Sabio Springs: A bottled water sales and distribution company located on Pittsburgh’s historic Northside
iCrowdNewswire -
Aug 17, 2015 5:11 PM ET
Personal Story
I am the President and Founder of Sabio Springs, a growing bottled water company located on Pittsburgh’s historic Northside. For 15 years, I have operated this company. Prior to this entrepreneurial venture, my skills were honed in a corporate environment. I would say my most satisfying position was with Ballantine Books in NYC where I learned about project management. I moved from there to BFGoodrich in Ohio and then to American Express Travel in Pittsburgh. At American Express, I rose from putting paper tickets together to managing a regional training team consisting of 22 trainers in 4 states. My last position helped me understand the value of team building and communication. A down-sizing actually catapulted me into Entrepreneurship and the founding of Sabio Springs in 2001.
I am community minded, serving presently on 4 non-profit boards and a total of 9 since 1999. People that know me, know that I am dedicated to my business, feel that mentoring other entrepreneurs is essential and that I have a passion for under-served communities and populations.
Sabio Springs is named after my daughter, Sage, and is Spanish for Wise. Yes, Sabio Springs is a wise choice.
Business Description
Sabio Springs is a bottled water sales and distribution company that I founded in 2001 with my cousin. The goal was to bottle spring water from springs on family owned property in Vermont. But, as all business plans change, we began with just distributing first and learning that end of the business. The company grew in sales from about 50 customers the first year to over 400 in its fifth year. The quick growth was a challenge and many lessons were learned.
In 2008, the economic climate hit the company hard and as a result 75% of our business was gone. The devastation did not stop with the business but included me personally. The only thing left was my passion and determination. Sabio Springs has hung on and is growing again…slowly by necessity but now much more aggressively. People are again making the wise choice and becoming customers!
What is the purpose of this loan?
This loan will help me to continue growing the company. A Kiva Zip loan will be used to purchase:
New 5-gallon bottles (150) $1,000 Labels $600 Inventory $1400