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Small Business Spotlight: Ewerton Borges' American Dream Is Alive & Well

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Ewerton Borges considers himself living proof the American Dream is alive and well.

He came to New York City from Brazil, started out as a custodian, rose in the company, and eventually bought out a former competitor.

"Long story short, from cleaning floors, running machines, to fixing them, to learn the technical side, to learn the financial side – everything," he tells Joe Connolly. "That's what they call home grown."

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Borges now runs Spectra Polymers & Color on Long Island. It's part of the plastics industry – serving as sort of a middle man between the raw materials and final users.

After the company he started out with got acquired, he approached a former competitor.

"I went in and said, 'Look, can I see your machine?' And came out an hour later with a company," he says.

That was three months ago. Now, he employs eight of his own employees and has about 80 customers.

"The wave of the American Dream is back. I mean, I'm living proof of it," he says. "I believe that nowadays the industry as a whole has a different urgency and values. I firmly believe that it's not dead, by no means.

As a matter of fact, it's growing at a very fast pace."

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