Help Support the Puerto Rico
Business Community
Hurricane Maria has completely devastated the island of Puerto Rico. They’ve been through many storms, but nothing has ever hit as hard as Maria.
Our annual Maverick Summit was scheduled to take place in San Juan before the Hurricane hit. As you can imagine, we considered relocating, but decided that instead we wanted to show up and make a difference.
That’s why Mavericks came together December 1-3, 2017 to contribute mentorship, experience, brainpower and even on-the-ground aid.
Puerto Rico faces numerous obstacles as it continues to emerge from the storm and we believe that entrepreneurs are best equipped to come up with new innovative solutions, find ways of making a difference and come out even stronger and more resilient.
On Day One, we held a full-day seminar with the theme of “Overcoming Adversity and Rising Stronger” for local business owners. Our time together included Maverick panels, presentations and direct conversations as well as an opportunity for some of these local entrepreneurs to share what it is that they really need help with.
This portion of the event was called..
3 Big “Asks”
We have recorded each of these “elevator pitches” which include 3 things that these business owners know will help move the needle on their business right now – post Hurricane Maria. These could be key resources, connections, investments, etc.
While we were able to make quite a few direct connections from the Mavericks and other attendees there, we know there’s still a lot more we can do by sharing these “Asks” with our respective networks.
So, we ask that you please watch (and share) the videos below with your network to help make a big difference for the business community in Puerto Rico!
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Name: Anthony Dooley
Business Name: The Unchartered Studio
Website: www.theunchartedstudio.com
How They Were Impacted by the storm:
We have been closed now for 2 months due to Irma and Maria. We are worried that the tourist season is going to be cut extremely short or nonexistent. Our web based business has been able to keep us afloat but the brick and mortar was 80% of our business.
Email: dooley@theunchartedstudio.com
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Name: Antonio Diaz
Business Name: Bocado Handcrafted Products
Website: http://bocadoproducts.com/
How They Were Impacted by the storm:
The local distributions and sales dropped dramatically due to the local situation post Maria. All online sale had to be cancelled or delayed due to the lack of electricity and mailing service. Increase in production cost.
Email: Adiaz@bocadoproducts.com
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Name: Dan Bigman
Business Name: Gasco Industrial
Website: www.gascoindustrial.com
How They Were Impacted by the storm:
Hurricane Maria has wiped out about 5,000 small businesses, many of those in the restaurant and foodservice industry. They are our main customer base, and our sales in that sector have suffered. In addition, our supply chain has been compromised and raw materials/packing supplies are scarce. Our facility has been compromised, with the winds ripping the insulation and ceiling treatment. Notwithstanding, we are producing and keeping people in their jobs.
Email: dbigman@gascoindustrial.com
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Name: James Connor
Business Name: Acrecent Financial
Website: http://www.acrecent.com/
How They Were Impacted by the storm:
Weakened liquidity and affected operations of our portfolio customers to the point of even threatened the subsistence of some; at the same time we’re faced now with immense market needs for our financing services. we are taking our responsibility and ability to make an impact very seriously and are acting on fundraising to be able to deploy more capital when it’s needed most.
Email: james.connor@acrecent.com
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Name: Marcelo Quiles
Business Name: B2BIT
Website: b2bitllc.com
How They Were Impacted by the storm:
Hurricane Maria has impacted our business positively creating opportunities in several areas such as: energy, telecom and IT by cracking down government bureaucracy.
Email: quiles.marcelo@b2bitllc.com
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Name: Jorge Vazquez
Business Name: PRticket.com, Corp.
Website: www.prticket.com
How They Were Impacted by the storm:
We sell tickets for events: concerts, theater, sports, expos etc. After Hurricane Maria 100% of the events in calendar were cancelled or postponed due to lack of electricity in the venues, damage on the venues or mayors took the coliseums and stadiums as
Email: jorge@prticket.com
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Name: Paula Rivera
Business Name: Atencion Atencion, Inc.
Website: www.atencionatencion.com
How They Were Impacted by the storm:
Hard. Our retail store was closed for 4 weeks and all our live shows were canceled during September [Hurricane Irma + Hurricane Maria], October and part of November.
Email: paula@atencionatencion.com
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Name: Manuel Blanco
Business Name: La Polla LLC
Website: La Pola LLC – Uniformes
How They Were Impacted by the storm:
Unfortunately, we have been without electricity since September 20 due to the devastating passage of Hurricane Maria. The eye of the hurricane crossed the town of Caguas with strong category 4 winds and lots of rain. We lost a lot of merchandise and we lost machinery.
Email: lapolallc@gmail.com
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Name: Odette Pineiro
Business Name: Global Education Exchange Opportunities, Inc. (GEEO)
Website: www.geeopr.com
How They Were Impacted by the storm:
Due to the Hurricane Maria, GEEO had suffered from: business interruption; decreased income or no income from the current contracts because clients were not able to receive our services; delay in signing contracts; and other material losses. We estimate o
Email: info@geeopr.com
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Name: Juan Faria
Business Name: Live Media
Website: livemediapr.com
How They Were Impacted by the storm:
Hurricane María has had an adverse effect on my business in a couple of ways.
- Business interruptions: Hurricane María devastated Puerto Rico and even though we were lucky enough to not have any fiscal damage or destruction to our business, being without power, water, internet and communications basically brought us and our clients to an immediate stop. Today, we’ve been 70+ days without power in our offices – it’s unusable.
- Project Cancellations: Many new businesses and ventures that were starting or about to be signed were cancelled. As a result of the storm market conditions changed, priorities changed. In essence everything fell through.
- Finances: Even though we operated for a month without any revenue we continued paying our employees, contractors and vendors. Many clients have also since stopped paying. This put a strain on our business but we’ve been able to slowly bounce back. 4. Uncertainty & Morale: What’s going to happen now? How are we going to survive? How do we adapt? How do we stay focused? All these questions, and many more are constantly on the table. In essence, plans fell through, strategies had to change, priorities got shuffled.
Email: jfaria@livemediapr.com
Here’s another way you can help Puerto Rico. Buy from the island’s local businesses or hire a Puerto Rican freelancer:
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Maverick1000 is a global collective of exceptional entrepreneurs, experts and industry leaders in 91+ industries. Members meet periodically throughout the year to connect in bold, new ways to challenge and collectively support each other’s biggest business goals and personal growth, engage in exclusive experiences, and co-create a significant, worldwide multiplier impact (to date raising over $3 million+.) www.Maverick1000.com
