Although big banks regularly swoop down to the border and buy local banks, independent Valley-based banks have continued to reinvent themselves. Critical to the region’s growth, these homegrown banks have parlayed their in-depth experience with local businesses into success. Eight banks, a mix of community and regional institutions, have headquarters in the Valley. Renamed and often repurposed, the established community banks have held onto market shares because of the strength…
“When your stars line up, you have to take advantage of it,” said Bert Wolf, who until mid-November was the owner of Acetylene Oxygen Company (AOC) headquartered in Harlingen. A year ago, Praxair Inc., the largest industrial gases company in the Americas, first approached Wolf about selling his third-generation business to them. Wolf rebuffed the multi-billion dollar global corporation. “But they were assertive, so I sat down and talked to…
Asking new business owner Clarissa Garcia if she misses her former life as a teacher is like asking Winter Texans if they miss the ice and snow. In September, Garcia opened Sweet Escapes Cupcakery with her sister Sandra and brother-in-law Joe Trevino in Weslaco. Garcia combined her lifelong love of baking with administrative skills learned while teaching and the business aptitudes she picked up from a business her parents had…
A provision in ObamaCare provides an average $2,700 tax credit to businesses with less than 25 employees and average salaries below $50,000. As many as four million companies are eligible for this reward for providing health insurance to their workforce. According to CPA Chris Wright, only 170,300 businesses have applied for the tax credit, possibly due to the complex, onerous documentation required. “It’s not intuitive. You could easily end up…
Some of the youngest, next-generation business owners got their start the old-fashioned way: their parents were business owners. These young hotshots decided to form their own companies, too. A few as youngsters became intrigued with the idea of running their own business, while others as young adults wanted greater control of their income. From retail to real estate, computer apps to computers systems, an energetic cohort of under-40 individuals have…
During your holiday season free time, you will hear the question, “What are we doing today?” I’ve got some great answers – some of these are off the beaten path and show sides of the Valley you may never have seen. Other ones, I’ll bet, you haven’t revisited in years. Mostly outside and totally fun, these staycations are each worth taking time to explore. Hidalgo Festival of Lights: About a…
March 2013 brings a monumental change to patent law when the Leahey-Smith Act goes into effect. The U.S. will switch from a First to Invent system to a First Inventor to File basis. The Technology Ventures Conference on Protecting and Commercializing Your Intellectual Assets, sponsored by the UTPA Small Business Development Center and the UTPA Office of Innovation & Intellectual Property, examined that change, the biggest patent shakeup in 60…
Picture a tropical golf course, its well-maintained fairways and greens lined with old growth mesquite, oaks and palms; privately–operated and open to the public with very affordable fees, top-notch security and a new club house, all set on historically significant property along the Rio Grande. Then place it on the south side of the border wall in no- man’s land, and you have the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course. In…
Our strongest holiday memories of home and family tend to center on food — the whole family, from infants and great grandparents to distant cousins, gathered at the table on Christmas. The special foods prepared for the holidays still evoke the happy gatherings, bygone days and an era when the pace of life was slower. Yet traditional holiday foods are shifting with the times, too. Singlehandedly, Delia Lubin of Delia’s…
Nancy Reed had worked in Human Resources for seven years before she became the owner of the Express Employment Professionals franchise in Cameron County in 2006, prompted by her positive interactions with the staffing agency. Reed described herself as matchmaker, a person who enjoys getting the right employee paired with the right business. She discussed changes in the staffing industry world with VBR’s editor. Q Flexible staffing has replaced the…