Page A I2
___________________
Minority & Small Business Week_________
September 23, 2009
Micro Loan Helps Entrepreneur Succeed
the loan back at a relatively steep
12 percent interest rate over two
to five years. Over 94 percent
o f the loans have been paid
b a c k , sa id S tra c h a n . A fte r
M artinez saved up a thousand
dollars, Mercy Corp matched the
amount three to one, giving him
a $3,000 loan to get his business
up and running. An outside com
pany takes care of the m anufac
turing of his salsa. He focuses
on the m arketing and distribu
tion.
Credit contributes
to economic base
J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
by
After having helped out in his
fam ily’s M exican food restau
rant since he was old enough to
sit on a b ar sto o l and scru b
d ish e s, you co u ld say D avid
M artinez has salsa in his veins.
He also has the flavorful sauce
in his southeast Portland home-
lots o f it.
M artinez is the proprietor of
D a v id
A lfre d
M a rtin e z
(D.A.M.) Salsa, which he is hop
ing w ill becom e a household
name and money maker. But in
order to get started, M artinez
req u ired som e goading from
friends, and a micro loan from
Mercy Corp - a Portland-based
hum anitarian organization that
has seen an increase in people
interested in getting some cash
to start small businesses. Micro
credit is the idea that if people,
who might normally have trouble
getting big loans from big banks,
have access to small loans, they
will use it to create entrepre
neurship and contribute to eco
nomic growth. Although micro
loans are often given to poor and
d isa d v a n ta g e d p e o p le , E rica
S trachan, a M ercy C orp loan
and reentry support officer, said
that w ith credit tight and the
econom y soggy, she's seen all
sorts o f people inquire about
getting a small loan, including
established business people.
Last year, Mercy Corp made
38 new small business loans, up
from 23 in 2007. ”We don't re
ally have a typical applicant,"
Strachan said. However, to get
a micro loan from Mercy Corp,
you m ust be at 80 percent or
under of the median family in
come for the Portland metropoli
tan area. You also need to take
some business classes, and pay
They
absolutely
helped me out
to no end.
- David Martinez’s
“They absolutely helped me
out to no end,” said M artinez of
M ercy C orp, which also con
nected him with law and busi
ness students from local colleges
to help him secure the rights to
his recipe and develop a business
plan. A fax machine that slowly
consumes advertisements for the
salsa hums in his office. On the
desk next to it is a laptop, both
of which were purchased with
the micro loan. Martinez learned
the art of salsa making from fam
ily rec ip es he learn ed w hile
w orking in the kitchen at his
family's restaurant, La Casa de
Rios. After the eatery folded in
1984, M artinez did landscaping
and dem olition work. As he got
older, he wanted something less
physically straining. M artinez ,
55, always liked to cook M exi
can dishes, often for friends. A
particularly picky friend always
enjoyed his hom em ade salsa,
and suggested he try selling it,
continued
Salsa runs thick through businessman David Martinez's life as is evidenced with his truck,
which bears the license plate "Salsa-1."
on page A14
_____________THE_____________
M oon S tar
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Flowers' Chiropractic Office
th e body's energy configuration
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