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Since Liem Hua took over as executive director of the Iowa Asian Alliance (IAA) last year, he has made it his mission to focus on adding business development services that the group can offer its members and the community.

“The Asian Alliance has always done a really great job of building cultural awareness,” he said, “but now for my time here, I want to focus on the business.”

The IAA hosted its first annual AdmirAsian Business Conference this fall, which attracted 135 people. It focused on small businesses and professional development; this year’s focus will be on how to conduct business in Asia and leadership.

Hua also recently received approval from the IAA board of directors to initiate consulting services on employee resource groups and marketing. Free of charge to IAA’s platinum members, Hua will work with businesses on how to start or expand Asian employee resource groups and use those groups to help attract and retain diverse talent. On the marketing side, he or an outside consultant will work with businesses that want to market to the Asian community and Asian business owners, mostly restaurant owners, who are looking to attract more customers; these services will likely be fee-based.

“I chose a lot of the areas we’re working on because I’m capable of doing them rather than needing to hire additional people,” Hua said.

This is only the start of the services Hua hopes to eventually offer. Hua has another full-time employee who works on CelebrAsian, IAA’s annual Asian heritage festival, so he can focus on these new ventures.