This month we celebrate the Immigrant Heritage Month by recognizing that immigrant-entrepreneurs play a big role by driving innovation and job growth. They are a critical component of the resilient Detroit’s economy.
From our last Impact Report, TechTown served 1731 entrepreneurs— 12% were immigrants. From that group, we profiled the following business owners, who shared with us their stories of how they overcame their fears and confronted the unknown, as well as what continues to inspire them to be the best they can be.
Ideas Marketing (México)
Juan José López
7129 W. Vernor, Detroit, MI 49209
Tell us about your business – what do you do and why do you do it?
We are a small print shop. We do graphic design, web services and printing services. We do digital printing and wide format printing as well as silkscreen and embroidery. We try to provide a one-stop shop for our customers no matter what is their line of work.
We work with a wide variety of customers from landscaping or construction companies to schools or nonprofits, as well as individuals in need of printing services or promotionals for personal events like birthdays or weddings.
What struggles have you had to overcome during COVID as an immigrant and business owner?
Covid has been a very difficult time for every business. We had to close since we work with other businesses and they closed too. It was a lot of fear from all of us and uncertainty. We applied for a lot of grants but we only received one from Techtown and another one from the county. As immigrants is hard to understand how the processes for grants work and get the information about them.
What makes you most proud of being an immigrant entrepreneur?
We all immigrants, in a nation of immigrants, we came here looking for opportunities and a better future. This country has been a nation of opportunity and we all are here fighting for something better for our families. That is why we are here and every day is a fight to fulfill that dream. It means to come to a country that is not yours, learn a different language and learn the culture and it is a huge challenge I face every day. I always joke that as Mexican, I have to work hard not because I’m a hard worker but since the stereotype is that Mexicans work hard I have to do it even though I don’t want to work as hard. The truth is we work not for us only but for our family and I don’t find any other motivation than provide better opportunities for them. I do have professional and personal motivations, dreams of success but to me, my success is seeing that my family can get better opportunities and fulfill their dreams.
What resources can you recommend for immigrant?
In my own experience, the main resource I can recommend is to ask. The worst problem we can have is ignorance and fear to ask about something we don’t know. When I asked for help or resources, I found people willing to help me. I’m very grateful with people and nonprofit organizations because since day one my best advertising has been the nonprofits we work with. I have received a lot of business and help due to word of mouth from the organizations we work with. If I look back to our first days as a business, our first customers were the nonprofits. My dad used to say: “You already have the NO for an answer if you don’t ask, so have confidence and be brave to ask for help and you’ll find yourself surprised how many people is willing to help and direct you to the resources that are there available but most immigrants don’t know about.
El Rey de las Arepas (Venezuela)
Rayner Gutierrez
7701 McGraw Ave, Detroit, MI 48210
Tell us about your business – what do you do and why do you do it?
We make authentic Venezuelan food typical dishes and updated from our traditional dishes. I do it because it gives me great satisfaction to be pioneers in Detroit and its suburbs in making our culture known through our typical dishes.
Do you have any professional goals you want to achieve soon? Either for you or your business?
My short-term professional goal is to open another business with the same characteristics as the one I have right now, with a better location and my spaces.
What makes you an outstanding leader in your community?
The impact caused to the community through collaborations and donations participating together with Detroit Chevere in events and activities for families in Michigan and Venezuela
La Jaliscience Taqueria and Market (México)
Leslie Vargas
3923 Vernor Hwy, Detroit, MI 48216
Tell us about your business – what do you do and why do you do it?
I’m part of the third generation in my family of storekeepers, I’m part of La Jalisciense taqueria and market. We are a family owned business that is based on Mexican products and a restaurant connected. We are a family of six, small family but huge team at the same time. Working side by side as a team to create a way to connect our roots from Jalisco back to our community and to those who are so far from home. That coming into La Jalisciense is an experience that can connect back to all of our roots that we left behind for a better opportunity and for the American dream, just like my parents did it for my brothers and I. I enjoy and love what I do, which is helping my parents to grow our business with the purpose of connecting back our clients with their hometown with a product or a taste of our food making it one of our priorities. Is a win-win for me to get to work with the people I love.
What makes you most proud of being an immigrant entrepreneur?
Looking back and admiring what my parents have done for us as a family to come to an unknown country with not a single help or the knowledge on how to set up a business of any kind in the States, in our situation a Hispanic market, with the huge language barrier. My parents put aside their fear and comfort to start a home somewhere else, Is something that I hold as an inspiration to work hard every day and make the people I love proud of me. I would keep taking advantage of this amazing opportunity that my parents gave my brothers and I. That means the sacrifice of my parents giving up on their comfort zone, leaving their roots, family and loved ones behind for a better future in all aspects for our family and our future generations. This makes me appreciate my family and makes me extremely proud of our Mexican culture.
What resources can you recommend for immigrant entrepreneurs?
Now the city of Detroit has a lot to offer to small businesses that are family owned and that are led by immigrants, minorities, women owed. They need help to overcome the struggles of understanding new laws, language barriers, programs, marketing, technology, permits, city restrictions and many more. The best help is on those small organizations that seek the community to grow, making sensational resources with information to all these topics now making them reachable in other languages. I am so thankful to have crossways with amazing and kind people that have helped me grow as a person and grow our business in the best direction.
Baobab Fare (Republic of Burindi)
Hamissi Mamba
6568 Woodward Ave Suite 100, Detroit, MI 48202
Tell us about your business – what do you do and why do you do it? What made you want to start your own business?
We have a staple saying now: Detroit Ni Nyumbani. Detroit is Home. My wife Nadia and I came to the United States as refugees from Burundi, due to many things affecting our well-being. When we came here, we did not know what to expect but Detroit opened its arms and welcomed us. We made many friends along the way, and all of this support got us a restaurant on the corner of Grand Blvd and Woodward. It is called Baobab Fare, and it is a place that shares the Detroit Ni Nyumbani spirit with others.
As an immigrant, what unique challenges do you face when running a business?
This is a difficult question, but there are a number of things we share as immigrants. Language has to be one of the first. Language is many times a way to connect with people, but for business, it is like speaking another language. So having to learn to communicate this way, is a big one. But even with that, it doesn’t matter if you speak English with someone else, sometimes your experiences are not the same, so it is not easy to find a common ground. There is a lot of learning and unlearning.
What resources can you recommend for immigrant entrepreneurs?
There are so many resources in the city. We’ve had the support from ProsperUs Detroit, HATCH Detroit, Invest Detroit, Freedom House, TechTown, Fair Food Network. They are so many to mention, but at the end, it is not about organizations. It is about people. People care for you, and the biggest resource for anyone opening a business or running a business is to find someone to count on. Ask for what you need and know that other people have gone through experiences they can share with you. Make sure you always expand your network.
El Salpicon Restaurant (México)
Yuriviana Angel
8600 Vernor Hwy, Detroit, MI 48209
Tell us about your business; what do you do and why do you do it?
Our business is a Mexican restaurant specializing in seafood. We started our adventure in a food truck in the summer of 2015; due to the success and support of the people in February 2016, we officially opened the doors to what is now EL SALPICON RESTAURANT, located at 8600 W Vernor in Detroit. .
Aldo Perez, Esteban Perez and I, Yuriviana Angel, are the founders of this mix of ingredients that make our food unique and incomparable in the heart of Southwest Detroit, better known as the Mexican neighborhood.
We do this because we are passionate about cooking, as well as letting you know a little about our culture, tradition and food.
What makes you feel most proud to be an immigrant?
It is a true honor and pride to be a 100% Mexican immigrant.
We are proud to have Mexican roots and to be part of thousands of people who immigrate to this country: a country where you have thousands of opportunities to make your dreams come true.
But what makes us most proud is being able to share our gastronomy with the world and being able to taste the palates of people with nationalities and cultures different from ours.
What is your greatest professional motivation?
Our greatest motivation is to show our people to the community that with effort and dedication everything is possible, it does not matter if you are an immigrant or if you do not speak the language. Now we have many organizations like TechTown among many others that guide us and guide us to break those barriers and imaginary fears that as immigrants we have.
Antojitos Los Catrachos (Honduras and México)
Obed Hernandez and Sandra Padilla
4627 Vernor Hwy, Detroit, MI 48209
What made you want to start your own business?
As an immigrant in this country, job options are not so promising since you see yourself limited and at the same time surpassed by a majority group of people who may not have the necessary skills for certain positions, but have what many of us we do not count in this country.
By taking a photographic view of a future without options on the upper steps of the job ladder as an employee, we make the decision to transform our own environment and start our own companies that, although still with certain limitations, will no longer depend on someone else for our stagnation, but of ourselves to get out of slow traffic and onto the Highway of Financial Autonomy.
What makes you most proud of being an immigrant entrepreneur?
The proudest thing about being an immigrant entrepreneur is knowing that your children, grandchildren and future generations will one day be able to continue transmitting and telling in their family reunions how some immigrants believed God and put their dreams in the factory of dedication and perseverance and were able to achieve what many more fortunate have not even been able to imagine.
I believe that the shadow of the example will continue to cover many who take refuge in it from the heat of negligence.
What resources can you recommend for immigrant entrepreneurs?
The resources that I could recommend to immigrant entrepreneurs are many and varied, but in my experience, God has placed extraordinary people in my path as an entrepreneur, such as Mayte from Techtown, María Méndez from Aid accounting, Juan Carlos from Featherstone , and How not to mention who in Vida helped our Latino community: Monica Cazares, and many other means that God has provided us to continue pushing this cart and not do it with our own strength.
