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The Future is in Your Hands
 
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Welcome to Renaissance/Start Up


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

 

It's in our backyard

Microfinance California 2009

Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center is proud to partner with "Microfinance, CA" in the first state-wide conference highlighting Microfinance as a smart investment for California. Presented by Opportunity Fund, Kiva, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

2 million entrepreneurs in California can't access the small amount of capital they need to get their business off the ground. What are we doing to meet this demand?

The event will take place Thursday, May 28th, at The Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA. Visit www.microfinancecalifornia.org to learn more and register.

Early Bird Registration available until April 15!Microfinance Event

 
 



 


Renaissance/Start Up Client Business Directory

Several Renaissance/Start Up clients who completed business training between 2004 and 2006 and whose businesses are operating and growing are featured below. 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


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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Renaissance/Start Up
1848 Bay Road
East Palo Alto, CA 94303

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