East Harlem is a great area to start and run a prosperous business.  The following are true stories of entrepreneurs who have taken advantage of EHBCC's business development services to help them start or expand their concepts into strong, successful businesses.

Dawn Sanders: 

Dawn Sanders opened East Harlem’s first day spa, EyeSpa.  Her concept – providing a high quality spa experience to the East Harlem community at prices 30% to 40 % lower than those in downtown and midtown Manhattan – proved to be so successful that she began to turn profits only three months after starting her business.

A lifelong East Harlem resident, Dawn’s background in customer service and technology put her in a good position to start a service business.  In March 2002, with $30,000 worth of seed capital, she started her business: Eyespa, LLC was born.

“It became obvious pretty soon that there was a real demand for what we were offering and the way we were offering it — friendly service in a clean environment at affordable prices,” Dawn says.  Relying largely on word of mouth advertising, Eyespa’s popularity rapidly increased. 

As demand for her services grew, Dawn used a working capital loan and business assistance from the East Harlem Business Capital Corporation to move Eyespa from its original location on 116th Street to a more spacious site on 103rd Street and Lexington Avenue.  

In May 2004, she received an investment pledge from the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurial Initiative Fund, a fund that provides seed capital to Columbia Business School students.  Dawn used that money to expand the range of relaxation-centered services she offers her clients.

“The current wave of development in East Harlem has demonstrated that residents of El Barrio will support any business that provides them with a quality product and good customer service at a reasonable price,” she says. 

Edwin Rodriguez:

Edwin Rodriguez first started thinking about a simpler, easier way to make tostones – a staple food of the Caribbean – 10 years ago. 

His idea involved reinventing the tostonera – a traditional tool used by cooks to mash plantains for tostones – by adding a peeler, which eliminates the tedious work of peeling plantains, and a cup - shaped mold, in order to more easily fill the plantain shell with other tasty ingredients.

Since then Edwin, the Puerto Rican-born East Harlem resident, went back to his native land to further research and refine his concept for a new utensil for the modern kitchen.  “I had to learn all about plastics, materials, tool and dye operations, and a lot more,” he says.  He put his expertise to book form as he published the book about preparing plantains, “Loco con los Platanos,” or “Going Bananas” in English.

However, when Edwin returned to El Barrio with the intention of marketing his products, he ran into a formidable obstacle: he needed capital to finance the manufacturing and selling of his utensils. 

At this point, he took one of EHBCC’s BusinessWise business start up and expansion seminars; this helped him strengthen his business plan and decide how to proceed forward.  “EHBCC personnel have always been there for me—every step of the way,” says Edwin.

With a combination of his own investment money and EHBCC financial support, Edwin’s business, Caribbean Food Implements Corporation, rented 1,100 square feet of factory space to produce and ship his tostoneras.  By the end of 2005, Edwin’s tostoneras will be out on the market — be on the lookout for them!

 
Back to top