Thanks to Opening Doors for this story!
When Serhiy Misiruk came to the US from Ukraine in 2009, he brought several years of experience in carpentry. He worked hard and continued his craft in his new home in the U.S. In 2013, Andrei Sobolev arrived in the US as a refugee from Russia. Within a year, the two men had gone into business together as partners. They continued to work hard and expand their business until they incorporated, founding Creative Millworks Inc. in June 2015.
They had used their talents to establish themselves in a new country, but Serhiy and Andrei were still struggling to grow their business. They lacked credit and were unable to get a small loan from any banks. After seeing an advertisement for Opening Doors’ microloan program in the newspaper, they applied for and received a loan to buy new equipment and expand their operation.
They moved from a 2400 sq ft workspace to a 4500 sq ft facility, sped up their production, and began producing higher quality cabinets. As a result of their loan from Opening Doors, some coaching from their loan officer, and their own business ingenuity, they doubled their revenue to more than $400,000 annually and hired a second employee. However, Serhiy and Andrei aren’t satisfied with their progress yet.
They have created a website, www.creative-millwork.com, for their business and are confident more outreach and advertising will bring in more clients. They plan to build more connections with architects and contractors. By focusing on their customers and making sure that their work is of the highest quality, durability, and adherence to their customers’ specifications, Serhiy and Andrei are on track to establish Creative Millworks, Inc. as a go-to cabinet manufacturer in the Sacramento area.
When banks wouldn’t give them a loan, they found a solution with Opening Doors. Now, they get frequent loan offers from those banks and they get to choose where they’ll take their business.