Quote:
Originally Posted by :eevis
Hi Andrew, haven't had a chance to meet ya, but I was wondering how you got into the buisness? I would imagine that it is quite an experience.
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I met a good friend named Rafael Guillen at MHCC college in August 2005. He was one of the newest students to pass through a scholarship program funded by US AID called CASS. every year they bring in a group of central American and Caribbean students who speak little or no english. I had been involved with this program since 2001. It was a great way for me to meet new people from new places and at the same time share with them about our country and our language.
I spent alot of time with Rafael through out his 2 years studying natural resources and english. I was always there to help them learn some new words and practice what they already know. I was also picking up spanish little by little by listening in!! took me 5 years to get to the level im at now but I would easily say I have I higher spanish vocabulary that an 5 year old native speaker. Through our time together I also got to know about the students lives back in their home countries. Being I was good friends with rafael I grew really interested in what his family was doing and their history with tobacco and cigars. They had been working in fields and rolling from a very young age and grew a real passion for the work that they did.
In 2007 when it was time for Rafael to return home I went with him to meet his family. I had done the same thing in 2005 and took a 40 day tour from Guatemala - Panama visiting all the students and experiencing life as they know it. At times I crossed borders with hardly any money in my pocket not knowing when I would get more being travelers checks are not ass accepted as one would think... It was a hassle and a little scarey crossing with less than even 1$ from Guatemala to Honduras. In my 2007 visit however I was there with a mission. To meet his family and see what the possibilities were on making their dreams come true. To produce cigars for themselves. In Sept 2007 our business licenses and permission to produce and export were granted. It has been a tuff road so far working on limited resources and even more so... LIMITED EXPERIENCE. I have made a few mistakes and have learned from them. We also have taken a few lumps from people in the industry who wanted to do business with us and it ended up not working out in our favor... It wasnt until February 2009 that we started pushing cigars to retail. Before that it was just making cigars for a private company. Currently Reserva Miraflor is available in 13 states retail and a few stores in each state and Goviado in just 2 states as it is a newer blend and we have not pushed it as much, that is soon to change.
I have spent most of my time here on CA and been here since it was created and on CS for about a month before that. I was also a part of a few other forums for about a year before that trying to spark interest but didnt get anywhere near the support I have gotten here. I know there is much more detail I have not mentioned here that many of you may know already but keep in touch and you will learn more and more. And get to know me personally more and more. Thank you all for the questions I enjoy answering them.