From Nothing to Something
Mexican entrepreneurship in San Diego
By Luis Buendia
By Luis Buendia
“I came here to the U.S. holding a dirty sweater over my shoulder, and nothing else,” is a line I’ve heard from my father, Alfredo, for most of my life. My father’s story is a true story of perseverance and leadership, a story of starting at the bottom and coming out on top. Alfredo came from Mexico City a long time ago, and he basically started from the bottom. “I saw a guy, in Chula Vista, a white guy who I asked for water. He was a good guy, Mr.Brown.” Mr. Brown gave my dad a place to live, which was an abandoned car.
Even though he was living out of a car, my dad was determined to do anything in order to make money to go back to Mexico City. My dad is a really hard working man. Eventually he met a guy named Julio who was owner of a restaurant in National City, and my dad was making money. This is just one story of many Mexican immigrants that come to the United States in search of a brighter future. Here in San Diego there are many companies, from investment banks to biotech to universities to military. But if you pay more attention, and look beyond the obvious, there also exist a lot of Mexican-owned small businesses, businesses that contribute greatly to San Diego’s economy. Take my dad and his many businesses, for example. “I was always thinking to myself I made a big mistake, and that I should've stayed in Mexico.” My dad’s only goal was to make enough money to go back to his town in Mexico, but he just couldn't because he started forming a life here in San Diego. He was renting an apartment in downtown San Diego, he got his first car, a Dodge Hornet, and he was still working for Julio in his restaurant.
After 3 years of working and saving money, he then bought a Volkswagen bus and decided to go in to the hauling business. My dad was one of the first Mexicans to do hauling in San Diego, so he had a lot of jobs. Seeing that he’d found his niche in hauling, he was able to take advantage of his position and grow his business into a successful company. Alfredo’s big break came when the city started calling him for jobs. From the money he made, he then started to buy trucks, creating a fleet. My dad by then bought his first taco shop in San Diego, naming it Buendia’s Taco Shop. Afterwards, he bought a really cheap house. After that he decided to get into demolition, because he now had three sons to run his growing taco shop business. Alfredo has had a lot of success here in the U.S. My dad built his stairs up to where he is now. Not all Mexicans have a leader mentality like my dad. Of San Diego’s population of 3 million, only 28.8% are Latino. In terms of Latino-owned businesses in San Diego, it is only 12.8%. From what I’ve heard, it’s hard to be a Mexican leader because it’s all about working. My dad describes his mentality as: “The thing is to never give up, never try to be selfish, always work, and keep your mind positive.” |