Agency Helps Guide Minority Entrepreneurs
Jorge Corralejo understands the hardships that minorities must overcome to start their own businesses: He experienced them firsthand.
“I had problems raising funds and in marketing,” said Corralejo, who started an equipment leasing business in Los Angeles 10 years ago. “But I learned some valuable lessons back then.”
Corralejo is imparting his hard-earned knowledge to Ventura County’s minority entrepreneurs at the Oxnard Minority Business Development Center.
The nonprofit agency, which moved to Heritage Square in Oxnard two weeks ago, provides minority owned and operated companies throughout Ventura County with technical assistance in such areas as locating capital, putting together loan applications and writing business plans.
“Capital access is a major problem,” Corralejo said. “Studies show that minority communities are greatly underserved. We work with them to try and get them business loans.”
Hank’s Barber Styling Shop in Camarillo is doing fine--so well, in fact, that its owner, Hank Robles, wants to add a beauty shop, tanning salon and facial room to his operation. But Robles wants to proceed carefully, so he visited the center Monday for advice.
“I’m looking to get more educated in bookkeeping and financial planning so I can expand my business,” Robles said. “I want to make sure I don’t throw away what I have.”
George Baldonado, president of Oasis Technology in Camarillo, is looking to sell the company’s customer service and tracking software to the government.
He met with Corralejo on Monday to discuss the plan and possible sources of capital.
“We’re moving into larger procurements, and it’s a whole different animal,” said Baldonado, 42. “I thought it would be smart to take advantage of their services,” he said of the development center. “We would have to hire a whole group of people to do what they do.”
The center was founded eight years ago, and was formerly operated by the Department of Commerce.
It is now run by the Century Freeway Affirmative Action Committee, an Inglewood-based nonprofit group.
“Not everyone who goes through our doors is ready to run a business,” said Corralejo, who has been providing assistance to minority entrepreneurs for seven years. “But we try to guide as many people as we can in the right direction.”
The center will hold an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 31 at its offices, 741 S. A St. in Oxnard. For information, call 385-6277.
