Photo by Jody Isaackson The Espinozas are proud of the award the Small Business Administration gave them May 11 recognizing their family business as The Minority-Owned Small Business of the Year. E & H Piping Services, LLC is based in Hanley Falls. Pictured are Heather, Sergio, Magaly and Emanuel Espinoza and company secretary Marco Perez.

HANLEY FALLS — Sergio Espinoza and his family are growing an award-winning dream-come-true business in the small town of Hanley Falls.

On May 11, the Espinoza family participated in a statewide recognition program held in Minneapolis and attended by such dignitaries as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and representatives from Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s and Rep. Colin Peterson’s offices. At this event, they were awarded a crystal-like trophy with their business information engraved on it.

E & H Piping Services, LLC had been nominated for and won the trophy for being the Minority-Owned Small Business of the Year.

“I’d like to thank God, my wife and kids to be able to achieve what we have today,” Espinoza said. “To be able to achieve what we have today, succeed in putting it together. I teach them (kids) how to work and that nothing comes for free.”

“More than 300 people were in attendance,” Magaly Espinoza said.

“With more than 500,000 small businesses in Minnesota, we are excited to take this time to celebrate the efforts of a few of the best and brightest,” said Nancy J. Libersky, district director of the Small Business Administration (SBA) Minnesota District Office. “In addition to all they do to help our economy and create jobs, our small businesses and business champions honored during SBA’s Small Business Week also go above and beyond to give back to their communities.”

E & H Piping Services, LLC was among those chosen for its success in starting a small business in Minnesota and for their efforts to give back to the community.

In addition to providing good jobs, E & H Piping makes contributions to its local fire department, church, school and other charities.

Espinoza and his wife, Magaly Espinoza, started the company in 2012. Each business also received an assistance from SBA’s resource partners, in the form of guaranteed loans, business training and consulting.

The SBDC, which nominated Espinoza for the award and is funded in part by the SBA, is hosted by Southwest Minnesota State University. It helped Espinoza by providing nearly 40 hours of free business consulting on topics such as business planning, financial projections and hiring employees.

“I started working in this line of work in 1992 because it was a good source of work,” Sergio Espinoza said, “but the idea and the preparations arose in 2007. At the time, I was working as a foreman with another company.

“My wife, Magaly Espinoza who is currently assistant manager, and I were going to Moorhead on our way to work,” he said, “when suggested that I start my own welding company, which I had worked on most of my life. At the time, I told her her idea was far-fetched.”

However, he went after his dream.

Today, the business is named after his children, Emanuel and Heather who also work for the business alongside Sergio and his wife, their mother, Magaly Espinoza.

E & H Piping Services, LLC was nominated by the Small Business partners who provided them with assistance in the form of guaranteed loans, business training and consultation and more.

“I had started work in the energy industry and thought it was a good source of work, so I stayed with it,” he said. “Right now, we have 30 people, and with the favor of God, we want to expand to other states.”

The company is currently working with many different clients in Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota, the Espinozas said.

E & H Piping Services, LLC offers a wide range of industrial maintenance services, including pipes, mechanical work, insulation, maintenance, scaffolding, industrial mechanical work, emergency repair and iron works — anything that can be stainless and carbon process piping for the energy industry, Espinoza said.

“Soon we will implement work with cranes,” Espinoza said, “because we have certified personnel in the service to operate cranes.”

Espinoza said that he likes to treat his workers well because he started from scratch.

Coming to the United States at the age of 18 to escape the Guatemalan Civil War, Espinoza first stetted in Texas before coming to Minnesota in 1991. He started as a laborer and worked his way up to foreman with another company, he said. That’s when he started dreaming about owning his own company.

In May 2012, he registered his business with the state, contacted the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for technical assistance and hired his first employee in 2014.

“I know that it’s a long and difficult journey to get where I am at this moment,” he said. “For this reason, I always try to pay (employees) according to their knowledge.”

The SBA report states that E & H Piping pays their employees wages from $20 to $30 per hour in rural Minnesota.

Being a minority owned small business has its challenges, but E & H Piping continues to meet those challenges and grow, the report said. Plans are in the works to create a welding workshop and explore additional markets in the year ahead.

To help with that, the company continues to work with the SBDC, this time on marketing and website development.