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Welcome to Start Up


Start Up trains and supports entrepreneurs
who have limited access to resources
to help them create prosperity
for themselves and their communities.

 

             

Start Up, Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center Merge to Create Bay Area Business Resource Hub

Underserved Entrepreneurs Gain Greater Access to  Resources for Business Growth

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 27, 2007 - Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center and Start Up, two nonprofits that teach underserved residents how to start and grow small businesses, have agreed to merge. Operating as Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, the combined organization will be a gateway to essential business resources in English and Spanish for entrepreneurial Bay Area women and men who seek economic independence through small business ownership...  

 
 

Read more >>
 


 


Start Up Client Business Directory

Start Up is thrilled to launch an updated business directory! This pilot, which began in summer 2007, features clients who completed business training between 2004 and 2006 and whose businesses are operating and growing with this expanded online presence. We thank our volunteers, who donated their time and energy to visit clients at their businesses. They were instrumental in helping clients to create these websites and in teaching the business owners how to manage and update their new sites.

Start Up is proud to share with you that Start Up client-affiliated businesses represent 13% of all currently licensed businesses in the City of East Palo Alto! Since 1994, we have helped create and strengthen over 300 businesses, and we invite you to show your support by visiting these websites and learning about the clients whose lives our program is helping to transform.
 

 
  Home/Commercial Cleaning Gardening/Lawn Maintenance
Entrepreneur:
Vicky Estrada

Business:
Vision Cleaning Services
Entrepreneur:
Armando Avila

Business:
Avila's Gardening
 

I came to the United States in March 1990 with the idea of building a life
that in my country, without the proper
social status and education, is very difficult...

 


I immigrated from Senguio, Michoacan, a small agricultural town in Mexico, in 1998. When I started working on small gardening projects in the Bay Area, I was naturally drawn to this line of work...
 
Retail - Tongan Goods & Services Beauty Salon
Entrepreneur:
Dee Uhila

Business:
Pacific Tonga Ma'a Tonga
Entrepreneur:
Katherine Bliss-Jones

Business:
Address Beauty
 

When Dee Uhila started Pacific Tonga-Ma'a-Tonga USA, she had a clear mission: To provide the growing Tongan community in the Peninsula with access to the treasures of their homeland...
 
It all started with a healer in London, some six years ago. I was visiting my eighty-year-old friend, a close friend of my mother's...

 

Retail - Party Rentals Beauty/Hair Salon
Entrepreneur:
Feliciano Zavala

Business:
Peninsula Party
 
Entrepreneur:
Rosaura Rendón

Business:
Rosy's Salon
 
Perhaps the first indication of Chano Zavala's potential for entrepreneurial success was a rapid promotion from truck driver to general manager...
 
I'm the proud owner of Rosy's Salon in East Palo Alto. I have been in the beauty business for more than 20 years. I remember, as a little girl...
 
Retail - Bags & Accessories Limousine/Transportation
Entrepreneur:
Lorie Robinson

Business:
Baby Love Accessories
 
Entrepreneur:
Halim Mustafa

Business:
City Matrix Limousine
 
A seamstress her whole life, Lorie Robinson knows the styles that work and how to complete your look. She is always on the hunt for the fashions...

 
Since being an athlete in high school, I have always had the dream to become a businessman. All of my volunteer efforts in community and youth development here in the community...
 
Retail - Clothing Restaurants
Entrepreneur:
Tometrius Paxton

Business:
Stripped Searched Clothing
Entrepreneur:
Emerita Macias

Business:
Rincon Sabroso Restaurant

Stripped Searched Clothing started with Tometrius Paxton's passion for knowledge. Aware of the fact that today's overflow of information makes it difficult for people to distill the facts...
 

Ever since Emerita Macias was a little girl, she loved business. Seeing how neighbors and friends in her hometown of Nochistlan Zac made money selling things like tostadas...
 
Video/Film Editing Floral Arrangements
Entrepreneur:
Jekyns Pelaez

Business:
JDSF Productions LLC
 
Entrepreneur:
Ines Alvizar

Business:
Decoraciones Alvizar
 
I moved to the United States 14 years ago and have been involved with the entertainment business all my life, performing arts mostly...

 
I began Decoraciones Alvizar two years ago when I decided to formalize the work I was doing from home. I came to the United States five years ago. I spent the first three years...
 
Graphic Design/Laser Etching
Entrepreneur:
Ronnie Matthews

Business:
Laser Art Image & Design

 

 

More to come!


My name is Ronnie Matthews; I was born in San Mateo raised in East Palo Alto and attended high school at Carlmont in Belmont. I went on to pursue a job in the union construction field...
 
 

We invite and greatly appreciate any and all feedback! Please e-mail us at
info (at) startupepa (dot) org with comments, suggestions, or questions.

   
 
 

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Donation
Shop at 1-800 Contacts 5%
Shop at 1-800-Flowers 6%
Shop at 123Inkjets 18%
Shop at Amazon.com 4%
Shop at Drugstore.com 7%
Shop at eBay 20%
Shop at Office Depot up to 4.5%
Shop at Orbitz up to $15
Shop at Staples up to 4.5%
Shop at Target 3%
 

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Start Up
1395 Bay Road
East Palo Alto, CA 94303

Ph: (650) 321-2193 | Fax: (650) 321-1025
info@startupepa.org