SBDC Success Story
Leon Eastmond of EASCO Boiler Corporation
For 87 years, Leon Eastmond has owned and operated EASCO Boiler Corporation, the largest minority owned and operated steel boiler and tank manufacturer in the country. Situated in the heart of the Hunts Points Industrial Complex in the Bronx, EASCO has built a reputation for high quality products that are used in over 15,000 locations throughout the tri-state area including the new One World Trade Center, Trump Towers, Yankee Stadium, and NY Botanical Garden/Bronx Zoo. EASCO delivers more than just boilers. The business employs more than 100 in manufacturing positions, 98% of which are black & Latino, and provides re-entry opportunities and training for the formerly incarcerated. Leon has been working with Bronx SBDC Advisor Lourdes E. Martinez to raise a significant amount of working capital for business expansion and to sustain the firm. The challenges that EASCO faces are no different from any other manufacturing firm that maintains operations in the costly NYC landscape. To remain relevant, EASCO has evolved as its industry has moved away from heavy oils and into the natural gas arena. In 2013, EASCO completed an environmentally conscious project that is a model for the rehabilitation of heating and hot water systems in large residential and commercial complexes. EASCO’s success is due to an avid commitment to maintain the family legacy of high quality boilers and steel tanks, support the black and Latino communities in the Bronx, and evolve in an ever-changing market-place. EASCO exemplifies the best of minority-owned businesses: an idea ignited in the heart and mind of the senior Eastmond has grown into a passion for socially responsible entrepreneurship in current Eastmond generations that will inherit the business.
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