The Alamo Economic Development Corporation is now offering a new Micro-Loan Program that will help small business owners expand their efforts in the city. The Micro-Loan Program works by lending money to local businesses, with the funds being paid back with the interest. The funds are then reused. The loans are possible with assistance from USDA – Rural Development. Qualified applicants must be located in Alamo and have a minimum…
The United States Coast Guard found the Brownsville Ship Channel to be suitable for marine traffic resulting from Texas LNG’s planned liquefaction terminal at the Port of Brownsville. In a letter of recommendation issued Feb. 26, the Coast Guard concluded that the waterway is suitable to handle current and anticipated incremental traffic from the Texas LNG proposed facility. The Houston-based company plans to construct an LNG export facility on a…
VTX1 Companies has acquired Ranch Wireless Inc., a provider of fixed wireless internet service based in Seguin, Texas. Adding Ranch Wireless customers to VTX1‘s existing customer base will gives the company close to 20,000 total customers, making it one of the largest rural service providers in Texas. “This acquisition is important for VTX1 Companies in that we overlap approximately 4,000 of their 17,000 square-mile service area through our northern exchanges,” said Dave Osborn, CEO of…
A father/son team has carved out a niche in the recycling industry by working with products no one else in the Rio Grande Valley touches: electronics. RDA Technologies in Brownsville recycles anything with electronic components inside, ranging from old computers to ice makers to televisions and more. “I started in my living room in 2012 destroying old computers. Then my wife kicked me out to the garage,” said Jose David…
Art Alcantar spent years away from his native Rio Grande Valley building a multimedia career that specializes in digital and social media marketing. In recent years, when he looked around the Valley for a facility to that could meet the needs of his technology-driven business, Alcantar found the ideal landing spot in Mission. The 55,000-square-foot Mission Economic Development Corp. facility has all of the high-end technological amenities that Alcantar’s business…
While getting his degree in architecture and environmental design, Fernando Balli earned a C in architectural history. That is noteworthy because now, with Balli Property Group, he specializes in restoring historic architecture in Brownsville. The turning point came when, after restoring a 1931 house on Palm Boulevard that backs onto Town Resaca, he and his wife decided that, instead of flipping it, they would make it their home. The striking…
Editor’s Note: Leadership can mean different things to different people. The Valley Business Report wanted to learn more about the views on leadership through the words of experienced business leaders in the Rio Grande Valley. Starting with this month’s edition, VBR introduces Leadership Matters, a new question-and-answer feature that poses questions on leadership to Valley CEOs and other business leaders. Manny Vela CEO, Valley Baptist Health System What are…
Selling shrimp caught in the Gulf Mexico was a full-time job for Peggy Harris when she was a vendor on the second floor of Valley International Airport in Harlingen. Called Texashrimp, the business on the south side of the boarding area was easily seen by passengers wanting to take some fresh shrimp with them. After eight years, she sold the venture and embarked on a new and different type of…
Margret DeBruyn is a walking advertisement for cryotherapy. After a bad car crash she was left with chronic back pain when she tried cryotherapy and was amazed with the results. That prompted her to start a business to help others find relief. “It’s something that is really amazing,” she said. “If you are in chronic pain it chips away at your life. You start to miss out on life. We…
There are only a handful of locally owned home shutter companies in the Rio Grande Valley, and Holden Security and Storm Shutters is probably the oldest one around. “I am third generation,” said Jeremy Holden, who has run the company founded by his grandfather ever since his father died 11 years ago. “I started right out of high school so I’ve really been in this business for 21 years.” The…