Back to most recent IRP news • Browse archive: 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008
Microenterprise Programs Link Immigrants to Opportunities
Manuel Jimenez, restaurant owner
Photo: Graziella Siciliano
|
Ukrainian refugee Victor Prokhor convinced the Jump$tart Fund in Seattle, Washington, that his construction contracting business was a good choice for a microenterprise loan because, he said, "I always hire the safe guys. Safe guys move slowly but they do a quality job."
When Colombian asylee Manuel Jimenez learned that the Church World Service Microenterprise Program in Miami, Florida, was giving business loans to immigrants, he knew his opportunity had arrived to realize his dream of having his own restaurant.
And in California's Central Valley, the Sacramento-based Prosperity Project's newest clients -- 50 refugee small farmers -- will get technical assistance and a stable market for their produce with institutional clients, including hospitals and school districts.
They are among the hundreds of refugees, asylees, and other immigrants who have started or expanded their own businesses thanks to training and loans from microenterprise programs of CWS and two of its local affiliates, Opening Doors, Inc., in Sacramento and Interchurch Refugee Ministries in Seattle.
As refugee resettlement agencies, "our focus is refugee self-sufficiency," said Interchurch Refugee Ministries Director Greg Hope. "Microenterprise programs help refugees and asylees achieve self-sufficiency through business ownership. In turn, they contribute to the economic development of their communities."
"Most people who come to the United States as refugees and immigrants have struggles," Hope noted. Because of language and cultural barriers, they can get stuck in minimum wage jobs and have trouble getting promoted. Small business ownership offers a way up.
Confirmed Jimenez, now owner of Khalo Latin Grill in Miami, "When you first arrive in the United States you will do any job just to make ends meet. The Microenterprise Program helped me establish something that will allow me to use my education and my skills and also make a decent living."
On their own, new immigrants have trouble getting business loans because they lack personal assets or a credit history in the United States. Microenterprise programs fill the void out of their own revolving loan funds, along with group training and one-on-one counseling to their clients. They also develop working relationships with banks and lending institutions to which they can refer clients.
Miami, Florida
The CWS Microenterprise Program serves eligible, newly arrived refugees and asylees from any country in the world and Cuban/Haitian parolees in Miami Dade County. Since it started in 2000, the program has helped nearly 600 clients start, expand, or stabilize their own businesses by providing training and counseling. Additionally, the program provides assistance in business plan preparation, formation of corporations, and many others valuable services.
In less than a year, its new revolving loan fund already has provided 16 low-interest micro loans, ranging from $500 to $10,000. Clients go through rigorous screening and training prior to receiving loans.
Program Supervisor Teresa Rio noted that, "for people who are new to this country, starting a business can seem impossibly complicated. The program serves as a bridge between recently arrived immigrants who lack the knowledge and familiarity with the American business environment, and information and opportunities for their enterprises."
"The business specialists at the Microenterprise Program are always available to answer my questions or to help me if I am having difficulty," said Odilon Celestin, a Haitian parolee and owner of C&M Sweet Bakery. "Starting a business is a risky venture, but I feel like I have a whole team on my side, supporting me and my business. It's very reassuring."
 Vyacheslav "Slavik" Galiant, independent truck driver. Photo: Jump$tart
|
Seattle, Washington
Ukrainian refugee Vyacheslav Galiant ("Slavik") became self-employed as an independent truck driver five years ago. But his old truck limited the distances he could travel and the weights he could carry, thus restricting his income potential.
In April 2004, he joined the matched savings program of Interchurch Refugee Ministries in Seattle. By August, he'd saved enough for a down payment on a new truck. Working with the Jump$tart Fund, he developed a business plan and received a $10,000 loan, with which he purchased a bright red Freightliner, putting him on the road to a better income for his family.
Galiant is one of more than 80 refugee entrepreneurs who have received assistance from the Jump$tart Fund since 2003. They've come from Somalia, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Nepal. Their businesses include a town car/limo service, driving school, hair salon, coffee stand, retail clothing store, cabinet maker, child care, security company, and sign company.
"We've made more than $200,000 in micro-loans to 46 businesses, and they are all doing well," Hope said. "Moreover, these entrepreneurs hire others." For example, construction contractor Victor Prokhor's Sound Building Systems has eight employees, five of whom are new since he received a Jump$tart loan.
As for refugee resettlement agencies, microenterprise programs complement other services and can help diversify and stabilize funding streams as a percentage of interest paid on micro-loans provides additional income for the agency's work.
Furthermore, microenterprise programs offer an attractive investment option to socially conscious individuals who want to help refugees, Hope noted. "They can put in as little as $1,000 to $5,000 for a point or two of interest plus their money back after three years."
To learn more about the Jump$tart Fund, visit www.jumpstartfund.org
 Elfrenish Beri, restaurant owner. Photo: Prosperity Project
|
In Sacramento, about 350 immigrants, including 75 to 80 refugees, get intensively involved with the Prosperity Project each year, said Director Ernie Leonard. Each year, the project launches 18 to 25 new businesses.
Refugee and asylee clients from Liberia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Vietnam, Laos, and across the former Soviet Union have started such businesses as home and elderly care, plumbing, landscaping, restaurants and catering, a telecommunications company, and painting and general contracting.
Opening Doors, Inc.'s Executive Director Maurine Huang started this microenterprise program in 1992. One of the first clients was a refugee from Ukraine.
"When he landed in Sacramento he immediately began taking three ESL classes plus the training for refugee entrepreneurs," Leonard said. "He found someone who wanted an addition built on his home, and said, ‘If you aren't happy with my work, don't pay me.' The homeowner was happy -- and the refugee client now builds 200 homes a year and has a very successful construction and development company."
Elfrenish (Elfie) Beri from Ethiopia was "a good cook with no experience running a business" when she came to the Prosperity Project with her dream of opening a restaurant.
The project provided her with technical assistance and business training -- counseling her to "start slow, but she would have none of that!" Leonard said. "She opened the restaurant and recently sold it for a good profit, after building herself a nice new home."
Fedor Ryzhenkov, a refugee from Russia, was just 17 when he launched his own beekeeping business, thanks to help from the Prosperity Project. "When he landed here, he said, ‘Get me a job. I'll figure out the rest,'" Leonard recalled. That was in 2003. "We made him a three-year loan about nine months ago, and just last week he came in to pay it off. The kid's doing all right!"
The Prosperity Project includes a large Hispanic Program, Abriendo Puertas, whose many services include an annual "Learning to Live in America" event that attracts between 5,000 and 6,000 people for food, music, inspirational speakers, and workshops on such topics as "how to start a business" and "how to buy a home."
At the latest event, Sept. 24, "we had 78 exhibitors and sponsors, including banks, utilities companies, and health care institutions," Leonard said. On top of the event's effective community outreach, it also raises funds for Opening Doors, Inc., netting about $40,000 this year.
The Prosperity Project's newest initiative will benefit 50 refugee small farmers during the coming year. Funded through ISED Solutions by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the initiative will provide business technical assistance to Central Valley farmers and connect them to institutional clients.
Especially in light of the E. coli outbreak linked to spinach from Salinas Valley, "we'll be providing incentives to our farmers to learn about quality control and growing a more marketable product mix," Leonard said.
Story by Graziella Siciliano and Carol Fouke-Mpoyo
Back to most recent IRP news • Browse archive: 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • Back to top