A Sporting Chance
Pablo Cisneros, 17, is the first recipient of a loan from the Youth Enterprise Development Institute, a program that teaches young people from low-income housing communities how to start and operate their own businesses. The program is administered by the housing authorities of Los Angeles and Philadelphia through a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Pablo, the second-youngest of nine children, lives with his mother in the Pico Gardens housing project in Boyle Heights and serves as president of the Los Angeles Housing Authority’s citywide youth council. He used his loan to open a sports-apparel business and says the mentors who have inspired him have been invaluable in getting his business off the ground. He was interviewed by freelance writer Karen E. Klein.
From the time I was 4 years old, I would spend my Saturdays with one of my older brothers, who sold men’s clothing at the swap meets. Since then, I always wanted to have my own business.
In 1996, I heard about the class for entrepreneurs. They told us we could get money from [the Youth Enterprise Development Institute], but my friends said, “You’ll never get that money.” So I went into it with the mentality that I would learn something and that by the time I had my own business, I would know how to run it.
The class was three hours every Saturday for 12 weeks. They had different instructors come in and talk to us in real-life terms. The part I liked best was on how to market ourselves.
They told us not to just introduce ourselves but tell people how we could help them and how they could help us.
Getting some older guys to give me advice and help me has really done a lot for me. These are guys who started their businesses out at the swap meet, and now they have real stores.
About a year ago, I had a guest speaker at my economics and government class at Roosevelt High School. He talked about how he had overcome obstacles and started his own business, so I showed him my business plan and he gave me some advice on how to improve it. Then he said, “This is realistic. You could actually do it.”
Up until then, I figured I would just do the plan and keep it for the future. But when he said I could really do this, I decided to go for it.
I worked on my plan for 2 1/2 months and then presented it to the [institute’s] loan committee. They asked me to revise it, so I clarified everything and showed how I could use my brother’s swap meet stand, borrow my mom’s car and barter for some of the other things I needed so I would save about $500 in start-up costs.
The committee members said it was pretty clear that I could pay the money back. I got $2,500, which I have to pay back over three years at an interest rate of 5%.
I went out and purchased about $1,000 worth of sports jerseys--football, basketball and baseball--to start out and I got a spot at the Fiesta Swap Meet. Two men who own sports stores are helping me get started. One owns a store in Pico Rivera and the other is Ruben Jauregui, who owns the Red Xone Sports Shop in Los Angeles. I knew Ruben for a long time because he lives in Pico Gardens and he had to work for his money and start off at the swap meet too.
They have promised to introduce me to some distributors who will give me good prices on merchandise, and they will go in with me on some deals so we can purchase merchandise in bulk and get lower prices.
I’ll graduate from high school this spring, and then I plan to enroll at Cal State Los Angeles and take general education and business courses. Mostly, I want to see my business grow steady and get my own shop someday.
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If your business can provide a lesson to other entrepreneurs, contact Karen E. Klein at the Los Angeles Times, 1333 S. Mayflower Ave., Suite 100, Monrovia 91016 or send e-mail to kklein6349@aol.com. Include your name, address and telephone number.
* More small-business coverage, D4-6
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AT-A-GLANCE
* Company: Sports Connection Unlimited
* Owner: Pablo Cisneros
* Type of business: Sells sports apparel
* Location: Pico Gardens Housing Development, Boyle Heights
* Founded: 1998
* Employees: 1
* Projected annual revenue: $1,050
