Today we’d like to introduce you to Armando Valverde.
Armando, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. I spent most of my time in Mexico, I went to school there and graduate from UAM, right after I was offer a job in one of the most important and largest companies in Mexico at the time and the largest bakery company in the world today, Bimbo Bakeries.
In 2003, I was relocated to the US leading the Hispanic brands in the East Coast of the United States, my work there was to develop the distribution model for the Hispanic Brands like Bimbo, Marinela, Barcel, Ricolino, etc. After a couple of years this market was selling over 180 Million a year, it was a big challenge for me to get to know the Hispanic community in the US and understand their shopping behaviors, also to sell the idea to big retailers like Wal Mart, Food Lion and other local retailers to offer these Mexican products on their stores. By doing this I learned a lot about the Hispanic consumers, realizing that they have become a whole new market, their shopping behaviors are not like they were on their original countries and it isn’t the same as the general market in the US becoming a whole new specie.
By the time I realized all this it was 2012 and I was already living in Texas then I met who was going to become my best friend and partner, Gonzalo Barajas. He and I started to plan a new company, a different one, a company that actually could transform the industry, you know, a disruptive innovation.
We were looking at different options but we decided to open a new car lot format in 2012, it was call Master Pro Motors, the main goal for this company was to offer in house financing for Hispanic customers with no credit who were good customers just didn’t have the way to qualify for better credit options, this company was very successful and in 2014 we sold part of it to a Public Mexican Company and together we found Don Carro, in the first 2 years became the biggest Buy Here Pay Here car lot in NTX with over $50M in receivables.
In 2016 my wife and I, Yolanda Valverde, decided to create a new company together, following the same basics of financing for the Hispanic community so we created Del Norte Furniture. At Del Norte Furniture we offer in house financing to the Hispanic Community with no Social Security Number or no Credit.
We have participated in many different programs to train and educate the Hispanic community on how financing works. At Del Norte Furniture we have helped over 1,000 customer in our first year of operations and we have 2 stores already and we are planning to open 5 new stores in the next year and become a leader in the subprime furniture lending in NTX.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s not been easy, probably the biggest challenge is to have access to experienced personnel that is willing to let go the old way of doing this business.
Del Norte Furniture – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Del Norte Furniture is probably the best destination for those who are facing difficulties to be approved for financing, since most of the financing companies out there requires either a social security number or ITIN number and a bank account, people that doesn’t comply with these requirements are not able to qualify so Del Norte Furniture is able to offer financing for those customers because we understand that some are not able to have a bank account or doesn’t have a social or ITIN and we know this doesn’t necessary means they are bad customers, they are just in a gray area where they don’t play the game so a customer that doesn’t have any of the so mentioned requirements is not necessary a bad customer, in Del Norte Furniture we make sure everybody has an equal opportunity offer their family a better life.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
My definition of success is knowing that what you are doing is helping you and others lead to a better, and happier life.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4200 South Fwy.
- Website: www.delnortefurniture.com
- Phone: 9722045828
- Email: info@delnortefurniture.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/delnortefurniture
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