Aracely Salinas’ medical uniforms business in San Benito has done well for itself over the last five years, getting established and now hitting a marker where it needs a boost.

The San Benito Economic Development Corporation is helping with that aspiration. Salinas is one of 10 participants in a Kauffman FastTrac program, an intensive seven-week course taught by UTRGV instructors at the EDC offices. It’s a nationally acclaimed program that provides content and tools to help entrepreneurs succeed in starting, growing and sustaining their businesses.

The San Benito EDC and Texas Regional Bank are providing $900-per-student scholarships to cover the cost of local participation. For Salinas, the sponsorship is much appreciated as she seeks to sharpen up her business skills and knowhow. 

“You can never stop growing and learning,” said Salinas, who owns and runs Uniforms Etc. on Sam Houston Boulevard, which is San Benito’s version of main street. “I’m trying to do different things. I want to scale up and expand.”

It’s that spirit and ambition that Julie Villalon, a project manager for UTRGV’s Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center, is finding in the San Benito classes.

“I see opportunity here,” Villalon said. “These are students and business people that are eager to learn and grow. San Benito is looking completely different. The community is more robust and active.”

Focusing On Strengths

Ramiro Aleman’s years of working in economic development in Harlingen and Brownsville got him to the point where a realization set in.

“I really wanted to run my own EDC,” said Aleman, who in late 2022 began work as the executive director of San Benito’s EDC. “I wanted to take what I’ve learned to develop programs to create an environment where companies and businesses can come here to grow.”

Some of San Benito’s recent growth predated Aleman’s arrival, but 2023 has seen an acceleration of the trend and Aleman is working with his board to see more of it. The investment in local business owners via the Kaufman program is a sure indication of the EDC’s commitment to build sustainable growth in the community. Bringing in the resources of the UTRGV system to San Benito was an early step Aleman took and he found quick cooperation from university representatives.

Connecting the local business community to the expertise of UTRGV staff as shown by Villalon is an example of what Aleman envisioned in taking the EDC director’s job in San Benito.

“This program is a good one for entrepreneurs,” Aleman said of the Kauffman courses. “It will help them analyze their business from conception to completion. It’s a great consultation service provided to them at no charge.”

Corridor Of Growth

The knowledge picked up at the Kauffman sessions will eventually contribute to San Benito’s recent trend of growth.

Aleman brought a Cameron County-wide perspective to the city’s EDC director job. He’s a La Feria native who spent years developing economic growth in Harlingen for that city’s EDC and then in Brownsville, where he worked for the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation.

In San Benito, he saw a city strategically placed in the center of the county, along Expressway 77/83, with high traffic counts and a nearby international bridge at Los Indios. Those assets, Aleman said, needed a higher degree of promotion and marketing in addition to making local businesses aware of the services the EDC provides. Aleman and his staff have taken to going door to door in business areas like downtown, meeting store owners and making acquaintances.

There’s also the business corridor of Business 77 leading from Harlingen and eventually to the expressway toward Brownsville. It’s that midpoint of Cameron County Aleman speaks of, and along Business 77, the Resaca Village is entering phase two of its mixed retail/commercial development in adding over 10,000 square feet of space. An Austin-based company, SCC Development, has cleared ground and will construct a seven-acre retail and mixed used project on Business 77 in the immediate proximity of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. The entrance of a major Rio Grande Valley developer indicates San Benito is beginning to draw attention for business development, which just a few years ago seemed out of reach for the city.

“I think the community is a lot more optimistic now,” Aleman said. “They see things that are going on and it’s making a difference.”