Coming to America

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Olebe is typical of many StartSmart entrepreneurs who come to Portland with strong skills. In Sudan, she coordinated a children's program for UNICEF and owned a crafts store. But she knew she would have to find a way out the day two of her seven sons were kidnapped by government security police. The government had started rounding up young men to train them to fight insurgents in the southern part of the country. Olebe bribed an officer with $500 to free them and she sent her three oldest to Egypt to live with relatives. (The next year, she sent the other four.)

By 1998, police suspected that she had ties to a coup plot and searched her home. "I wasn't involved," she says, "and they didn't find anything." But she was still taken to jail for a week. Once free, she bribed a security officer at the airport so she could get on a flight to Egypt. There she applied for asylum to the U.S. and was granted refugee status.

These days, Olebe is optimistic about finding a new location for the restaurant. After all, she says, the troubles with her business do not compare to what she faced in Sudan. Meanwhile, even with the restaurant closed, she has continued to repay her loan -- which is another way in which Olebe is typical. Since 1997, StartSmart has loaned $405,725 to 23 entrepreneurs and has incurred only one default. Says John Scribner, a StartSmart business counselor, "I do not know of a bank that could match that record."

Profiles

Emile Bizimungu

Owner, Revival Carpentry
Background: In 1999, when war erupted in Congo, Bizimungu fled to a refugee camp in Cameroon. He came to the United States through a refugee resettlement program in 2000. Start-up: Bizimungu started Revival in January to design, construct, and repair furniture. He currently supplies bat, owl, and bird houses to Mill Stores, a New England chain of furniture stores. StartSmart is helping him build a website so he can advertise his beds, bookshelves, and cabinets to the public. "I think the business will really grow then," he says. Eventually he hopes to open his own furniture store.

Bogumila Pawlaczyck

Owner, Bogusha's Deli and Restaurant
Background: Pawlaczyck fled Poland, where she was a physical therapist, because of political repression in 1986. Her family had strong ties to the Solidarity movement. Start-up: During her first years in Portland, when she worked as a nurse's assistant, Pawlaczyck made the six-hour drive to Manhattan once a month to buy 50 loaves of Polish bread. "America is a free country and you can do everything you want here," she says. "What was missing was Polish bread." Pawlaczyck saw a business opportunity when she discovered other immigrants making the same long trip for food from home. She mortgaged her house in 1996 and used the $30,000 to open Bogusha's, which started as a deli and grew into a restaurant. She knew nothing about running a business, let alone a food store. StartSmart helped her establish a budget, find equipment, and get the right licenses. She now has two employees and revenue of $140,000 a year.

Rainsey Ker

Owner, Mitpheap Asian Market
Background: Ker remembers little about Cambodia, but his parents often share stories. His father was a teacher forced by the Khmer Rouge to work in the rice fields. When Rainsey was six, the family moved to France as part of a program resettling Cambodians in other countries. When he was a senior in high school, the family relocated to Portland. Start-up: Mitpheap, which carries Asian, African, and Hispanic foods, opened in 2002. It moved from a 1,000-square-foot location to a 3,000-square-foot store last January. StartSmart gave Ker a $21,000 loan, and its counselors helped him write a business plan. He now has two employees and expects revenue of $500,000 this year. He's also working part-time as a real estate agent with the hope of opening his own agency. Why real estate? "The person who I admire, what's his name? I forgot. He has a show on TV, The Apprentice."

Osman Hersi

Co-owner, Maine State Interpreters
Background: Hersi was a surgeon in Somalia. He fled in 1991 when war tore through his country. Start-up: Hersi, who speaks four languages -- Somali, Arabic, Russian, and English -- started his translation service in November 2003. His clients include hospitals, doctor's offices, and courtrooms. StartSmart designed his brochures and business cards, helped him set rates, found him office space, and negotiated his lease: "This would not have happened without them," Hersi says.

Van Luu

Owner, A-Z Wood Floor Sanding
Background: Luu's mother was Vietnamese, his father an American soldier he never met. He emigrated in 1992 when he was 22. Start-up: Luu was working for a carpenter in Philadelphia when he got a call from a stepbrother who'd heard about StartSmart. His brother talked him into starting his own floor-sanding business, which he did in 1998 with $15,000 in savings and loans from his family. StartSmart did all his advertising in the beginning to help him find his first customers. Still, business has been tough because of the language barrier. StartSmart advised him to find someone fluent in English to answer the phones and set up jobs. He now has two employees and expects to have revenue this year of $80,000.

David J. Dent wrote about political access in the September Inc.

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