Local woman joins million-dollar pledge
Local woman joins million-dollar pledge
July 30, 2007
JAN NORMAN
Register writer
The Orange County Register
Shaparak Kamarei and Marjaneh Hedayat have a goal for their business, Solaris Laser Institute, headquartered in Mission Viejo, that just became more attainable thanks to a national program to build up companies owned by women.
The pair was selected in June as one of eight winners in the latest round of Make Mine a Business.
The program is a cooperative effort of the New York-based Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence and OPEN from American Express.
The concept is to provide the technical and financial tools to propel women-owned businesses beyond annual revenues of $1 million. Currently only about 3 percent of women-owned businesses have reached that milestone.
And that is the goal of Kamarei and Hedayat, both medical doctors.
"They are a good example of people who have a vision, keep taking steps toward it and enlisting other people to help make it reality," said Count Me In founder Nell Merlano. "The program is designed for women who possess the potential to change their lives and impact the national economy."
Orange County has had two previous winners: Bonnie Plotkin of 1st Class Bail Bonds, Huntington Beach; and Vanessa O'Neil of Cedar Spring Inc., an Irvine medical distributor.
To apply, the business must be at least two years old and have at least $200,000 in annual revenues with the ability to grow to $1 million, and the owner must have four years of business experience, Merlano said. Thanks to AIG Insurance, Count Me In has started a second program, Micro to Millions, for women-owned businesses with revenues of less than $200,000.
Make Mine a Business winners receive business mentoring from the Count Me In consultants and local coaches, opportunities for micro-loans from Count Me In and lines of credit from American Express, and business management software from Intuit. Two winners in the latest round will be selected for a $20,000 Cisco telecommunications package.
The prizes are better than cash awards, Kamarei said. "If I received cash, I wouldn't be as appreciative. We would eat through money in the business and still be in the same place mentally."
Kamarei's business quest began after the birth of her third child in 2002. She wanted a job in medicine that didn't require her to be on call nights and weekends, so she could spend more time with her family. She couldn't find one, so she opened a private medical practice in Mission Viejo.
It's as slow and difficult to build a medical practice as it is any other small business. A business consultant suggested Kamarei lease a laser machine to remove hair as an add-on service.
The process works best with people who have dark hair and light skin, so Kamarei heavily marketed in Iranian, Hispanic and Greek ethnic communities.
"These groups are close-knit; they like to refer their friends to products and services they like, and they're loyal customers," explained Kamarei, who was born in Iran.
Laser hair removal soon dominated Kamarei's practice. She opened a second office in west Los Angeles in early 2005 and a third in Dallas earlier this year.
Why Dallas?
Kamarei's close friend Hedayat lives there and agreed to partner with Kamarei to form Solaris Laser Institute as the management company for a chain of centers nationwide. They haven't decided whether the centers will be franchised or corporate-owned.
Kamarei learned about the Make Mine a program at a women's business forum last fall hosted by Irvine-based Entrepreneur Media.
"I went online and downloaded the application. Then it sat in my in-box for a couple of months," Kamarei said.
Two weeks after submitting the application in March she had a phone interview and two weeks after that she was invited to be one of 15 finalists to pitch their companies at the June program in Atlanta.
Kamarei and Hedayat have a clear vision, but were initially afraid to say it during the judging out of fear of being laughed off the stage. But coaches who worked with them the night before the judging told them to go for it.
"We want to open 20 centers in the next 18 months and 100 within five years," Kamarei said, and then hesitated before explaining the rest of their plan: multi-purpose medical clinics for the working uninsured subsidized by the laser clinics' profits.
Whether the whole vision comes to pass remains to be seen, but Solaris is likely to be a quick success in the Make Mine a program.
Its revenues for the first six months of 2007 were $459,000 with the Dallas office open just two months.
Kamarei is confident Solaris's annual revenues will exceed $1 million, "though I'm not sure without (Make Mine a ) help we would be there this year."
Get regular small-business updates at Jan Norman on Small Business at ocregister.com/jan
Contact the writer: 714-796-7927 or jnorman@ocregister.com
Copyright 2007 The Orange County Register
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