Haji Baba Middle Eastern food restaurant and grocery store has been in Tempe, Arizona for almost 35 years.

Jennifer Dokes, for LISC Phoenix

Confidence, that empowering feeling of knowing, isn’t something you can take to the bank, but it certainly pays dividends for entrepreneurs pursuing their dreams and planning for growth. Hope Peshlakai knows her way around a kitchen. Give her a space to work her Navajo frybread magic and she is, as she says, “good to go.”

Maria Vega started off selling her Mexican sushi and snacks out of her home, and by posting on Facebook and going where there was an opportunity to sell in different locations throughout the valley.

For ten years Pescaderia has been a wholesaler of imported seafood to 17 local restaurants and two hotels.

For eight years Eva Rangel with Yerberia Sagitario, has provided the community with natural products; we carry encapsulated herbs and plants, also known as alternative medicine or natural medicine.

Born and raised on the Navajo reservation, where fry bread is a cultural staple for Navajo families, Hope has been in business for a very long time, doing catering and pop ups for about 10 years now.