An immigrant, an entrepreneur, a success in Stamford

When Galdino Velasco left his native Oaxaca, Mexico, for Stamford in 1956, he estimates there were 60 Spanish-speaking Hispanics in a community that has now burgeoned to more than 30,000.

“It”™s booming,” he said of the growing Hispanic population in Stamford.

Booming is right ”” between 2000 and 2010, out of a population of 122,643 Stamford”™s Hispanic population grew from 17 percent to 24 percent, more than any other race.

Galdino Velasco and his son John display Galdino”™s “Land of Opportunity” award, presented to him by Neighbors Link of Stamford for his civic involvement and accomplishment of running Stamford”™s first Mexican restaurant, Tacos Guadalajara, for more than 35 years.

Now an accomplished entrepreneur, Velasco is more than an example of the American Dream in action ”” known as “the unofficial patriarch of the Stamford Latino community” ”” he is an icon of perseverance and community involvement in the city with 35 years of insight into the changing face of entrepreneurship there.

Starting as a landscaper and then as a janitor for the Norma-Hoffman Bearing Corp., Velasco said since the early 1960s he knew he wanted to open a Mexican restaurant.

“Unfortunately when I went to the bank to get a loan they said, ”˜We do not lend money to open restaurants,”™ just like that ”” flat,” he said.

Prejudice might have played a part in his rejection, he said, but he didn”™t let it stop him. Working his way up from sweeping the floors at Norma-Hoffman, he worked for the company for more than 20 years, eventually becoming a manager in the company”™s import/export division.

The achievement was made possible through a lifelong dedication to learning that gave him the ability to speak English and make his way up the corporate ladder as one of the only bilingual speakers in the company, Velasco said.

“I arrived here on Sunday, my brother picked me up at Grand Central, on Monday they brought me to school,” he said. “I love the language ”” I read every day.”

Using his pension from the company and savings he had, Velasco cobbled together $5,000 to buy the Atlantic Avenue location where his restaurant stands today.

The property initially cost $15,000, and due to favorable terms with the landowner, he was able to pay the rest off in installments of $87 per week.

“We did pretty well in those days,” he said. “In one day we paid the rent, but today is another world.”

These days the rents are about $3,000 per month, he said, and are by far the biggest challenge in running his business.

“We work seven days, 10 hours a day and still don”™t pay the bills on time,” he said.

Always a family business, Velasco has run Tacos Guadalajara with the help of his wife, Juana, and his four sons. But with Juana having undergone several surgeries and Velasco himself in his 70s, he is looking to bring investors into his business to reinvigorate it, obtain a liquor license and extend the business”™ weekend hours to create more of an entertainment venue than the quaint taqueria currently offers.

“It was hard,” he said of the challenge to open a business so long ago.

Resources, both financial and physical, were limited. In those days ingredients for his products were scarce, most of which he and his family had to prepare themselves.

“It”™s much easier now,” he said, citing resources like the Greater Stamford Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and SCORE, “Counselors to America”™s Small Business.”

“There are more organizations interested in us,” he said.

He also cites Neighbors Link of Stamford, a regional nonprofit that helps immigrants and communities integrate.

The organization recently recognized Velasco”™s life with the Land of Opportunity award for his accomplishments as an entrepreneur and Mexican-American with a deep involvement in the Stamford community.

In addition to running a family business, Velasco founded the Latino Foundation of Stamford in 1999 to recognize the achievements of Hispanics. The organization also runs an annual toy drive, distributing more than 500 toys each year for the last 15 years.

He was also recognized for his work as a broadcaster and producer of the first Spanish radio program on WSTC 1400 AM, which aired for 20 years, as well as his efforts to facilitate cultural exchange programs between Stamford and Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico.

With education has come power for the Hispanic community in Stamford, and with more education can come more power.

That might be the only thing holding back the Hispanic and Latin communities, which have displayed tremendous work ethic as they”™ve integrated into society and become the foundation of the workforce in certain industries, said Fabian Durango, president of the Greater Stamford Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Durango acknowledged the “tremendous” growth in Hispanic entrepreneurs and attributed it to resources organization like the chamber provide, such as seminars on opening a business, acquiring permits, technical education in accounting software courses, proper tax filing and more.

“What I have seen in the last 12 years is amazing growth in the Latino-owned businesses, people are not afraid to run a part-time small business to go full time and formalize their business instead of running on the side,” he said. “We have a couple of contractors that went from registering their LLC through the chamber, buying small business insurance, hiring employees and running payroll to having multiple employees, 20 to 30, many company cars earning six digit and seven digits.”

Velasco said he got lucky opening his business 35 years ago, with Norma-Hoffman offering supplementary education courses and advancing him through the ranks as well as his financial luck in opening the business.

Today, with rents ever-rising and navigating bureaucracies increasingly complex, he said knowledge, funding and the debate surrounding immigration are the biggest impediments for Hispanic entrepreneurs.

“They are hardworking people, they come here to work,” he said.

“They came through mountains, didn”™t eat for a while and walked for days and nights to get where they are now. They will appreciate if you give them a hand and believe me the economy will boom here, but the politicians don”™t see it that way.

“But that”™s their job, I”™m not a politician,” he said. “I don”™t fit there, I”™m more a people person.”