Koy Saichow grew up in a subsistence farming community in Thailand, where each season relatives, friends and neighbors would come together to harvest in their family’s vegetable and rice fields. When the Saichow family immigrated to the Bay Area in 1989, they brought along their values of self-sufficiency and generosity and continued to grow Southeast Asian vegetables in their backyard for themselves and their neighbors.
Category: Success Story
Andrea Wasko & Meaghan Gilbert, Connoisseur Creations
Andrea Wasko and Meaghan Gilbert of Los Osos, California launched their flagship product, the Quick Pickle Kit after starting Connoisseur Creations in 1996. After struggling with weight issues, Andrea wanted to develop a healthy alternative snack that would help people in similar situations. The Quick Pickle Kit is a safe, quick, simple, and natural way to make delicious pickles in the comfort of your own home.
Pancho Kachingwe, The Hatch
Pancho Kachingwe founded The Hatch Oakland Bar & Restaurant in 2014 to cater to a booming downtown Oakland. “Everything was self-funded,” he recalls. “It was myself doing the cooking, bartending, cleaning, shopping, everything.” But the business grew fast, and by year two, he had 18 employees.
Meredith Pizzi, Roman Music Therapy Services
Meredith Pizzi started playing trumpet in the fifth grade and joined her school’s jazz band. It was after a performance of “Gonna Fly Now” from the motion picture Rocky that Meredith recognized the profound connection she felt to others through the power of music. “We still talk about that concert. Feeling that level of connection and understanding and life-giving force that is music, that’s what it was for me. It opened my eyes to what happens when people come together and make music.”
Zea Sonnabend, Fruitilicious Farm
Zea Sonnabend’s organic farming bona fides cannot be overstated. With an MS in Plant Breeding from Cornell University and 35 years of experience as a farmer, gardener, inspector, educator, policy specialist, organizer, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone more qualified. Yet running her own farming operation still came with its challenges.
Matt Maxwell, BoltAbout
The idea to start BoltAbout came to Matt Maxwell in November 2015, when he was frustrated by public transportation options. He found the perfect alternative in the form of electric bikes. In April 2016, he decided to turn this passion into a business by launching a pilot program to lease a small fleet of e-bikes on a monthly basis. The feedback he received from his customers, largely Cal Poly SLO students, was extremely positive. Through simple word of mouth, his waiting list to lease an e-bike grew to several hundred names. In June of that year, BoltAbout joined the Summer Accelerator Program at the Cal Poly CIE SLO HotHouse, at which point they became SBDC Clients.
Jake Reisdorf, Carmel Honey Company
Carmel Honey Company (CHC) grew out of a passion for bees and earning good grades. As a 5th grade student at Carmel River Elementary, Jake was given a real-world homework assignment to research the education and daily duties of a website designer. During his research, Jake designed a website about honey bees and shared his site and knowledge with his classmates. The students were so impressed, they thought Jake was in a business and asked to purchase honey. His research and classmate interest stimulated Jake to purchase honey bees, continue his extensive research/study and ultimately, start a real for-profit business with his parents. Today, Jake personally services over 100 bee hives along with maintaining more than 100 wholesale accounts which are primarily specialty stores and professional restaurant chefs. On weekends and holidays, Jake and his family (mom, dad and sister) routinely sell at local events throughout Monterey County. CHC honey is now branded and widely recognized as a premium honey brand being all natural, raw, and unfiltered. CHC’s unique selling proposition is, “honey straight from the hive”.
Robin King, Rene TreVor Jewelry
Robin King always dreamed of having her own business but never imagined it would come from such tragic circumstances. On the same day that she lost her mother to her battle against cancer, her 25-year-old son’s life was also taken. But part of her healing came through creativity. Not long after their deaths, Robin began making keepsake jewelry for herself and a few family members as a way of dealing with their recent losses and to keep their loved ones close. In loving memory of her mother and son, the name and concept for her business were conceived.
Brenda Buenviaje, Brenda’s French Soul Food
Brenda Buenviaje had worked as a chef for years but lacked business experience. When she wanted to open her own restaurant in 2007, not just banks turned her down but “friends, co-workers, my own parents were like, ‘No thank you,’” she said. Opportunity Fund said yes, taking out a lien against her condo to secure the $100,000 loan.
Angela Bicos Mavridis, Tribalí Foods
Angela Bicos Mavridis, a San Marino, California resident, comes from an entrepreneurial family. Her father owned a drive-thru that served up burgers, fries, and shakes. This, she later realized, was a far cry from the way her grandmother cooked and ate in their homeland of Greece. Mavridis spent childhood summers there, enjoying scratch-made Paleo cuisine comprised of organic, local foods.