Engaging Entrepreneurs

Evan Porges and Patricia Villalpando Will Share Their Business Acumen and Expertise as Stanislaus State’s Inaugural Entrepreneurs-in-Residence

by Donna Birch Trahan

Evan Porges and Patricia Villalpando know what it takes to build and sustain a successful business from the ground up. Each of them has done so.

Porges served as president of Prime Shine Car Wash, a chain founded in the early 1990s by his father Norman Porges. Prime Shine grew to be the largest privately-owned car wash chain in California and the 15th largest in the nation before Mister Car Wash bought the company in 2018.

Villalpando served as chief operating officer and sales director for Paleteria La Michoacana, a Mexican ice cream company producing paletas, a frozen dessert.

Porges and Villalpando are joining forces to advise budding entrepreneurs who want to launch their own businesses. The two will serve as the inaugural Entrepreneurs-in-Residence as part of Stanislaus State’s Warrior Entrepreneur Initiative (WEI).

WEI is an ambitious program established by a $250,000 gift from the Porges Family Foundation. WEI is designed to provide inspiration, mentorship and financial support to emerging entrepreneurs as they strive to turn their ideas and concepts into new business ventures that can help grow the region’s economy.

“Patricia and I can bring some reallife experience to campus and to the students, and ultimately, that is what the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program is about,” Porges said. “Those of us who have started businesses have a multi-faceted background. Bringing some of our expertise to students is the ultimate goal.”

Villalpando says she believes students will be able to relate to her and Porges’ journey. But they won’t take on this work alone. The two plan to assemble an Entrepreneurs Council, which will consist of individuals who’ve successfully launched and operated businesses and possess decades of experience to coach and mentor students and community members.

“We want them to understand that where they are now, just getting started, is where we were 20 and 30 years ago,” Villalpando said. “Yes, it’s a long and difficult path, but you can get there. Nothing is impossible.”

After he graduated from Modesto’s Downey High School, Porges attended Arizona State University (ASU).

“I wasn’t a business major,” he said. “I just ended up in business.”

Being entrepreneurial is just something that’s ingrained in you. We build. We see. We’re visionaries.

- Evan Porges

While at ASU Porges attended talks and workshops by entrepreneurs who were invited to the University. “It was always fascinating to hear their stories,” he said. Now he’ll do the same. “I’ve come full circle.”

He found the anecdotes and expertise valuable, especially as his family was growing the Prime Shine business. After he graduated, Evan started as an assistant manager of their one site in operation, and he worked his way up the ladder, eventually becoming president after 20 years in the business. He amassed real-life experiences and knowledge during a 30-year career — one with highs and lows, of being told no, overcoming obstacles, navigating public agencies, managing employees, handling accounting, marketing and development.

“Being entrepreneurial is just something that’s ingrained in you,” Porges said. “We build. We see. We’re visionaries.”

Porges said the concept of bringing the private sector to campus to share knowledge and develop partnerships — was inspired by what he and his father experienced in college.

“It’s important for the local business community to be a part of educational institutions in the region,” Porges said. “I went to a big school where the university partnered with the private sector and the private sector partnered with the university. There was so much ebb and flow between the two.”

The Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program can foster those types of collaborations. “It’s part of the bigger picture to connect the business community to the Stan State community,” Porges said.

The first entrepreneur Patricia Villalpando knew was her father.

“My dad always used to say that he didn’t want to work for anyone,” she recalled. “He wanted to have his own business. Whether I realized it or not, that had a big influence on my mentality.”

When she moved to the United States from Mexico, Villalpando was young and curious about the world.

“Obviously, you come to the United States thinking this is a country of opportunities,” she said. “Here, people can make more money, and there’s an opportunity to get an education. So, in my mind, I felt like it was the right time to make something happen.”

One lesson she learned: challenges led to opportunities to be innovative.

“To be honest, when solving business’ problems, I cannot say I had this brilliant idea,” she said. “Every time we ran into troubles it was, ‘OK, how do we get out of this, and what’s going to work?’ At the end of the day, I was just trying to find a solution to a problem. To survive those challenges, you have to be creative. The struggle is what makes you stronger. It makes you look for answers.”

Villalpando didn’t have mentors or advisors to guide her through the early phases of her business journey, so she wants to give back by helping others.

“I didn’t have a mentor. I didn’t have someone who said, ‘Hey, do it this way.’ I want students to know that having an idea is just the beginning, and at the end of the day, it’s all up to them. They do have the potential to make an idea become a reality. Because if I did it, anyone could do it. There’s nothing special about me. We all have potential.”

Villalpando adds that to be successful, one needs to be realistic. It’s not about luck or being in the right place at the right time. Starting and running a business is an everyday fight.

“I want students to know that they have the potential, but they have to believe in themselves. Attitude is what’s going to make you either succeed or fail, and that’s not something you can teach someone. But we can tell them, ‘I’ve been there,’ and ‘I’ve done that, so don’t be afraid.’ If you have the courage to get up the next day and do it again, you’re going to succeed.”

Patricia Villalpando

We want them to understand that where they are now, just getting started, is where we were 20 and 30 years ago. Yes, it’s a long and difficult path, but you can get there. Nothing is impossible.

- Patricia VillalpanDo