It all started as an experiment in a garage, just like other great American companies like Apple and Amazon. This enterprise was born in the poor neighborhood of Gulfgate in southeast Houston, where a young immigrant in the country’s most diverse city dared to pitch his dream to the giant corporations in the oil and gas capital of the world.

The dream became Piping Technology & Products, the largest pipe support manufacturer in Houston, founded in 1975 by Durga Agrawal, who had just earned an industrial engineering doctorate from the University of Houston.

His is among more than 131,500 businesses in the Houston metropolitan area owned by foreign-born immigrants, according to a recent study from the New American Economy, a bipartisan research and advocacy organization headquartered in New York. The report provides evidence of how immigrants’ entrepreneurial spirit combined with nurturing government and community programs produces a positive economic impact for the Houston region.

CUTS: U.S. sees sharp drop in "special immigrant visas," usually for wartime aides

Born in the small town of Lakhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, India, Agrawal came to the U.S. to study on a scholarship from his country’s government. Even with his graduate education, he couldn’t find a suitable job, so he decided to create his own.

He piled up a few tools in the garage, where he began to work without pay for a senior engineer from a renowned chemical company.

Eager to get a paying contract, Agrawal improved his client’s project with an innovation that allowed faster and more flexible production and implementation. Soon enough, the young man convinced the engineer that his design was better. Then, he got his first contract with Dow Chemical.

Agrawal is among the 1.6 million first-generation immigrants in the Houston region who pump $12.7 billion in taxes to the local, state and federal governments and inject $38.2 billion in spending power into the region’s economy, according to the report, which is part of a project mapping the economic contributions of first-generation immigrants in the United States.

Houston tops the state with the highest foreign-born population and economic output in taxes and spending power among all Texas cities. Dallas follows with 1.3 million immigrants paying $9.6 billion in taxes and spending power of $30.4 billion.

“In Texas, and particularly in the Houston metro area, immigrants are playing a critical role in driving economic growth,” said Kate Brick, director of state and local initiatives at New American Economy. “If you think about entrepreneurship, immigrants are over 53 percent more likely to create businesses in Houston than the native-born population; this is especially acute in Houston compared to other cities.”.

Their impact has a ripple effect on the local economy.

“We are continuously pumping money in the economy since we purchase all our raw materials and packaging from local companies,” said Stefano Zullian, co-owner of Houston-based Araya Artisan Chocolate.

MOVERS: Two of every five Fortune 500 companies founded by immigrants, their children

Zullian, with his wife Carla Sisi and sister in law Silvana Sisi, founded their businesses in 2010 after identifying a shortage of locally made chocolates, like the kind popular in their native Venezuela.

The South American nation is one of the largest producers in the world of a rate and among the finest cocoa beans, called Criollo. The family uses it in many of their chocolate and creamy ganache creations, known for their colorful presentations and unique exotic combinations of flavors that include chipotle, Tequila, mango and Habanero pepper or passion fruit, among others.

Besides the niche that they identified to open their chocolate business, other vital elements attracted them to Houston, icnluding the city’s diversity and the wide array of support provided to entrepreneurs.

“The Houston community is very welcoming,” Zullian said “They’re used to diversity and many had the opportunity to live abroad and interact with different cultures.”

He explained that organizations such as SCORE and the University of Houston’s Small Business Development Center are eager to help immigrants. “The support of talented and experienced professionals here in Houston has made a big difference for us,” Zullian said.

The Cities Index of the New American Economy, published earlier this year, gave Houston the highest possible score for government leadership welcoming and creating programs for these communities. Advocates say the city in turn benefits financially from their contributions.

“Here we find many possibilities, there are many opportunities to open businesses and a lot of support both from the (city) government and from non-profit organizations that are helping immigrants to be successful,” said Diva Herazo, CEO of Biomedent, a mobile and on-site dental services company in Houston that she founded with her husband, Dr. Jose Habib.

Herazo, who is from Colombia, believes that immigrants are more inclined to open businesses because “we have a great desire to get ahead; we come precisely to improve our opportunities.” Unlike the native population, “we really have to start in a new country from scratch; we leave many things behind, family, culture, and it’s very difficult, so we come with a strong drive to have the world in our hands” she said.

In that struggle, “Your many needs force you to invent things that you never thought possible; it forces you to discover abilities that you did not imagine you had,” said Herazo.

The innovative model of Biomedent came from that eagerness to find opportunities. They bring mobile dental services to companies and organizations’ locations. And “both employees and employers love it,” she said.

She explained that many people lose free basic dental services like biannual cleanings paid by employers provided insurances, either because they didn’t find time to go to the clinic or other reasons. “We go and do it in 30 minutes on the spot and they nor the employers have to lose a half day of work in dentist appointments. It’s a win-win situation, and we are the only ones doing this” in Houston, she said. Their clients include the Houston Independent School District, the City of Pasadena and the University of Houston-Downtown.

When entrepreneurs are successful, they are able to volunteering with nonprofit organizations and give back to their communities in other ways.

Agrawal, for example, is a member of the UH System Board of Regents and is a founder, together with his wife Sushila Agrawal, of the Janmashtami Celebration in Houston, one of the most popular Hindu festivals in the world.

“People from all over the world make Houston their home,” said Agrawal, who calls the city his own. “Here you can achieve any goal you set your mind on with hard work, persistence and determination. Just don’t give up!”

olivia.tallet@chron.com

Twitter.com/oliviaptallet