The National Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Services of Aguascalientes (CANACO) is the largest and oldest organization of Aguascalientes, and its members account for 52% of the state’s gross domestic product.
The Chamber was founded in 1906 during the times of former president Porfirio Diaz, when Aguascalientes had a population of about 30 thousand people. The CANACO was born from the necessity to organize business owners so that they could support one another, have a legal representation before the authorities, and help obtain authorization to buy and sell their products. Today, the Chamber is made up of 4,500 members, but they want to double their headcount and exceed the 10,000 active members.
“One of our main objectives is modernizing the Chamber’s operating processes and management systems to give it a boost. We must be at the same level as the times we are living in,” said Humberto Martínez Guerra, President of the CANACO.
Additionally, Martínez Guerra commented that, although nobody could have foreseen the pandemic, the Chamber had been getting ready to continue its operations in a digital way in order to stay closer to its members. “We wanted to carry on with our operations. Online training courses were an immediate necessity”.
It is because of this anticipation, and a little push from the pandemic, that we have been able to offer more than 180 online courses to our members. They cover topics related to current affairs, like doing businesses in times of crisis and business administration.
Projects that have been executed under Martinez Guerra’s management:
- Implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planner
- Digitalization of operations
- Registration of all functions pertaining to the chamber, updating members’ database, looking after the chamber’s economy
- Prescence and closeness with different government levels
- Participation in different forums to communicate with business owners
- Increase of communication channels among members.
- Implementation of a bulletin board
- Advertising campaigns to stimulate local commerce.
Future Projects
At the Chamber, we must adapt to this reality and start actions to continue learning, which is why we must stay on the path to modernization, and revise all managerial and operating protocols. We must begin renovating our premises without jeopardizing CANACO’s economy and, certainly continue working on all those aspects that will help local commerce become stronger,” stressed Martinez Guerra.
