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Immigrants go about business of setting up shop
Attorney Michael Rossiter left his native Venezuela for Fort Lauderdale last year, fleeing crime and political upheaval. He now owns a recruiting and staffing firm in Miami. Canada-born real estate developer Douglas MacDonald moved to Palm Beach County five years ago to create office parks, golf courses and other ventures. Today, his projects in Boynton Beach alone are worth more than $175 million. Mexico's Martha E. Galindo relocated from Pennsylvania in 1997, partly to expand her translating business. Her Coral Springs firm now serves dozens of international companies. South Florida is such a Mecca for immigrant-entrepreneurs like Rossiter, MacDonald and Galindo that it may well host the highest concentration of immigrant businesses in the United States, according to studies based on Census data. Miami-Dade and Broward counties together already boast
the highest proportion of immigrants of any major U.S. metropolitan area:
a whopping 43 percent of residents were born outside the United States
and its territories -- four times the national average. That's because South Florida has fewer of the factories
and farms that draw manual labor to Texas, California and other U.S. areas.
And its reputation as a business gateway for the Americas attracts international
executives. Said researcher Stephen Moore of the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, D.C: "Anyone who would up and leave their homeland is more likely to have an instinct as a risk-taker and as an entrepreneur." Still, achieving the American dream amid the palm trees is no easy task. Immigrant entrepreneurs face tremendous hurdles to master the U.S. system, with its different laws, business culture and in some cases, language. Many entrepreneurs stumble because they try to do business much as they would in their native land, according to company owners, executives of chambers of commerce and business consultants. British immigrants, for example, often neglect developing Web sites to market U.S. ventures, because the Internet is less developed in Britain. Brazilians tend to tie up too much cash in buying buildings, because rentals and leasing are less common in Brazil. Venezuelans, meanwhile, sometimes over-equip their offices, because they find computers and interest rates so cheap in Florida, said Eduardo Sanabria, president of the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce in Miami. Newcomers also face headaches getting business loans. Large banks often ask for three years of U.S. income tax returns before extending loans and credit, and new arrivals just don't have that. Many start with funds from family and friends or turn to smaller banks specializing in their ethnic or national community. Canadian developer MacDonald, for example, said he found help from an affiliate of a Canadian bank in South Florida, Natbank. "Without them, it would have been extremely difficult to get credit," said the president of Quorum Group Cos. in Boynton Beach. Worse yet, the litigious United States presents immigrants with higher risks of lawsuits. "People tend to sue more frequently than they do in Canada, so you do business much more carefully," said Ottawa-born MacDonald. "We spent a lot more money on legal fees." Business styles Then, there are the intangibles, such as business culture. Kosher food distributor Victor Carmely said he had to abandon the ultra-competitive style of his homeland, Israel. He tells a joke to explain Israeli business: A Jewish
guy decides to open a ski shop in Eilat, a beach town. Some months later,
a friend asks how business is going. "I'm not selling a thing,"
the storeowner says, "but since I opened, there are seven other ski
shops around mine." "You can be aggressive, but you cannot be pushy," said Carmely, whose Kosher Brands Inc. now posts sales of $5 million yearly. "You have to work within the system." To be sure, there can be advantages to growing up overseas. Charles Boothe, who started Charlie's Pastries in Lauderhill in 1986, remembers waking up early in rural Jamaica to feed hogs, cows and other animals before school -- and also, doing chores after classes and on weekends. His parents preached: "Work hard and you'll achieve," a maxim he followed to build his bakery sales beyond $4 million yearly. Yet Boothe said many Jamaicans in Florida don't teach that ethic, instead giving Nike sneakers and fancy toys to children not required to do chores. He fears those youngsters won't make good entrepreneurs. "They'll look for fast and easy money," said Boothe. Experience matters Styles and values aside, money and familiarity with U.S. business also matter. Food distributor Carmely faced a tough climb, because he started with little cash. He came to study business at Barry University in 1986 and saw a market for kosher goods. To start up, he charged $5,000 worth of products on an American Express card and began selling. Since then, he's worked diligently to set up exclusive contracts with kosher food suppliers in Israel to blunt competition. Yet money alone doesn't guarantee success. Swindlers can take advantage of well-heeled newcomers unfamiliar with U.S. business practices. And new arrivals may make poor investment decisions. Yet immigrants who have spent significant time in the United States or attended U.S. universities have an edge in business. Those include many Latin Americans who moved to Broward over the past decade. Venezuelan lawyer Rossiter, for example, started vacationing in South Florida with his parents when he was a teenager. Five years ago, he bought an apartment in Fort Lauderdale and later traded up to a house for regular visits. That made relocating from Caracas easier. "There reached a point where the government in my country couldn't guarantee a minimum of security in the courts, on the streets, in the society," he said. "I feel more protected by the law in the U.S." Rossiter opened staffing firm International Leasing Inc., drawing on experience in his family's personnel company in Caracas. He embraces a change to business U.S.-style. "I feel that if you do things right here -- work hard, give good service at good prices and are honest -- you can make it," he said. "In Venezuela, without "palanca" [pull], you won't make it to the corner." Mexico-born Galindo had a master's degree from Michigan State University and a small business in Pennsylvania before she moved to Coral Springs four years ago. She'd already overcome the worries common to some Latin newcomers about needing "palanca."Galindo quickly became active with such business groups as the National Association of Women Business Owners and World Trade Center to meet entrepreneurs and potential clients. That's helped bring her "minority business" awards. "There's an old-boy network here for sure," said Galindo, who expects her translating business, Galindo Publicidad Inc., to bill $200,000-plus this year. "But with a small- or medium-sized business, you can knock on doors by yourself in the United States." The density of immigrants in business in South Florida tends to attract even more foreign-born entrepreneurs. Newcomers from Mexico, Jamaica or Israel now can find countrymen to help them learn the ropes. Dozens of binational chambers of commerce, such as the Venezuelan-American Chamber, try to ease the transition, and scores of consultants offer advice for immigrants on visas, regulations and other basics. "Venezuelans come here, because it's not totally gringo or Latino. The fact that there are so many other Latins and there's media in Spanish makes entry less traumatic," said Sanabria of the Venezuelan Chamber. "That makes business in South Florida different than any other place, even in the United States." Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5009. Marcia Heroux Pounds can be reached at mpounds@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6650. Copyright © 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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