Amada Senior Care Orlando: Here to Help More Elders and Their Families
Growth Plan Funding Found and Facilitated with FSBDC at UCF Assistance
April 23, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or hthayer@ucf.edu
Sharon Smith, Consultant, FSBDC at UCF, 407.497.5933 or sharon.smith2@ucf.edu
Orlando, FL – Entrepreneurs who are navigating the early stages of building a business often discover that obtaining financing can become one of the biggest challenges to overcome. Lenders and investors want to see a track record of growing revenues and profitability before they will make capital available. Dell Gray, owner with his wife Veronica, of Amada Senior Care Orlando had successfully launched their licensed, private duty, in-home caregiving company in 2022. They were off to a good start and were growing and saw opportunity in expanding which would require additional funding. For assistance with finding financing and accessing such capital, he turned to the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF).
Taking a consultative approach to elder care and senior care services, Amada Senior Care Orlando provides well-trained and compassionate caregivers who are a perfect fit for their clients or their clients’ loved ones. While specializing in at-home care, the firm can also identify the best local senior housing options and offer supportive elder care management services. “We get in and do all the heavy lifting for the client. Our team of senior care advisors will provide expert guidance and emotional support throughout the entire process to give you the home care services — and the peace of mind — your family needs,” Gray states proudly. “
“One of the things we do for our clients that we’re really proud of is what’s called a ‘Benefit Review’,” explains Gray. Comprised of an in-depth overview of insurance coverage, client education, and benefit verification, followed by claims process management and acceptance of an assignment of benefits, clients are assured they or their loved ones will receive the full range of services they are entitled to, free from fear of benefit cut offs or other problems.
Dell Gray is also a savvy businessperson who quickly noticed growth opportunities via an expansion strategy. “When I originally came to the SBDC, we were essentially a startup. When we went looking for financing we found that, even with great credit, even with a phenomenal background in the industry, we were a new business and that makes it challenging to get access to funds,” Gray recalls. “I turned to the SBDC to help me get financing that otherwise was very difficult to get frankly. They pointed me in the right direction and helped me with expanding the company from a financial perspective.”
By assisting Gray with the full gamut of loan application preparation including a business plan review, market research, competitive analysis, loan package development, and capital access guidance, the FSBDC at UCF helped Amada Senior Care Orlando position itself for loan approval. “It’s been great working with the SBDC,” he claims. “They were able to help me get financing for a big project that we’re working on. Their consultants, including Sharon Smith, were able to guide me toward resources that paid off for me and, as a result, we are able to expand and potentially hire 40-50 new people this upcoming year.”
“To any entrepreneur who is considering working with the SBDC, I would say stop considering it and do it,” concludes Gray. “It has been for me one of the best business decisions that I have made.”
For information about Amada Senior Care Orlando, please visit https://www.amadaseniorcare.com/orlando-senior-care/.
— FSBDC —
About the FSBDC at UCF
Hosted by the University of Central Florida (UCF), and with its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of part of UCF’s Office of the President and the Florida SBDC Network.
The Florida SBDC at UCF provides aspiring and existing small businesses with no-cost consulting, low-cost training, and access to business data and research resources. In addition to its core service offering, the Florida SBDC at UCF also offers specialized services to qualifying companies, including capital access, market growth, government contracting, international trade, business continuation, cybersecurity, disaster planning and recovery, and more. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 9 service centers across Central Florida.
In 2022, the FSBDC at UCF served more than 2,700 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 10,600 jobs created, retained or saved; $793.9 million in sales growth; $66.7 million in capital formation; $103.8 million in government contract awards; and 160 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com .
About the Florida SBDC Network
For more than 45 years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.
In 2022, the Florida SBDC Network delivered 117,750 hours of consulting to 14,758 small business clients – resulting in business owners securing $446 million in capital, $445 million in government contracting, impacting 23,515 jobs, increasing sales by over $4.5 billion, and creating 825 businesses.
With over 40 offices statewide, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, State of Florida and other private and public partners. The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.
FSBDC at UCF | 3201 E. Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32801 | p 407.420.4850 | f 407.420.4862
sbdc@ucf.edu | www.sbdcorlando.com
