From Suds to Strawberries.

After surviving a kidnapping, a Colombian scion sells his family's business and starts a new life in the United States.

As AN UNSHAVEN ISAAC ROSENBERG stood blindfolded, hungry and dirty, he wondered what would become of his life in his native Colombia. The then-25-year-old was held in isolation for four months after being kidnapped from his home in Bogota in 1988. Finally, he "worked something out" with his kidnappers and was released. "It was a real turning point in my life," he says.

The following year, Rosenberg sold his family's decades-old soap-making business Elefante La Llave to Anglo-Dutch multinational conglomerate Unilever for an undisclosed amount. Soon after, Rosenberg headed for the United States to start a new life.

The 37-year-old Colombian is now building a new empire based on fruit and vegetables. His Miami-based company, Fashion Fruit, imports specialty produce--from asparagus to mangos to zucchini--from Latin America. The company operates the service year round, meaning New Yorkers can stir-fry fresh Guatemalan snow peas while snowflakes are falling outside and residents of arid Arizona can plop fresh raspberries atop their ice cream any time of the year. He expects his sales to approach US$10 million this year.

Starting over wasn't easy for the silver-spooned scion. As the heir to his family's multimillion dollar soap business, Rosenberg had lived a privileged life up until his kidnapping--a U.S. education (at Northeastern University in Boston), a big house in Bogota and all the other trappings of a wealthy Latin American. "I was never that motivated in school because I had my life already planned," he says.

The plan included taking over the family business that had its roots in Moldavia before World War II. Rosenberg's grandparents launched the business in the 1930s, building it into, a sizable operation until the Soviets invaded the small European country and confiscated the family's factory.

Caught between communist repression and a possible Nazi invasion, the Rosenbergs fled Europe. To obtain the necessary exit visa, the Jewish family traded its secret recipe for making soap.

The once thriving entrepreneurs boarded a boat headed for the Panama Canal in 1939 with nothing but a suitcase crammed full of clothes. The family landed in Panama, but the search for a suitable place to build a factory soon took them to nearby Colombia. The country offered a large population, strong dependence on imported soap and a more hospitable climate than that of steamy Panama.

Third generation, third country. Now, decades later, third-generation Isaac Rosenberg has repeated the past, following in his grandparents' footsteps by leaving his homeland in search of a better life. "I saw Colombia changing for the worse and I did not want to raise a family in that environment," he says.

Even after being kidnapped, the decision to leave Colombia was not as obvious for Rosenberg as it was for his grandparents. "It would have been much easier for me to stay," he says. "I was a big fish in a small pond. The banks knew me and doors would always open very fast."

Rosenberg's first destination was New York City, where he began working in 1990 as a research analyst at investment bank Westsphere Capital, which courted wealthy South Americans eyeing investments in U.S.-based start-up companies. While on a trip home to Colombia, Rosenberg made friends with one of the bank's clients who had a strawberry farm on the side. The client asked Rosenberg if he could find some buyers in the United States. "I found him buyers so quickly that he decided to hire me as a partner," Rosenberg says.

As he learned more about the produce business, Rosenberg recognized a niche market for specialty imports during the winter months stateside. He quit his job and started his own company, Fashion Fruit, in 1991.

It was hardly a cakewalk. While Rosenberg was able to fund the business with proceeds from the sale of his family's soap-making business, he had to arrange financing for growers in Latin America--which was difficult because many of them didn't have assets to speak of. He also had to hire marketing people in Miami who could woo longtime food distributors who already had steady suppliers. Then there were the years of overproduction, when his profit margins were squeezed. "Markets go up and down and I can't predict what's going to happen," he says.

The decision to leave Colombia is now paying off. He lives in a well-to-do neighborhood north of Miami, has an American wife, Deborah (whom he met at Northeastern), and loves his job. The company has grown from one employee in 1991 to 10 employees today. This year, he expects to bring more than 1 million boxes of fruit and vegetables into the United States, each carrying an average price tag of US$10 a box. He predicts the company will grow another 50% next year, as he works to expand his specialty produce to the Asian and European markets. He also plans on launching a Web site to tie into wholesalers.

Powdered milk and condos. Finding a niche was the key to success, Rosenberg says. "My father was involved in everything from the soap business to restaurants to real estate to distributing powdered milk in Colombia," he says. "Here, you cannot be a jack-of-all-trades; the market is too sophisticated for that."

It also helps to have good relations with your suppliers. "We chose Isaac because as a Latin, he speaks our language and understands our needs," says Antonio Maldonado, who has his own snow pea-growing business in Guatemala and sells most of his produce through Rosenberg. "We depend on him to get our products sold in this extremely competitive market."

Rosenberg is now focused on building his business and identifying new opportunities throughout the region. His most recent adventure included a trip to Havana last April with the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization to meet with government officials and make contacts in preparation for a post-embargo Cuba.

With the U.S. government's softening stance on Cuba, opportunities for food and medical imports to the Caribbean island continue to emerge. Rosenberg acknowledges that a Cuba without barriers would do wonders for his business. But he makes clear he would not export products from Cuba. "The fruit there is no good. Cuba lacks pesticides, it lacks resources, it lacks everything," he says.

Instead, if the embargo is lifted, Rosenberg envisions shipping fruit and vegetables to tourist spots on the island. With nine years of experience under his belt, Rosenberg is confident he can meet the often capricious needs of foreign tourists in Cuba. "Europeans will only eat white asparagus and Americans won't eat strawberries unless they're bright red," he says.

What's the biggest difference between doing business in the United States versus Latin America? "[In the United States] you make it because of who you are, not because of what your last name is' he says. Given what he's managed to do in such a short time, he's obviously adapted quickly.