GTI Finds Needed Resources, Spurring Rapid Growth
Atmospheric Effects Technology Company Benefits from FSBDC at UCF’s Advisory Board Council Program
May 25, 2022
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 – Small- and medium-sized businesses rarely have enough resources, whether it’s a shortage of people, capital, or even time. Obtaining and nurturing growth typically requires continuous, substantial support, however, so finding these necessary resources is an ongoing challenge for business owners. Such was the case for Tonya Oxford, owner and CEO, and her husband Tony Oxford, President of Global Technology Integrators, LLC (GTI), as they contemplated their company’s future. It is also why they sought assistance from the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF).
Global Technology Integrators is a Woman-Owned Small Business with over 3 decades of experience solving complex problems with simple cost-effective solutions. GTI designs and delivers instrumentation, atmospherics, targetry and special effects products, including environmentally and physically rugged equipment used by the military for training and ingenious and unexpected scents and smells used by the amusement and entertainment industries for special effects. “This company is really based on the customer and what the customer’s needs are,” explains Tony Oxford. “We always say that knowing our products can save one war fighter’s life or create more smiles on an amusement ride makes it all worthwhile.”
“We originally looked for help from the FSBDC when our company was going through a transition,” recalls Tonya Oxford. “We had been using the FSBDC for a wide variety of services. I’ve taken training classes with them; they ‘ve done market analyses for us; we have relied on their consulting services, as well – all things that would have been cost prohibitive for us to do on our own but was offered at no cost by the FSBDC. It’s all been worth its weight in gold.”
GTI soon found that it needed additional – and different – assistance, however. Led by FSBDC consultant Sharon Smith, GTI enrolled in the FSBDC’s award winning Advisory Board Council program which provides no-cost, customized boards of volunteer experts specially selected to address the specific needs of the FSBDC client by providing advice and counsel to help the business grow. Here were the additional resources GTI wanted. “We were lucky enough to start our Board just prior to COVID,” says Tonya Oxford, “and they helped us figure out how to make it in the new world.”
“The Advisory Board is so unique because of the different people that they put in place – for us, a marketing specialist, an attorney, a CFO, small business owners,” Tony Oxford remarks. “Taking and utilizing all of their expertise really helped us move forward. They allowed us to drill down into our marketing and sales, our finances, our HR. We now better understand the risks versus the rewards as we move through our business. It has been a tremendous help and allowed us to have growth in our business that is unheard of.”
“When we started with the FSBDC’s Advisory Board in 2020, we were doing just over $1 million in revenues,’ Tony Oxford states. “Now we have grown to over $4 million – a 282% increase! We have gone from being a small government sub-contractor to now winning our first prime contract. We have gained some patents and expanded into the entertainment industry, and won some big contracts there. That’s the direction we’re going and, with the FSBDC to help us, we know we can continue to grow at an even faster pace.”
For information about Global Technology Integrators, please visit https://www.gtintegrators.com/ .
— 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 2021, the FSBDC at UCF served more than 2,700 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 8,200 jobs created, retained or saved; $1.5 billion in sales growth; $88.8 million in capital formation; $72.4 million in government contract awards; and 137 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com .
About the Florida SBDC Network
For over forty 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 2020, Florida SBDCs provided 162,519 hours of professional business consulting to more than 24,100 client businesses, resulting in almost 38,000 jobs impacted; $4.4 billion in sales generated; $488 million in government contracts acquired; and $553.5 million in capital accessed.
A statewide network of over 40 offices, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. 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 2016 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
