From Finances to Food Truck

Patricia Barrios from Venezuela

Patricia Barrios, moved to the Netherlands, from Venezuela in 2016. In Venezuela, she had been working as an accountant. After working for a while as an accountant at PwC in Antilles, she moved to the Netherlands with her family where she continued to work as a finance manager at a startup. However, currently Patricia along with her husband, is running a Latin food truck.

Patricia’s story

Patricia’s long-standing desire to start her own business led her to Itzinya. Having seen different companies from the inside as an accountant, and after having worked as a finance manager at a startup, her appetite for starting a business grew.  As Itzinya specializes in supporting migrants, she was attracted and joined the Startup Academy. It turned out to be a training program which was very practical and easy to apply right away to her own business ideas.  She enjoyed the practical sessions together and it was a pity that we had to move to online sessions because of the Covid outbreak.

Next steps

Nowadays Patricia is part time running a food truck with her husband. Following the Lean Startup principles; she wanted to start small and the food truck definitely is her MVP. Right now she is testing her menus and as she receives responses, refining them. Before spending money on a building or such, she wants to discover her customers’ demands and makes sure her business offers the value her customers are actually looking and willing to pay for. 

At the same time  Patricia is working towards a Master’s degree in Digitalization as well as an online Postgraduate in AI Business Application. This is a preparation for her future entrepreneurial adventures.

Right now, Patricia, along with her husband, is running the food truck over the weekends. However, she hopes that they can make the truck available for business every day at a fixed spot and observe the impact that has on the business. She uses creative methods, setting up experiments to understand the thinking of the customers better and add more value to them. The aim is to develop a franchise with one central kitchen. 

In addition to this, Patricia is also developing a business consultation and coaching start-up. She has already begun doing that, with her sister being her first client. This business would revolve around business coaching, venture capital and digitalization.

venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela is a country situated on the northern coast of South America. It is a federal presidential republic, consisting of 23 different states. Venezuela is photographically diverse, housing mountain ranges, river plains, tropical forests as well as coastal plains. Among all this also stands the world’s highest waterfall; the Angel Falls.

Along with its diverse geographical features, Venezuela is also an ethnically diverse country. The ancestry of most people living in Venezuela can be traced back to Europe, Africa and Native Indians.