Diversity
Economic downturn slows expansion plans
For the AJC
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tough economic times are nothing new to Felipe Ocampo.
It was hard times in the 1990s that caused the community organizer and new lawyer to leave his native Colombia with his family to join his brother-in-law in a painting business.
Leita Cowart / Special
Felipe Ocampo loves his native Colombia, but says America ‘is paradise.’
Now Ocampo, 49, is trying to grow his own company in Marietta by branching out into flooring, roofing and other construction and repair jobs. But, like many businesspeople, he’s seeing a downturn.
When asked whether the economy was affecting him, he replied, “Oh, yes.”
Six months ago, he said, clients would hire him to paint their entire house — interior, exterior or both. “Now,” he said, “it’s just one room only. They do only what’s necessary.”
But Ocampo is used to bouncing back, and he retains an optimistic outlook about the future and his new home country.
“In the 1990s, Colombia had a big problem with the [drug] cartels … and corruption. … The economy went down,” he said.
Ocampo had just finished studying to be a lawyer and was working to help schools and other community organizations in Pereira, a city in the heart of Colombian coffee country. But the economy meant there was “good opportunity for study, but no opportunity for work,” he said.
In 1999, his brother-in-law invited him to New York, and he left for America. But just two years later, the economy tumbled after the attacks of Sept. 11. “A contractor said there were no more jobs,” he said.
That led Ocampo to start his own business and move to Atlanta, where his brother said there was plenty of work.
Things started slowly, he said. Through connections via his school-age daughter, he was able to get a job painting a house in his neighborhood. Through word of mouth and personal recommendations, his business expanded. Over the past six years, he estimated, he’s painted about half the houses in his 400-home subdivision and finds additional work throughout the community.
Since coming to Atlanta, Ocampo works with and has made friends of fellow Hispanics who work in roofing, tiling, Sheetrock and plumbing. “We make a good team,” he said. That’s one reason he’s able to branch out beyond painting.
Ocampo runs the business and is its full-time staff. During busy times in warm weather, Ocampo said he hires as many as 12 people. That number falls to four or five in the winter and when things are slow. One of the regular workers is his brother, George.
The key to growth, Ocampo said, is working hard and doing a good job.
The problem, he said, is finding good workers who are in the country legally. “We don’t work with illegal people,” Ocampo said. “Our guys have their green cards.”
Still, many of his workers from Mexico and Honduras are eager to take jobs at American wages. “They are used to $5 a day in their home country,” he said. “They get $12 or more an hour here.”
“Life in Colombia was a beautiful life,” Ocampo said. “We might be poor but we live happy.”
Fortunately, Ocampo said, he has found happiness and a higher-paying business in America. “This is paradise.”
While he still has family in Colombia, he said he hasn’t been back for nine years. But when he does return, it will be in triumph. He’ll be able to say, “I made it!”
Karl W. Ritzler is a freelance writer based in Marietta.