Alumnus German Ochoa in the central kitchen of the product and development facility. (photo by Celina Flores)
German Ochoa (’22) wasn’t looking for a sign to tell him PSU was his perfect fit. But when he saw the pedestrian bridge with the words "Let Knowledge Serve the City" on the Portland State campus, he knew he was in the right place.
“I worked for two years without getting ahead, and I was determined to go back to school,” Ochoa says. “I learned first-hand that knowledge is power, so that sign was really meaningful for me.”
Venezuelan-born Ochoa arrived in Portland in 2014 after graduating high school. He had no family support and only $2,000 in his pocket. At the age of 20, the budding entrepreneur enrolled in the School of Business and discovered lessons beyond classroom curriculum.
“I’ve always had to rely on myself, but at PSU, I learned to ask for help and let others support me,” Ochoa recalls. “Many different departments in the business school assisted me. During the pandemic, one of my advisors helped me find scholarships and funding.”
Ochoa received a scholarship from the Center for Retail Leadership and other financial assistance. The political situation in Venezuela made it unwise for him to return, so he applied for refugee status and was able to complete college on in-state tuition.
Ochoa had a gift for sales, and a student friend from Argentina saw his talent. She and her parents thought alfajores (popular South American sandwich cookie filled with dulce de leche) would be a big hit in the U.S., and they suggested the four of them form a company to sell alfajores here. Putting his business knowledge to work, Ochoa researched the cookie market. He was excited to find a gap.
“Fifty million people in the U.S. are Hispanic, but it’s very hard to find a Hispanic cookie assortment,” Ochoa explains. "And the U.S. cookie market was predicted to grow an additional $2 billion by 2026, so it was a good opportunity."
In 2019, the four founders launched and developed the Woppa! brand for the alfajores.
Initially, the company sold their product case-by-case to convenience stores. But Ochoa had bigger plans. He pitched Woppa! to Albertson's grocery and landed a $34,000 contract. They needed to make the cookies locally to fulfill the whopping 20,000-cookie order. Production costs proved too expensive for the other founders, so Ochoa took over the business and secured a loan through MESO (Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon) to purchase equipment.
He seized the moment to re-assess the market.
“Coming in 2023, Woppa! alfajores will have a new gluten-free formula that will reach more consumers,” Ochoa says. “It’s a dessert you can freely enjoy and feel like it’s okay for your kids to eat too.”
Today, Woppa! is on the aisles of five major grocery stores.
While at school, Ochoa was a student board member on the Center for Retail Leadership where he met Jennifer Nolfi, the center’s Executive Director. Nolfi reached out to Kroger and helped Ochoa land an internship at Fred Meyer during his senior year, which became a full-time job upon graduation.
Ochoa was recently promoted to Assistant Category Manager, and he fuels his entrepreneurial drive as a part owner in two other businesses: an olive oil bottling line and a Columbian import coffee company. Busy with his full-time job and interests in other expanding businesses, Ochoa stepped back from managing Woppa! to give its investors more stake in the company. He remains a board member.
“Introducing new items into the market is what I’m good at,” reflects Ochoa. “As an entrepreneur, if you’re not moving forward, you get frustrated. My true career is innovating in the food industry. I’m a Woppa! board member, so my knowledge will continue to serve the company. And now, my knowledge will serve other ventures too.”