Union Bank of California and the San Francisco National Enterprise Center: Team Work At It's Best

Tuesday October 5th, 2004

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Summary: Union Bank of California and the San Francisco National Enterprise Center of the US Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency, hosted a one day conference to help minority undergraduate and graduate students learn about financial literacy and community banking.

 

 

Union Bank hosted the event at its headquarters in San Francisco, opening a state of the art conference room that comfortably seated the 22 students in attendance.  The students ate breakfast treats in the morning while Union Bank personnel and Will Houston, Business Development Specialist in the San Francisco National Enterprise Center, did the initial set up.

The event focused on making minority students more knowledgeable about banking operations thereby better positioning themselves should they wish to get business loans in the future.  Debra Taylor, Region Manager of Community Banking for Union Bank of California, co-created the event with Mr. Houston.  She and Mr. Houston opened the event and introduced the other participating Union Bank employees: Maria Gallo, Senior Vice President Diverse Markets Administration; Richard Chacon, Supplier Diversity Manager; Angelica Trinidad, Assistant Vice President, Corporate Staffing; and Alexandria Miles, Staffing Assistant.  Each spoke about different aspects of Union Bank’s operations and business culture and how each worked to contribute the bank’s overall business plan and viability.

 

Afterward, Mr. Houston opened the floor for 2nd year students to talk about their experience in the program.  Mr. Luis Miguel Ochoa of Stanford University, a second year Minority Youth Entrepreneur Program participant who was also selected to participate in the National Program, commented that “the program has significantly changed my life.”  He made these comments addressing the experiences he’s had and the connections he’s made.  Over the summer, Mr. Ochoa got an internship with Price Waterhouse and he’s going to participate in another internship program in Chicago, IL.  These opportunities developed through connections he made from the San Francisco Minority Youth Entrepreneur Program.

 

The last activity of the day was a game where the students broke into four groups: two groups represented two different minority businesses trying to get loans and the other two groups represented two banks serving the minority community.  For this game, students had to prepare mock business plans to pitch to a loan officer who in turn had to convince/dissuade a loan committee to fund the loan.  Students got a firsthand view of the operational obstacles that come into play when banks make their decision to fund or not fund a given loan.  Students also got a firsthand view of the decisions minority businesses make that complicate the lending process for themselves and banks.

 

At the end of the program, students gathered together to take a group photo with the Union Bank employees and participated in the program closing raffle.  One lucky student, Enrique De Anda of Stanford University, won two home plate tickets to the San Francisco Giants game.  These tickets were donated by Mr. Chacon.

 

 

The event was a complete success as everyone was enriched by their experience and all gained insight into banking operations.  More importantly, the bank got to view a little piece of its future, the bright minority students who will be the business owners of tomorrow.