Asian Business Owners Face a Capital Challenge

Mark Sittichai Thomgekum fulfilled his parents’ American dream.

He moved to America from Thailand when he was 11 and struggled in school. But at age 21, he walked into a Thai restaurant for the first time looking for a job and found a passion. The manager became his mentor and eventually made Thomgekum his assistant.

By saving, investing in small establishments and making a series of business moves—buying, selling, expanding—Thomgekum had enough money saved and enough collateral from his home to invest in his Rockville restaurant, .

Asians make up 20.6 percent of Rockville's population and own 13.4 percent of the city's businesses, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. The 7.2 percent disparity is the largest among racial and ethnic minority groups in Rockville.

Blacks make up 9.6 percent of Rockville's population and own 5.9 percent of its businesses. Hispanics make up 14.3 percent of the population and own 10.6 percent of the businesses. There is a 3.7 percent difference in both cases.

Half of Rockville’s immigrant population is from Asia, according to census results published by the City of Rockville in February.

Asian-owned businesses have recently been under the spotlight after NBC4 recorded an election victory speech in which D.C. City Councilman Marion Barry said that Asians in his ward operated "dirty shops" and "ought to go."

Barry's words—for which he later apologized, The Washington Post reported—underscored challenges faced by Asian business owners in the District.

Thomgekum overcame one of the most basic challenges for any business owner: Finding the capital to get started.

“It’s kind of difficult given today’s economy,” said Supreeya Buabuchachart, a waitress at the in Rockville who also is originally from Thailand. “You have to put down a lot of investments and I don’t have that kind of money."

With immigration comes particular challenges.

“I think it could be harder for immigrants to start their own business because they have to save all the money themselves,” said Thomgekum, who has not joined organizations like the Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce. He said he is more “focused on what we are doing here, trying to make the business better and give our customers good food.”

Buabuchachart doesn't see the path taken by Thomgekum as an option for her. 

“When it is affordable to start a business, I would probably own a franchise like 7-Eleven or a bakery shop or a Thai take-out restaurant,” she said.

A franchise is more stable and an easier way to make a profit, she said. The bakery shop or the Thai restaurant, well, she and her daughter just love to cook and bake.

“But it is an impossible thing,” she said. “It is a dream. We are old now.”