A talent for recognizing opportunities and the flexibility to seize them are distinguishing marks of a successful entrepreneur. To help capitalize on these opportunities many entrepreneurs will seek assistance from Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers to help them realize their vision and meet the challenges that come with growth.

In the case of KMA Remarketing, the Clarion University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) was able to help the fledgling company get start-up capital, find second-stage financing as it began to take off, and, most recently, secure the capital needed for its latest and largest expansion.

The Clarion SBDC first worked with Dana Smith, president of KMA Remarketing in Dubois, Clearfield County, ten years ago when the business operated part-time out of Smith’s house. KMA began as a general buying and selling venture, but Smith and his partners, who all shared a background in health care, soon decided to focus their business on pre-owned medical equipment. At auction, the partners bought U.S. military medical equipment, unused but second- or third-generation technology, and then found overseas outlets for it.

With this decision to focus on pre-owned medical equipment, KMA Remarketing needed to finance the acquisition of warehouse space and a forklift truck. “When I first went to the Clarion SBDC to ask for help borrowing money and they said I needed a business plan, I said ‘a what?’”, recounts Smith. “I’ve since become a great deal savvier and KMA has grown and expanded into areas of the market that barely existed ten years ago. The Clarion SBDC has been a tremendous help all along the way.”

KMA entered the domestic market when Smith recognized the potential for growth there. Some hospitals and clinics, buying the latest technology, wanted to sell the still-functional equipment they were replacing, while other health organizations, facing tight budgets needed affordable and quality equipment. This move meant further expansion for KMA as it adapted to the needs of customers for support services. For example, refurbishing a hospital wing means that the hospital not only hopes to sell its used furniture, but has to find a way to move it out. So KMA developed a new specialty – logistics support. That, in turn, led KMA to develop two other areas of expertise: biomedical engineering and appraisal and liquidation services.

When the growing business needed second-stage financing, the Clarion SBDC helped Smith obtain capital through SCOR, a stock offering procedure that allows small companies to raise up to one million dollars. And more recently, through its economic development referral network, the Clarion SBDC played a key role in KMA’s getting $1.63 million necessary for a major expansion that included purchase of land, construction of new offices and storage space, and systems upgrades.

Today KMA employees 20 Pennsylvanians and is installed in new corporate headquarters with generous warehouse space and a biomedical engineering lab. With sales and services stretching across the country and around the world, KMA’s core business remains the sale of pre-owned medical equipment. As to the future, Smith has moved into internet sales via eBay and sees online catalogue sales as his probable next move.

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