78: After 14 years working in the pharmaceutical industry, Benita Kasbo launches a Syrian cheese company

Immigrant entrepreneur:	Benita Kasbo
Company:	Kasbo’s Market
Place of birth:	Syria
Employees:	0

Show notes

Benita came to the United States from Syria with her family. Her family came with very little when they first immigrated. They initially lived in a very small low income apartment complex. Her dad was a tailor, so he was able to secure a job fairly quickly, but her mom stayed home to take care of the kids.

So she grew up and got into the pharmaceutical industry where she worked for 14 years. She tried to launch her business 2 times. But when the pandemic hit, she couldn’t resist. On the third time, she finally launched her company, Kasbo’s Market where she makes authentic Syrian cheeses. She launched this all by herself, during the pandemic and was able to get everything off the ground in 3 short months.

Benita launched her business when she was 42 years old all while having 3 kids and a husband.

She’s determined to make everything work and has a huge passion and drive to bring authentic Middle-Eastern food to United States.

In this episode she shares everything she learned from how to launch a business to getting her cheeses into 3 stores in New Jersey.

Quotes by Benita

We only spoke Arabic at home.
Right before I was married I did think about starting a business, but I didn’t follow through with it.
There’s no space for ego or fear, you have to put it aside. Because, if you don’t, you’ll never get anywhere.
You have to ask for help, you have to reach out to people.
People will give you advice.
It’s so critical to keep pushing, to get the help that you need.
I’m cold calling stores to see if I can get meetings.
You can’t think of yourself as a tiny little dot in the universe.
You have to push through to make these things happen.
It’s never too late, you can always find a way.
It’s not possible for me to do it all, but if I can do something everyday that makes progress, I’m happy with that.
If you feel something so strongly, you have to go for it.
It was all of that immigrant fear that I had, that is what held me back from doing it.
When you don’t grow up with a lot you worry about every dime, every dollar and I just had so much fear.