While on a business trip in 2006, Juan Yepez ’95 got some news no entrepreneur wants to hear: A local river was rising, threatening to spill over into the city that serves as home base for his young company.

It was the worst flooding the Merrimack Valley had seen since March 1936. Yepez’s independent distribution company, Mainstream Global, lost a large portion
of inventory and sustained damage to its newly purchased office and warehouse building in Lawrence, Mass.

“It was devastating,” says the former Marketing major. “To think of everything you’ve worked hard for . . . and there’s a chance you might lose it all.”

The company that Yepez founded in 2000 specializes in buying and reselling excess, obsolete and discontinued computer- and consumer electronic-related equipment. He partnered with brother Luis in 2001 and, within five years, they had built Mainstream Global into a $6 million business with 18 full-time employees.

The flood was a significant setback, but giving up was never an option. “I couldn’t — not only for myself and my family and my brother and his family, but for the families of our employees,” Yepez explains. “You’ve got people relying on you.”

The alumnus and his team threw themselves into action: calling suppliers, securing a temporary warehouse in a different location, and contacting customers to ask for patience while the firm scrambled to obtain new product and fulfill orders. They also applied for and received a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan designed for companies affected by natural disasters.

“It took us nine months to a year to somewhat recover,” Yepez says. “You never fully recover. The assistance from SBA is a loan, not free money. So that loss is a loss; we’re always going to have it. But thanks to the SBA, we got a boost to figure out how to keep going.”

Today, Mainstream Global has nearly 40 employees and approximately $10 million in sales. The Yepez brothers have moved into the local real estate market as well, purchasing 450,000 square feet of space to develop in Lawrence.

In May, the SBA honored Juan and Luis Yepez with the 2009 National Phoenix Award for Small Business Disaster Recovery, citing the courage and resourcefulness the brothers displayed in the aftermath of the flood.

Juan Yepez, who credits much of his entrepreneurial know- how to his Bentley education, feels very fortunate. “We are honored and blessed to be recognized with the Phoenix Award,” he says. “We know there are probably many other deserving companies.”