Two years ago, two former university students’ main headquarters for their new business was in the basement of a house.
But when Kosta Dionisopoulos and Christos Marafatsos, both 24 years old, created Delta Produce — a food distribution company — they said they did not realize they would last month win third place in Bloomberg Businessweek’s readers’ choice competition for “The Best Young Entrepreneurs of 2011,” awarded to a business that has dramatically increased its customer base.
From shoveling snow out of their Silver Spring neighbors’ driveways to selling shoes when they were younger, the two childhood friends said they have always wanted to be entrepreneurs.
“It’s something that was always [a] common goal,” Dionisopoulos said.
The pair attended this university’s business school, where they said they learned “the fundamentals — the education, the background” to start their own company. They described the school’s environment as competitive, which Marafatsos said helped prepare him for the real world.
Before launching their company, which ships fruits, vegetables and dairy products to restaurants, hotels, hospitals and government facilities, Dionisopoulos and Marafatsos executed a nine-month study of the marketplace. The study highlighted the local economy, the business’ geographic location and its potential competitors. Marafatsos said he knew they were launching a company during a harsh economic time, and they needed to be prepared.
“No matter the economic climate, people are always going to need to eat,” Marafatsos said.
Less than four months after its founding, the company has moved to its current Washington-based office space, and the business now services 150 clients, has 18 employees and owns six shipping trucks. In its first year, the company made a profit of about $2 million, which nearly doubled to about $4 million the next year, and the pair plans to make about $20 to $30 million annually in five years, according to Marafatsos.
“We always looked ahead,” Marafatsos said, adding that he and Dionisopoulos always had concrete time frames and tangible goals in mind while expanding their business.
Both said their young age is an advantage in the business world — not only because they have the energy to work around the clock but also because their clients respect that they’ve started a business at a young age.
“They see how hard we work and what kind of business we started,” Marafatsos said.
Several students, such as junior accounting and finance major Thomas Korenchuk, said that the two starting their own business in a tough economic climate gives hope to current students wanting to do the same.
“I think it sets a very good example for everyone, all the undergraduates here, that you’re able to not just follow the cookie-cutter situation where you go and you find opportunities at these big multinational companies,” he said.
Marafatsos’ said student entrepreneurs wishing to create a start-up company should devise a detailed business plan, conduct a market research study and put in constant work in the beginning.
“Fully go for it without anything holding you back,” Marafatsos said.
Dionisopoulos added that owning a business is “like a marriage,” which requires a lot of love and hard work.
“If you love what you do, you’ll be happy to wake up in the morning and go in and work 16 hours a day,” he said.
news@umdbk.com
