack of preparation and resources, as
an individual to recognize what youre good at and not good at, access to capital, getting clients,
that its important to hire the right people (not family or friends), not knowing your business, not
treating employees well, and not being prepared for growth or failures.
The knowledge learned from this visit was truly a definitive one for my future endeavor
of owning my own business one day. Mrs. Nava gave excellent advice and suggestions in
owning a successful small business; that its important to find your true passion in life and to
gear your business towards that, and allow it to grow into something great.

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References
Lawrence, A. & Weber, J., (2014). Business and society: stakeholders, ethics, public policy (14th
ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill