A new, non-profit organization aimed at promoting business interests in Richmond has formed with the help of two familiar faces.

Developer and small business owner Sunny Ho and lawyer Richard Lee, who ran unsuccessfully for council and mayor, respectively, in the 2014 municipal election, have helped form the Richmond Business Association (RBA).

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The stated goal of the association is to “enhance Richmond to become the world’s best business, work and living city.”

And it has some lofty goals, for which members are unabashed about borrowing the ears of local politicians.

“We are political,” Ho told the Richmond News in a sit-down interview.

“We want to make Richmond the best for business,” he added.

Ho said his company Westminster Development Ltd. and other development firms he’s connected to want to push the City of Richmond to build more affordable housing. He said he hopes to convince the city to give the firms density bonuses to build up to 400 affordable rental housing units within the next three years. Properties along Minoru Boulevard, north of Lansdowne Road, are targeted. (In 2014, Ho suggested using farmland to build subsidized housing).

As well, the association is pushing to establish a department of traditional Chinese medicine at Richmond Hospital. This concept was announced by B.C. Liberal MLAs prior to the May 9 election.

The association held its opening ceremony event at a local Chinese restaurant on May 1.

At the head table with Lee, MLAs Linda Reid, Teresa Wat and John Yap were seated next to Mayor Malcolm Brodie, Coun. Bill McNulty and representatives from China’s Consulate General, Liu Fei.

Spokesperson Gen Wong, of Advent Marketing Ltd., said the association is open to all businesses in Richmond, although there’s acknowledgement that it is initially rooted in the Chinese community.

Wong said the association will be working to integrate in the multicultural framework of Richmond. Its website is offered in several different languages.

A large portion of the membership comes from the restaurant industry, noted Wong, and so an early goal of the association is to “assist local and overseas workers and resolve shortage of staff in the food and beverage industry in Richmond.”

Connecting workers with jobs is only one aspect. The association also wants to assist developing social services.

For instance, RBA wants to set up a dental centre “dedicated to the residents of Richmond,” according to its website.

Wong explained the centre would be funded by membership donations.

The group will also be working to promote youth entrepreneurship programs in the city.

The ideas, he said, are mostly early concepts and Ho stated the association remains fairly green and still testing the waters as to how much reach and impact it will have.

“We are still a baby,” he quipped.

Ho said he hopes to get 10,000 members. Presently there are about 2,000, who pay a $10 annual fee. The association will operate largely on donations, said Ho.

Lee was unavailable for an interview. He and Ho formed a new civic slate in 2014 called Reform Richmond, running on a fiscal conservative platform aimed at improving the environment.

Lee also took a stance opposing Chinese-only business signage in the city.

Ho’s small business Kam Do Bakery contributed $68,000 in cash to the newly formed Richmond Reform slate — a city record for a contribution from a single entity. Kam Do also contributed roughly $19,000 in donations-in-kind. Ho’s other business, Westminster Development Ltd., also contributed $20,000.

Ho is also a large donor to the Richmond Hospital Foundation, which was also present at the opening event.