The Story of Determined Entrepreneur, Marvin Gonzalez

Tonight, we feature a twenty-three-year-old entrepreneur from Orange Walk Town, who is pushing through to earn an income and support his family despite adversity.  For over a decade, Marvin Gonzalez was stuck at home, but he did not give up on finding a source of income. When he couldn’t find a job, he started his own business, which turns two in March. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

He’s the eldest of six siblings, the firstborn of a single mother and this is home for twenty-three-year-old Marvin Gonzalez and his family on San Jose Street in Orange Walk Town. Since the age of seven, Gonzalez has been living with a disability, following a surgery. 

Marvin Gonzalez

Marvin Gonzalez, Entrepreneur

“When they, she operate me, she touched my leg nerves so my nerves get weak. So that’s why I can’t walk by myself, normal.”

Due to his disability, Gonzalez was unable to complete primary school and even attend high school. He could not play outside and have fun as other children would. At fifteen, he got a handbike, which he used to go around the town, picking up bottles and whatever he could sell to help provide for his family. Then in early 2020, he was the victim of a hit and run, and his handbike was damaged. He later got a walker and has been using it to get around. Gonzalez says that a few years ago, a Good Samaritan gave him the support he needed and paid for him to enroll in the IT programme at ITVET Orange Walk.

Marvin Gonzalez

“I do my primary school, first walking. Then I had to take this operation and I didn’t finish primary school. I only went up to standard three. I couldn’t go to primary because I was disabled, I couldn’t even walk. I never got to finish primary and I neva gone to high school. I was able to go to the ITVET.  A pastor from here in Orange Walk and that night was a Christian concert. I don’t why I came to that thing and I told him that my wish, my desire is to go to that school to learn some computer and to do my jobs. He came to me like two or three months and he told me if I wanted to go to the Orange Walk ITVET. And I was so glad. So many people came to me and say Marvin I want to help you and disappear; never come again. So this person tell me this and I get so happy so that’s how I studied there two years.”

…but Gonzalez quickly found out that getting a job while living with a disability wasn’t easy.

Marvin Gonzalez

“I was called in a business place to work, but because of my disability they don’t accept me. They say that they don’t need me because I can’t move around. So when they tell me that, I get sad.”

…that rejection triggered Gonzalez to start his own business in March 2019, giving birth to Sugah Tech. 

Marvin Gonzalez

“My services is to repair computers, laptops and I do lee bit in printer service. If your printer is not printing, I do it too. I create websites, design websites too, service computers – if your computer is running slow. I clean it and service it. If your laptop needs to upgrade into any operating system, I can do it.”

This ambitious young entrepreneur wants to help others, like himself, who are not given equal opportunities.

Marvin Gonzalez

“Disable person, they don’t think they can do nothing. They can do everything. If they have the hands, they can see, they can talk and they can think, they can do anything they want. My wish and my desire and my dreams is to help, in the future, is to do my business big. I want to employ a lot of people that are disabled. That is my dream.”

Gonzalez says that he’s been informed that he has a ninety percent chance of walking on his own with therapy. And now that’s his new financial goal. Duane Moody for News Five.