Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 12, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 9 Each client's situa on is different and results may vary from those presented here CLIENT: FAMILY-OWNED RETAILER This convenience store and fuel retailer with an exis ng defined contribu on plan was acquired by a compe tor, resul ng in separate plans and service providers. Increasing their HR workload and exposing the company to addi onal risk, management knew they needed to consolidate plans and streamline administra on. Get the full story at hhconsultants.com/success Put our knowledgeable professionals to work for your business. We offer a full range of comprehensive actuarial, investment advisory and re rement plan consul ng services designed to iden fy, achieve and exceed each client's specific need. PLAN CONSOLIDATION TO GET FUELED UP OVER (5 percent). "It's a mix of everyone," said Khalil Yatim, a native of Sierra Leone who runs the gas station chain Yatco Energy with two of his brothers. "Honestly, you think about it, what's the U.S. made of? It's a blend of everything, everyone." Omar Sherzai was nearing 16, a critical age for a boy who would likely be called to fight in a war in his native Afghanistan in the early 1980s when the country was embroiled in an invasion from the Soviet Union. He came to the U.S. as a refugee with his mother. "We came here to seek peace," said Sherzai, whose older sister was already living in Worcester. Sherzai was joined in 1991 by a child- hood friend, Fowzia, who would later become his wife. Together, they opened Pomir Grill in 2012, a Shrewsbury Street restaurant serving Afghan dishes like kabobs and borani. Oriola Koci came to Worcester in 1996 as a 19-year-old, with her parents enrolling in a diversity visa program to give her a better education. Aer studying business at Assumption and Clark University, Koci began a career in human relations. She decided it wasn't for her, and not why her parents took her to America, she said. Koci started Worcester restaurants Livia's Dish and Altea's Eatery, with her husband, another Albanian immigrant, Enton Mehillaj. She sees Worcester as a city built by immigrants for immigrants. "is is definitely a melting pot kind of city," Koci said. Lilian Radke also came to America for a better education, moving from her na- tive Brazil to the University of Arkansas on a volleyball scholarship. She didn't plan to stay in American beyond that, but while in college, she met another Brazilian native, Silvano Radke, now her husband. ey came to Massachusetts, and he started a cleaning business, Unic Pro. Lillian joined the company in 2010, and then took over as owner when her husband le the business a year later to start another operation. Today, Unic Pro has $5 million in annual sales from 154 accounts in Massachusetts, New Hamp- shire and Rhode Island and around 150 employees. is year, the U.S. Small Business Administration named Radke the Massachusetts Woman Small Busi- ness Owner of the Year. "My mom, she taught us to be go-get- ters," Radke said. "When we see an obstacle, we just keep going." Adapting to America As the primary countries of origin as of the 2010 census the non-En- glish-speaking population in Worces- ter has risen. From 2004 to 2015, the percent of English Language Learners in Worcester Public Schools grew from 14 percent to 35 percent, according to a 2015 study from Worcester nonprofit Seven Hills Foundation. "I worked on it," Sherzai said of learning English. His native language from Afghanistan was read from right to le, so he had to learn English back- wards. "I didn't want to be one of those immigrants speaking with an accent aer being here 90 years." Rosy and Marcos Reynoso, owners of Rosy's Beauty Salon and Rosy's Gro- cery in Worcester, have lived in Ameri- ca for 30 years. Rosy also ran a salon in their native Dominican Republic. ough the couple still struggles with fluent English, Rosy and Marcos talk more of the ease of getting used to life in America than they do the challenges. Marcos, a laid-back man of few words, said the couple didn't start with any sense of risk or fear in starting their business in a place where they still had few language skills to work with. "If that happens, you won't ever start," he said, speaking through a translator. Mixing their culture into Worcester In a Worcester Regional Research Bureau survey of 24 immigrant business owners in Worcester, most respondents said their clientele shared their ethnic background less than 50 percent of the time, indicating their businesses had an impact beyond their existing immigrant communities. Businesses opened by immigrants in Worcester immigrants: Countries of origin After historically coming from Europe, the city's immigrant population starting with the 2010 census was primarily from Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. By census year, here are the top countries of origin for Worcester's immigant population. Worcester bring pieces of home from their owners' native countries. Owners talk about the pride they feel in intro- ducing Americans to a dish they may have eaten growing up or a brand they have a nostalgic connection with. At Rosy's Beauty Salon, it's the Latin music playing loudly on the radio. At Pho Sure, it's the design inside the restaurant meant to evoke the way a restaurant might be set up in an alley- way in Vietnam. Koci and Mehillaj opened restau- rants with Mediterranean and French food reminding them of Europe. "We're bringing something from home," Koci said. Six years aer Pomir Grill opened, the Sherzais still have a niche to themselves, as what they say is the only Afghan restaurant in Worcester Coun- ty. ey oen get lumped by restaurant guides into Indian or Mediterranean, as if there's not enough of a distinction to what they cook. "We don't have our own identity like that," Sherzai said. No matter what category its Afghan dishes are placed in, Pomir Grill doesn't serve just people from the Mid- dle East or Asia. "We would never have made it if it weren't for white people," Sherzai said with a laugh. 1870 1. Ireland (70%) 2. Canada (14%) 3. England (7%) 4. Germany (3%) 5. Scotland (2%) 6. Nova Scotia (1%) 7. New Brunswick (1%) 1890 1. Ireland (43%) 2. Canada (21%) 3. Sweden (17%) 4. England (9%) 5. Germany (2%) 6. Russia (2%) 7. Scotland (2%) 8. Norway (1%) 9. Italy (1%) 1910 1. Ireland (22%) 2. Russia (18%) 3. Canada (17%) 4. Sweden (17%) 5. England (6%) 6. Italy (6%) 7. Turkey (5%) 8. Finland (3%) 9. Scotland (2%) 10. Germany (1%) 1930 1. Canada (18%) 2. Sweden (15%) 3. Ireland (14%) 4. Lithuania (9%) 5. Italy (9%) 6. Poland (7%) 7. England (6%) 8. Russia (5%) 9. Scotland (2%) 10. Finland (2%) 1950 1. Canada (18%) 2. Sweden (11%) 3. Ireland (11%) 4. Italy (10%) 5. Lithuania (10%) 6. Poland (8%) 7. USSR (6%) 8. Asia, unclassified (5%) 9. England and Wales (5%) 10. Finland (3%) 1970 1. Canada (14%) 2. Italy (12%) 3. Poland (8%) 4. Greece (7%) 5. Ireland (7%) 6. United Kingdom (7%) 7. USSR (7%) 8. Lithuania (7%) 9. Europe, unclassified (6%) 10. Sweden (6%) 1990 1. Vietnam (10%) 2. Poland (7%) 3. Canada (7%) 4. Italy (6%) 5. Greece (6%) 6. United Kingdom (5%) 7. Ireland (3%) 8. Not Reported (3%) 9. Dominican Republic (3%) 10. El Salvador (3%) 2010 1. Brazil (10%) 2. Vietnam (10%) 3. Ghana (9%) 4. Dominican Republic (7%) 5. Albania (5%) 6. China (5%) 7. El Salvador (4%) 8. Poland (3%) 9. India (2%) 10. Dominica (2%) Source: U.S. Census Bureau W

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