Omega As Beginning in New Orleans, LA

After receiving a loan from HOPE to expand his fleet of vans, Ben Zapata’s company, Omega Concierge, doubled in size, growing from 20 to 40 employees. The road to success, however, was neither straight nor easy. While working at a bank branch in Mandeville, Louisiana, Mr. Zapata quickly earned the trust of many of the bank’s customers, buoyed by a friendly personality and a tenacious work ethic. These customers included several New Orleans Saints football players. With hectic travel schedules and long days at practice, the players turned to Mr. Zapata for help with various errands, such as picking up dry cleaning, servicing vehicles, and pet care.

Before long, Mr. Zapata was making more money doing this than he was at the bank. He left his job in 2008 to start his own company, building his client base with other Saints players – until the 2011 National Football League lockout took it all away. Mr. Zapata was left with nothing. He took on a paper route to keep money coming into his household. “I knew there had to be a better way to do things,” Mr. Zapata says. He recalled that in larger cities, hospitals used concierge services.He pitched his idea to a group of healthcare executives. “I told them I’d work for free to prove what I was doing would be beneficial,” adds Mr. Zapata. One and a half years later, he landed a large contract. Mr. Zapata knew he needed more business expertise and financing in order to grow, so his next move was to apply to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. The program provides entrepreneurs with management training through Delgado Community College and financing through HOPE.

“Before, I just Googled a bunch of stuff… I was doing decent, growing at a good pace, but I felt like we were at a point that we needed help,” Mr. Zapata says of his experience with the program. After Mr. Zapata completed the program, Omega’s sales doubled. “The course was a big part of that and HOPE was a big part of that.” HOPE loaned Omega $50,000 to expand from one to three vehicles. “It was pretty innovative what they did,” Mr. Zapata says of HOPE. “They looked at the strength of the business.” He says HOPE didn’t reject his application because of his low credit score: “They didn’t just deny it, like other institutions.” Today Mr. Zapata and his Omega Concierge team are looking at expanding into new industries and geographic markets. Omega’s story, which almost ended, is just beginning.