An Entrepreneurial Dynasty

Xavier Esquivel Honors the Past, Welcomes the Future

It started as a necessity. That’s how Xavier Esquivel opens the story of the business that became the soul of his family and his source of inspiration.

In his early years, his mother took Esquivel and his sister Pamela to work. Her new business, Galveston 7 Day Cleaning, was a one-woman show back then, with few clients.

“There was no money for someone to take care of us. So she woke us with, ‘You’re not in school, so let’s go clean,’” Esquivel recalled. “It was just my mom, my sister and me, vacuuming, mopping, doing everything to serve our customers.”

Esquivel is now a University of Houston senior, majoring in management and entrepreneurship, and enrolled at the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship. He still works for Galveston 7 Day Cleaning, too, scrubbing with the teams on the weekend and, around the clock, handling administrative duties he took on while still in his teens.

The weeks are busy.

“I come to Wolff on Monday mornings. All-day classes, meetings and projects through Thursday. Fridays, I drive down to Galveston. Then Monday mornings, I do it over again,” he said.

He realizes it sounds heavy, or even terrible – at this point, Esquivel flashes his famous smile – “but I like making money, so I’m having fun.”

As a Wolff Center student, he now polishes presentation skills, sharpens financial smarts, tidies up business organization abilities and serves as the leader of a Dream Team – learning skills welcome in the company he will eventually lead as CEO.

Galveston 7 Day Cleaning was born of his mother’s desperation to trade unskilled, low-paying jobs with hotel housekeeping staffs and fast-food places for an enterprise she could grow. “Cleaning was a way to feed the family. It was that clear,” he remembers. “My mom always held an entrepreneurial spirit.”

There were small steps, medium-size victories then one huge jump: Her successful pitch for a cleaning contract at Moody Gardens Hotel. To the same hotel where Blanca Arevalo had worked hard as a new immigrant, she would return as a business owner.

“I remember her face lighting up as we arrived,” Esquivel said. “People from years ago were still there. That’s when it hit hard. Her work paid off, and her children were beside her. I’m thankful to remember her big smile that day.”

- By Sara Strong

Jayli Samnaneveth Finds Her Purpose

When Jayli Samnaneveth was 10, her parents bought a restaurant. “Wonderful foods and having my friends over, I thought it was the coolest thing ever,” she remembers. “Being that 10-year-old, I didn't see the sacrifice it takes for a business to survive and thrive.”

Edojin Sushi Restaurant, in the Cypress area of northwest Houston, is still theirs. Samnaneveth has learned lots about sushi, food service, team camaraderie and hard work over the years.

Now, as a student at the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship, her lessons go deeper. The Wolff Center, at the University Houston’s C. T. Bauer College of Business, revolves around four core values: Purpose, relationships, action and discipline.

“The very motivated environment pushes you to figure out what you want to do with your life,” said Samnaneveth, a marketing and entrepreneurship major with a minor in human relations. “Once you recognize your goals, your mentors and the teachers at Wolff help you find how to link your purpose to your career.”

The rigorous 18-month program begins with Purpose class, a first-semester course developed and taught by Wolff Center Executive Director Dave Cook as part of Wolff Center’s three-semester Value and Leadership curriculum.

“We each start by listing 100 dreams, or what we want to accomplish in life. By knowing our goals, we can actually make a difference in the world and leave the world a better place,” Samnaneveth said. That lesson and others clarified a vision: Her professional future will stay where it began – at Edojin, the family’s restaurant.

“I cannot imagine driving past and it not being ours anymore. We have amazing regulars who come in, and together we built a community. My dream is to continue that,” Samnaneveth said.

Her parents spend a little more time away from the business than before. Her uncle is Edojin’s general manager, her grandmothers help in the kitchen, and several cousins are among the servers. “Plus, our loyal customers are like family. I want to keep the circle going. Family is everything. I know that now,” she said.

With that base clarified, she will have freedom to take on other goals on her list.

“If you don't have your purpose or a meaning to what you do, you're not going to be as fulfilled as someone who does,” Samnaneveth said.

- By Sara Strong

Alim Maknojia Focuses on the Entrepreneurial Path

Alim Maknojia’s future started to become clear one day in high school, when a friend mentioned something about the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship. “I’ve always been an entrepreneurial kid. So right then and there, I looked it up,” he said.

Not only it was the country’s No. 1 undergraduate entrepreneurial program, but it was at the University of Houston’s C. T. Bauer College of Business – practically local for his home in Richmond, a city southwest of Houston.

Maknojia decided on the spot: “That’s where I’m headed.” The Wolff Center has not disappointed.

“It’s changed my life in more ways than I could imagine, with opportunities to think, lead and connect,” said Maknojia, who holds the Wolff Center’s prestigious Plank Scholarship, named for benefactor Raymond Plank, founder of Apache Oil.

Maknojia’s own story begins even before he and sister were born.

His parents left India to build a better future for the next generation. They immigrated first to Beaumont, in east Texas, where his father worked in gas stations. Similar business moved the young family to Spring, north of Houston, then to Richmond while the family has been owner-operator for 13 years of the Pogie Plant Shell station on Broadway Street in Pearland. Observing his father’s business skill – through risks, challenges and joys – inspired the son’s parallel path.

His advice for UH students deciding their future? “Try everything. You can join many student organizations for little or no cost and you experience so much. If you are considering entrepreneurship, then volunteer at Wolffest.”

Maknojia’s current entrepreneurial dreams point him toward real estate. He is president and CEO, and Argentina Guerra is vice president, of the Real Estate Roundtable – or W.R.E.V., for Wolff Real Estate Ventures – a new Wolff Center initiative this year. Its programs and speaker events are open to everyone on campus.

“Don’t ever think your dream is too big. If someone tells you to be realistic, that’s the worst piece of advice. Listen to professionals in the field and imagine yourself in their jobs, then decide.”

The philosophy helped Maknojia clarify his future: “I plan to start multiple businesses in different industries while also helping the people around me. And I hope to leave a lasting impact on the world.”

- By Sara Strong