At the Front of the Asociacion de Eempresarios Mexicanos
Story by: Bill Peden
Fernando Sepulveda, President of the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos, leads one of the most important networks for Mexican businesses in the United States.
FERNANDO SEPULVEDA is chairman of the board for the AEM (Mexican Business Association). He has been an inspiration for Mexican business owners for almost two decades. Well before he was elected at the close of 2019, Sepulveda had a history of promoting Mexican run businesses at every local level. It’s this focus on communal strength that has shaped his own business practices since the beginning of his journey. Sepulveda’s success can be measured by the integration of his own businesses in the United States economy, but that is only half of his story.
Fernando Sepulveda sees his fellow Mexican entrepreneurs as more than just a group of business owners. He sees them as leaders. From a young age he too gravitated towards leadership roles, foreshadowing his future. Just 5 years out of college the Harvard graduate founded his first company, Impulsa Business Accelerator in 2003.
As Sepulveda’s business acumen in Mexico sharpened, his drive to expand took him to the United States. Impulsa Business Accelerator opened their initial US operations in 2010. Within a year he and his family moved to Silicon Valley in the southern area of San Francisco. Sepulveda was ready to expand and focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and venture capital. The move was a very natural one for his company. The flourishing area was the entrepreneurial capital of the world and with a large community of Mexican business owners sharing his ideals. Or so Fernando Sepulveda thought.
He was surprised to find out the Mexican business community was barely integrated in the US economy. Fellow entrepreneurs saw each other as competition, rather than resources. Sepulveda knew that Mexican businesses could accelerate economic integration if they could find a way to come together. 4 years later he decided to open up a chapter of AEM in San Francisco. The AEM was founded in San Antonio, Texas and has been a collective voice for Mexican business owners for 25 years. He launched the chapter with the goal of building a strong foundational community and creating an infrastructure for future Mexican entrepreneurs. Now they had a tribe. The AEM gave Mexican businesses a collective voice.
After years serving his local chapter, Sepulveda was invited to join the national board of the AEM USA. However, Sepulveda noticed the strengths the AEM had on the local scale didn't transfer nationwide. The association lacked a global community. He immediately made efforts to bring local chapters together by organizing national annual events. These forums bridged local chapters, finally creating community. While thanks to Sepulveda and the AEM integration problems were being solved, unforeseen obstacles were just around the corner.
In 2016, newly elected President Trump began questioning the rationality of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Years of progress made in free trade throughout North America could be undone. Sepulveda and the rest of the AEM board decided to take immediate action. The association's main focus would now be the negotiation and ratification of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA). Working diligently with supporters in Mexico and Canada, the AEM helped ratify the revised trade agreement at the close of 2019. Coincidentally, just as Sepulveda was promoted to AEM’s chairman.
Fernando Sepulveda wants to remind Mexican business owners that through community, anything can be achieved. He sees his new position as a privilege and an immense opportunity. Marking the beginning of a new period of the AEM. With the focus on building upon the newly ratified USMCA promoting economic integration. It took a common threat and a unified goal to activate his community but now they are stronger than ever. Ready to accelerate, integrate, and dominate. Facing any challenges tomorrow might bring. As a community. +