Adam Torres and Farah Kanchar discuss Mega Mix Expo.
Subscribe: iTunes / Spotify
Apply to be a guest on our podcast here
Show Notes:
Listen to Mega Mix Expo coverage. In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Farah Kanchar, Founder and President at Arab American Business Chamber, explore the Arab American Business Chamber and Megamix expo.
About Farah Kanchar
Experienced Business Banking Relationship Manager with a decade-long tenure in the banking industry, specializing in cultivating new business relationships across California. Proven ability to collaborate with company executives, adept at negotiating proposal terms to facilitate successful deal closures. Demonstrated expertise in catering to clients within specialized industries, including but not limited to escrow, title, property management, 1031 exchange, MSBs, manufacturing, distributors, wholesalers, and the aviation sector.
About Arab American Business Chamber
The Arab American Chamber of Commerce ® (AACC), located in Washington D.C., provides complete legal and commercial document certification services for U.S. manufacturers, exporters, businesses, and forwarders. AACC is your reliable business partner in processing official certifications from the United States to the Arab countries. We simplify cumbersome governmental procedures and deliver value to you.
AACC delivers the best legalization services in the United States. With a variety of resources, we are able to provide expedited, professional authentication services for our clients. We focus on improving our services, simplifying authentication processes, and creating linkages between the United States and the Arab World.
AACC delivers the best legalization services in the United States. With a variety of resources, we are able to provide expedited, professional authentication services for our clients. We focus on improving our services, simplifying authentication processes, and creating linkages between the United States and the Arab World.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right, so today I have Farah Kanchar on the line, and she is the founder and president over at the Arab American Business Chamber.
Farah, welcome to the show. Hey, Adam, thank you so much for having me. All right, Farrah, we got a lot to talk about today, but first off, , I understand you’re going to be participating in the Megamix Expo, and for those that are listening or that are maybe newer to the show, just to let, I’ve been promoting this expo now for at least a solid month or so, and bringing on some of the guests and giving their backstory and also the businesses that they’re involved with their organizations.
megamixexpo. com and get your tickets. This is going to be coming up in March on the 12th and the 13th. I will be onsite doing a podcast interviews and really just getting out of the community and having some fun. So first thing first fair, have you been to one of these expo’s before? I have not, but I’m really, Oh, you’re a newbie too.
It’s my first time going to, how did they, so how’d you, how’d you find out about it? How’d you get involved? Yeah, so I was at a event actually and I met Tony and he told me all about it and I said, this is something I definitely want to participate in, especially something to this extent where, it’s a huge expo and you’re bringing all of these, businesses and community together.
So I said, I am, and that’s amazing. And speaking of organizations, the Arab American business chamber, maybe tell us a little bit more about your organization. Yeah. Absolutely. So the Arab American Business Chamber was founded actually last year, August of 2024. So we are one of the newest ethnic chambers on the block.
But we’ve had exponential growth since our, founding we’re now at about 75 members. Wow. And we yeah, we’ve had a little over a dozen events. So the whole idea of this chamber is to bring together Arab and minority community especially the business community, because as you know, with small to mid sized businesses, they are the most underserved.
Which is why we wanted to create a platform specifically for Arab and minorities to bring them together and create opportunities within the chamber and bring them resources information. The whole purpose is to elevate their businesses. So we’re very excited and yeah, we have a lot of exciting things coming up for this year.
So yeah, we’ll stay in the loop for sure. How’d you get the idea to start to start a chamber? I’m so curious. I didn’t, I don’t, this is going to sound silly, but I didn’t even know you could start one. That’s, you’re like, let me start a chamber. That’s what we’re going to do. How’d you get that idea?
Great question, Adam. So I love this question. So growing up, , my parents had a, small business. Okay. So throughout my middle school and high school. Journey. I saw my parents start a small business and then unfortunately saw them, had to close their doors after about six, seven years.
So for me, I’ve always been passionate about businesses because I saw how this was their baby and how much, you know, time and energy and passion they put into it. And it was really, really sad. To see them have to close down the business. So this was always in the back of my mind and it kind of played an impact to when you know, I Got older and I started working and part of my career in community banking I did a lot of business development networking so I had to get out there a lot and I was members of So many different chambers and ethnic chambers in addition to city chambers.
And I just love what they’re doing for the community, especially the ethnic chambers. I mean, shout out to the Iranian chamber of commerce, the black chamber, the Asian business chamber. I mean, they’re doing a wonderful. Fantastic job bringing the community together. And so I was honestly inspired by them.
And with the experiences that I saw growing up, and with the need in the community, honestly, because there is a huge Arab community here, and they have businesses, they’re professionals. I saw there was nothing here for us, and I looked because I was trying to become a member of a chamber like this, and unfortunately it was not there so what do you do when, you know, you don’t have a seat at the table?
Do you create your own table? We’re welcoming to everybody, you know, just how I was welcome to all the other amazing ethnic chambers. I wanted to create something that was inclusive to everybody because when you’re helping one minority, you’re helping other minorities because we all live in the community.
So why not elevate one another? Yeah I think that’s a great story and I feel like the proof that there was a demand for it is the fact that you have such a large membership so fast, right? And people engaging and coming together. I feel like you must have a certain unique gift also for connecting people.
Am I off on that one? Or like, were you always a connector? Because it’s not easy to do what you’re doing. Thank you. I, especially in California, right? People aren’t coming out for just anything. Yes, absolutely. I mean, that’s the goal. I mean, I really hope I am. I mean, everything I do, you know, I want it to have an impact and a meaning.
So I would love to be known as a connector, you know, to leave that kind of legacy behind where people can remember me by. I think that’s a huge honor. So definitely working towards that. And, you know, something that I definitely want to bring to the chamber because so many amazing things can happen with connection.
I have to also shout out to my board members. I mean, they’re just a wonderful group of ladies, but I met each and every one of them through some kind of networking event or through someone that I connected with at an event. So, amazing things can happen , when we connect, right? Opportunities, I mean, the sky is the limit.
So, yeah, I would love to carry on that, legacy and be known for that, you know, that’s something that, Super important. That’s amazing. And so for your current membership base, maybe if I’m tackling this question, right, what kind of people joined and who’s like appropriate to join?
Like, what do you, who do you find gets the most value? You mentioned that you also have a lot of events that go on. Yeah. So any business. We’ll find value. So especially the small to midsize businesses in our community in Southern California region professionals. So even if you don’t have a small business, but you work for a company that serves small businesses like I do, you know, my day job, I’m a commercial banker.
So I help small to mid sized businesses CPAs, attorneys, I mean, anyone and everyone, you know, if you are a small business or you help them in any way, this is a great opportunity to be involved and not just the Arab chamber, but honestly, any ethnic chamber. So yeah, and honestly, and everyone, you know, that’s looking to, maybe they all have a business, maybe they’re not working, but they’re looking for an opportunity.
There are also great candidates, you know, to attend the event. Yeah, we do a lot of networking events. We’ll do mixers. We’ll do educational business workshops. You know, we’ll bring in guest speakers from the community, like SBA. SBDC, again, because even me or my, team, on the board, we don’t know everything.
Right. So for us, we want to bring in those resources to our business owners to, to help them navigate different areas of their business. You know, to my surprise, a lot of small businesses don’t have a business plan, so we’ll bring in an expert to help them. And this is all at no. No cost to them, or if getting having access to business capital is also a challenge when you’re starting up.
So we’ll bring in, you know, for example, SBDC to talk to them about how they can refund, to help them start or expand their business. So there’s so much resources and information out there that really adds value. And then I reflect on the time when my parents had a small business. They had no idea of any of these, you know, any of this even existed or any, there was any resource or information that can help them.
And I truly believe if they had known about all the resources that, are available today, their business would 100 percent have been saved. So to me, that’s very important to be able to give back, you know another example is, you know certification. You know, there’s so many certifications out there.
And if you are a certified owned business, you automatically have a lot more opportunities, especially for procurement opportunities. So that opens up a ton of you know, opportunities to be able to generate more income and more business and get your name, out there and be more competitive in your market.
So, that’s the whole idea is just to be able to, to elevate through resources, information and, and opportunities through our different, you know, activities. Wonderful. And you’re going to be at, then speaking of, you’re going to be at the Megamix Expo. So that’s obviously proof that you are active in the community, getting out there and and finding resources.
And also, of course, being a resource, which I appreciate. And it’s not easy to create things for the, for the community, for any community, let alone the business community, and to create these types of resources. So I think it’s a wonderful story. Farrah, if somebody, of course, you’re going to be at Megamix Expo.
I want everybody to stop by Farrah’s booth and and, and definitely come visit me too. I’ll be doing some live interviews as well. But Farrah if somebody wants to follow up now or learn more or connect with you and the Arab American Business Chamber, how do they do that? Yeah, great question. Okay.
So they can visit us at our website at aabchamber. org. Or they can follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook at either Arab American Business Chamber or AAB Chamber. We’re very active on social media. We’ll post all of our events there. And then they can also subscribe to our our newsletter on our website.
And we will also keep them in the loop and email them with all of our our events, upcoming events. And also we like to keep our our members and subscribers in the loop with other events going on in the community. So definitely check out our website at aabchambers. org. Fantastic. If everybody listening, just so you know, we’ll definitely put the links in the show notes so you can just click on the link and head right on over and check out the Arab American Business Chamber.
And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, make sure you hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show. Each and every day we’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well.
So again, hit that subscribe or follow button. And Farah, again, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you so much for having me, Adam. It was a pleasure.