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Las
Banderas Grocery & Restaurant
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 In October 2006 Oscar and his business partner Enrique
applied for $10,000 with Brooklyn
Cooperative FCU.
At the time they submitted their application to the credit union,
Oscar had never borrowed from a financial institution and consequently
had no credit history and Enrique’s was limited. Working
in low wage jobs, they managed to save $15,000
as initial capital to open a Grocery & Restaurant that specializes in Mexican
specialty dishes and food products.
Oscar is a member of Asociacion
Tepeyac of NY, a grassroots organization whose mission is to empower the
Latino immigrant community in New York City. In early 2006, he attended one of
the workshops hosted by Asociacion Tepeyac where he first approached learned
about the loans that credit unions offer to small businesses in New York City.
Like most members of Asociacion Tepeyac, Oscar is a Mexican national who has
been living in New York City for over 6 years with his wife and children. After
5 years of working in the restaurant industry in different capacities, he decided
to open his first business. In September 2006, Oscar took the course on food
preparation and obtained his license from the NYS Department of Health. In October
he found a storefront with a relatively affordable rent on MacDonald Ave. and
Avenue N in Brooklyn and started work to renovate the space.
 On
December 10, 2006 Brooklyn
Cooperative approved Las
Banderas loan request. Las Banderas Grocery & Restaurant located
at 16-41 McDonald Avenue opened its doors on December 24, 2006 to the rapidly
growing Hispanic population of South Brooklyn.
The most important thing is that [the credit unions]
do give loans to persons who like me speak Spanish and
are just starting. I think that if I qualified, others
like me will have a great chance to qualify if they keep
records of everything they've done to start the business.
— Oscar Rosas, Brooklyn.
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