DANNIK: Leveraging Resources to Drive Growth
Medical Device Company Works with Florida SBDC at UCF to Access Capital and Drive Growth
August 17, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or HThayer@ucf.edu
John Hickle, Consultant, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4846 or John.Hickle@ucf.edu
Orlando, FL – Successful entrepreneurs, especially serial entrepreneurs who have started and sold multiple companies, recognize that taking advantage of available, trusted small business resources is a major key to success. Moreover, being adept at doing more with less is critical to squeezing every ounce of value out of those resources. Gary Haberland is just such a serial entrepreneur, having leveraged the multi-faceted resources – no-cost, expert consulting; business training; market research; and specialty services – available from the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) to his full advantage. This has helped him to successfully and profitably exit one company and to focus as co-founder, with wife Olga – the company president – on building a second venture: DANNIK, a multi-disciplinary product design, development, and medical device manufacturing firm.
DANNIK specializes in the design, manufacturing, and distribution of Class II patented USFDA surgical instrumentation used in the field of laparoscopic surgery. One of the firm’s most unique features is that it manufactures products that are used through cross-spectrum surgical specialties for general, gynecological, urologic, pediatric, and robotic surgeons not only in the domestic U.S. market, but throughout the global healthcare community. It is in robotic surgery where DANNIK distinguishes itself, however. “We can completely encapsulate the anatomy within the patient,” Haberland states proudly. “So it reduces the risk of fluids or cancerous cells from spreading out into the patients inadvertently. DANNIK stands alone within the clinical community being able to support that.”
DANNIK is not Haberland’s first entrepreneurial endeavor, and from early on he has engaged with the FSBDC at UCF to assist him. “The SBDC and myself and my wife have had a relationship since dating back to the early 2000’s,” he recalls. “The SBDC helped us in our prior company form international marketing plans, and cultivation of client leads and potential distribution channels. They provided many, many services and those experiences provided the blueprint for how we at DANNIK have worked with the SBDC today. I cannot even begin to extol the virtues of working with and taking advantage of the services and personal that work within the SBDC to support any company in any industry.”
Most recently, the Florida SBDC at UCF’s International Trade Services program has produced another international marketing plan for DANNIK that Haberland calls “an almost Pulitzer Prize” worthy plan. Of perhaps even greater significance for DANNIK, the FSBDC also assisted with access to critical capital. “The most recent benefit we had working the SBDC was with their consultant John Hickle on a multi-million-dollar SBA 7A Loan that we were able to secure,” Haberland remarked. That influx of capital enabled DANNIK to consolidate debt, purchase additional equipment, expand inventories, and add additional staff members. “Beyond the staff members we hired and the increased revenue growth that will come as a benefit of the loan, there’s the force multiplier that that goes out into the other manufacturers that we use as source points for raw materials spread throughout the United States,” Haberland continued.
In closing, Haberland added “I think one of the greatest misconceptions about the SBDC is that, because the cost structure is so low, the services are devalued because they are not as expensive as they could be or would be in the private sector. On the contrary, for me working with the SBDC staff has really been no less than a positive experience. When I think about the SBDC, if I were to encapsulate it into only a few words, it would be ‘fully capable, experienced mentor’. It’s truly like having additional staff alongside you on an as needed basis that carries with it a high level of competence and capability.”
For information about DANNIK, please visit https://www.dannik.us/.
— 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 2025, the FSBDC at UCF served 2,142 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 3,967 jobs impacted; $760.1 million in sales growth; $83.6 million in capital formation; $85.1 million in government contract awards; and 155 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com.
About the Florida SBDC Network
For 50 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 2025, the Florida SBDC Network delivered 112,158 hours of consulting to 15,439 small business clients – resulting in business owners securing $534.7 million in capital, $711.5 million in government contracting, impacting 18,334 jobs, increasing sales by over $3.4 billion, and creating 1,111 businesses.
With over 40 offices statewide, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Department of War, State of Florida and other private and public partners. Full funding disclosure available at www.floridasbdc.org/funding-disclosures/.
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
