Small Business Today Magazine SEP 2014 ELP ENTERPRISES | Page 8

Martha Ceballos ELP Enterprises, Inc.
Working Hard for Her Success,
Providing the Best Possible Service with
Integrity and Quality in All She Does
By Barbara R. Davis

Martha Ceballos has worked hard for her success. From the
time she began in business, she has been relentless in providing
the highest level of customer service. A firm believer in the old
saying, “Long after the price is forgotten, the quality of service remains”, Martha practices what she preaches. If one were to look
in the dictionary for the definition of quality and integrity, they
would likely see a reference to Martha!
Growing up as a first generation American in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida, Martha was the second to youngest of four children born
to her Cuban immigrant parents. Martha’s father had actually
fought against Castro and in 1960 (just before the U.S. severed
relations with Cuba) he immigrated to the United States with
Martha’s mother who was pregnant with their fraternal twins.
Martha’s entrepreneurial spirit was definitely influenced by
her father who was the mercurial entrepreneur. He was always
coming up with creative ways to support his family from owning
and operating a construction company to owning an ice cream
factory in South Florida. Who knew that one of his business endeavors would become such a catalyst for change in his daughter
Martha’s life!

Martha is extremely proud of her
relationship with the Houston
Minority Supplier Development
Council and to have been
honored as an “Emerging Ten”
recipient in 2013.
Photo by Gwen Juarez Photography
6 SMALL BUSINESS TODAY MAGAZINE [ SEPTEMBER 2014 ]

Due to the poor economy in Florida during the late 1970s,
Martha’s father moved to Houston and ended up working for
a trucking company. Martha reminisced, “He packed us up and
took us away from our lives in Florida and moved us into what
I called the foreign country. When we finally arrived, we were
shocked because we thought we were going to get out of the
moving van and onto horses! We had no idea that there were
cars here. We thought we were going to be riding in wagons and
on horses.”
Things were quite different in Texas than the lifestyle the family
left in Florida. No longer was Martha being isolated in the Latin atmosphere she had been brought up with in Florida where