An Enterprise Built on Faith

THE FOUNDATION OF THEIR FAMILY ENTERPRISE

Jeremy De Leon speaks about business the way some speak about calling with conviction, structure, and a feeling of responsibility that stretches outside profit margins.

Long before there was a holding company, multiple facilities, or international expansion, there was a family facing the 2008 housing crisis in South LA. “During the 2008 housing market crash, my sister and I were still living with our parents in South LA. We watched the economy collapse, and we were directly impacted when my father struggled to make his mortgage payments,” he says. What followed was not a carefully mapped-out entrepreneurial plan, but a decision. “My sister and I had to make a central decision to start working with my dad and join forces to find ways to make the mortgage payments. We did.”

Necessity sharpened his instincts early. “We started out of necessity. It was out of a need, out of a market crash. That was one of the things that ignited us to start a business.” That ignition would eventually grow into a diversified enterprise, but not before his faith was tested in ways that would permanently shape his leadership.

A tragic accident in 2008 forced him into a period of reckoning. “Even though I can now see God was with me, at that moment I could not see beyond my situation,” he says. In the middle of fear and uncertainty, he made a prayer that still defines him: “God, even if I’m mad at You and if I go to jail, I’m going to need You there. But if You give me one more chance, if You set me free, I promise I will do something significant for Your kingdom,” he says.

He was released. Soon after, an introduction to the scrap metal industry, a field his father had worked in for years, opened a door. “From that job, we started our first business.”

Eighteen years later, that first opportunity has evolved into a formal holding company with two primary branches: business and philanthropy. On the business side, scrap metal operations span four facilities. There is a real estate investment arm developing short- and long-term rentals in California, Oklahoma, and Guatemala. The portfolio extends into hospitality, logistics, and outsourcing. On the philanthropic side stands Cornerstone of Hope and the Faith in Business Expo, mentoring and funding young entrepreneurs through scholarships and Shark Tank-style competitions.

Growth, for De Leon, is never detached from belief. “You can only run a business once you have defined core values. Our values are defined by our faith. Our faith is everything,” he says. Those values guide expansion decisions, partnerships, and culture.

Ambition is present, but it is measured. “To operate at a high level, you need confidence. But the balance comes from humility.” He sees leadership less as ownership and more as stewardship. “It’s not about me. It’s about a group of people aligned around a vision that goes outside financial goals and is purpose-driven.”

That vision is generational. “Business is our platform and place of influence. But our faith is the reason why,” he says. The goal is sustainability, something that remains after the founder. “One of our biggest phrases is that we don’t want to leave this world without being everything God has called us to be.”

The beginning may have been ignited by necessity. The scale may now be impressive. But the throughline remains unchanged, enterprise built on conviction, structured by values, and powered by faith.

By Marianna Garcia