Three years after she struggled to start her own Spanish-language magazine, Silvia Ichar wishes she knew then what she learned in just four hours on Saturday.

Ichar was one of about 100 small-business owners who attended the first business-finance forum held by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Orange County in Santa Ana.

The forum, co-sponsored by the Small Business Administration, brought together three dozen lenders including commercial banking giants, small community banks and CDC Small Business Finance Corp., a nonprofit that facilitates loans for start-up companies.