SAN DIEGO — Rosario Sotelo and her daughter Rodnia Attiq started El Borrego Restaurant, located at 4280 El Cajon Blvd., on a driveway more than a decade ago, with just a quarter-pound of meat. Within three months, they were going through 600 pounds of meat on a good weekend and today crowds are still lining up for their famed barbacoa lamb and green pork pozole.
In light of this exceptional success, the mother-daughter duo has turned to the new Business Improvement District Access to Capital (BID A2C) Program facilitated by Civic San Diego (CivicSD) to help propel their growth. The program helps entrepreneurs get the financing and resources they need to succeed.
“Many of the business owners we help may not be ready for conventional loans because they lack collateral or some other qualification—but they still need that access to capital,” said Gustavo Bidart, community development manager for Civic San Diego (CivicSD), who oversees the program. “We fill that niche with a team of partners who agree to fund loans for these small business owners, and mentor them along the way.”
Through the program, Attiq and her mother were able to secure a $50,000 loan through the Community Development Corporation (CDC) Small Business Finance. The Small Business Development Center also stepped in to mentor them. Attiq and her mother will now use that money and knowledge to grow the existing El Borrego restaurant with a 2,000-square-foot patio, something that has long been a dream of theirs.
“I’m very grateful for the BID A2C Program counselors for helping me understand how to get the resources I need,” Attiq said. “I hope other small business owners will be inspired to reach out and get the same help that I got so they can be successful, too.”
The BID A2C program focuses on helping business owners in two low- to moderate-income areas of San Diego: the Diamond District and the El Cajon Business Improvement Area, along El Cajon Boulevard.
Over the past year, CivicSD worked with AmeriCorps to survey and recruit business owners for the program. CivicSD officially launched the program in January and to date has mentoring about 50 business owners who will soon be securing their own loans. Bidart says they hope to help another 50 business owners before the year is done.
“We hope Rosario and Rodnia’s success story is the first of many we are able to share,” Bidart said. “Entrepreneurs like them are underrepresented at banks, but they are an important part of our local economy. Helping them succeed has a positive impact on the surrounding community and we are proud of the collective effort that is helping to make that happen.”
For more information about the BID A2C program, please visit http://civicsd.com/departments/economic-development/economic-community-development/
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Last modified: August 10, 2017