Couple want to build their business right this time

Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of Rhode Island entrepreneurs. To get a sense of the issues they face, Providence Business News is following 15 people through a 12-week business planning course for Latino entrepreneurs at the R.I. Small Business Development Center. This is the fifth article in the series.

Domingo Tejada knows construction. He started building and fixing houses with his uncles and cousins in the Dominican Republic when he was 17. So, when he moved to Providence in 2001, Tejada decided to continue in the business he’s known for 21 years.

A year later he met his fiancée, Rosa Vizcaino, and they decided to start their own construction business, D-N-R Building and Construction Inc. (The D-N-R stands for Domingo ’n’ Rosa.)

Things were OK for about three years, Vizcaino said. They put up vinyl siding and did interior remodeling – putting up wallboard, installing floors, installing cabinets, sinks, windows and doors. Tejada did the manual work, while Vizcaino handled the administration.

Then, “in the middle of 2005, things went haywire,” Vizcaino said. People were rejecting contract proposals because they thought the company’s estimates were too high.

Customers would return to them, she said, after the cheaper contractor asked for money up front, then didn’t return to finish the job.

But, “They wanted us to eat the cost [they had lost from the scam],” Tejada said, “We couldn’t absorb the cost on our own, starting up.”

In addition, Vizcaino said, people would ask for financing on jobs, which the company also couldn’t afford.

Funds were running low and requests for jobs were growing sparse, so the couple put their business on hold. Tejada started subcontracting, while Vizcaino began working part-time at the R.I. Coalition for Minority Investment and AIDS Care Ocean State.

Then, Vizcaino found out about the R.I. Small Business Development Center’s Primer Paso FastTrac business planning workshop – a 12-week course taught in Spanish to reach out to the growing number of Latino entrepreneurs. She encouraged Tejada to take the class, she said, because “I wanted him to see what can happen. … I wanted him not to get discouraged.” So far, it’s working.

In a recent class, Tomas Avila told the students about the importance of researching their industry: “Many times, businesses fail because they stay in an industry that’s going downhill.” He encouraged them to study their competitors and they can find their own niche. “They have to specialize rather than be a generalist,” he said. “They have to find another way to compete.”

Tejada plans to compete by offering timely delivery of services, plus a one-year warranty written into every contract, because “there are many people in the industry, many promising contracts with individuals and not fulfilling services.”

The couple had his contractor’s license number printed on their business cards. And on the back of the cards, they explained how to check a contractor’s license and record at www.crb.ri.gov.

Still, Tejada wants to focus on preparing a business plan; he said part of the reason their first business failed was a lack of planning and finances. Vizcaino – who is taking the same course as Tejada, but in English, with the R.I. Coalition for Minority Investment – said she is hoping to take another swing at construction. Her parents owned and operated four restaurants while she was growing up in Providence. “I knew nothing else but to be self-employed.”

Tejada said his hope for the future is “to grow the business, to grow and provide employment, provide better services.” He added: “I know there are many companies out there, and many obstacles, but that shouldn’t stop us from pursuing our dream and our vision.”