In The News
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Imaging Spectrum Magazine, January 2005 Issue
Mission Possible:Cartridge Source of America, Inc.
Scanned Article (.pdf format)
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Group Lends Hand to Haitians
Delivery of water purifiers helps save lives
Water Purifying System (.pdf format)
Joe Hurston, President of Cartridge Source of America and Air Mobile Ministries, and Rolf Englehard, Inventor of the Vortex Voyager enroute to Haiti on September 23rd to deliver Life-Saving Vortex Voyagers.
Can be viewed with Outline or as a Slide Show using your mouse to navigate!
By John A. Torres
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Jungle outpost business prospers in win, win
situation
Cottage industry begins in a mud-hut village
By Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal
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Joe Hurston's office walls are covered with awards and appreciations from various businesses and dignitaries his company has interacted with over its short tenure. But it's an obscure snapshot that he's continually drawn to.
The photograph shows a simple work bench topped by a copy machine, tools and toner cartridge. Beneath the bench are boxes of empty, used cartridges.
It's a static image and it's not even framed. But to Hurston, the photo represents the birth of a business with potential to prosper, help families and support good works.
Hurston shot the picture eight years ago in Haiti, where he was serving as a Christian missionary. He and his wife, a nurse, helped run a school, operate a feeding program, offer nutrition and health services and engage in evangelism. Hurston, a pilot, also participated in hurricane relief and other transportation missions.
But it's the mundane things that make the more important accomplishments possible. And in the middle of the Haitian jungle, the outpost's well-used copier was about to run out of toner.
A new toner cartridge in Haiti cost about $250 - an impossible sum. Shipping one from the United States, even if Hurston could wait that long, was still pricey, at $140.
He researched the problem and learned about a company that sold a $599 kit that would enable him to refill cartridges himself. He decided to make the investment, and received a kit including a high-filter vacuum cleaner and special tools to work on the cartridge. He put the instructional tape into the video projector normally used to show the evangelistic "Jesus" film, and took four pages of notes.
Then he got to work. "I spit and sputtered and probably cussed a little," Hurston remembered. The he put the refilled cartridge back into the machine. It printed. "It was like a miracle."
Hurston got on the two-radio and called a larger nearby mission to report his success. Word apparently spread. Early the next morning, he awoke when he heard his dog barking at someone outside the mission office. When he opened the front door, he found a large box of empty cartridges on the front porch.
He took them to the work bench, realizing the significance of the moment enough to take the picture. He had found himself with a cottage industry in what he describes as a real mud-hut village in the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.
Hurston charged $50 for a refilled cartridge, clearing $40 to support his family - a godsend for missionaries who often live on donations. He traded cartridges for fuel, for hotel rooms for guests, and even for eggs needed for the bakery the mission ran.
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"It was a win-win-win-win situation. Everybody won," Hurston said. "I wasn't greedy, and it saved people a fortune."
He continued to operate the business until his wife, Cindy, began having complications with a pregnancy. After an emergency evacuation, she had the baby at a Central Florida hospital. The child, their seventh - the Hurstons also adopted several Haitian children - was treated for cardiac and respiratory distress.
"At that point, Cindy and I realized we were not going back to the mission field," Hurston said. The family had been staying with friends in North Brevard County, and so Hurston began investigating launching his business on the Space Coast.
The result is Cartridge Source of America, a Titusville firm that employs 25 and forecasts annual revenue of $1.2 million to $1.5 million this year.
That revenue represents a doubling from last year because of a contract with United Space Alliance at Kennedy and Johnson space centers. The company matched last year's revenues by June 2003.
CSA's revenue bar chart shows steady increases since its start in January 1998, and the company has been profitable since 1999. Hurston doesn't see the success as just numbers. "This really almost brings tears to my eyes," he said, looking at the firm's progress.
He continues to see God's guidance in the building of the company, such as when CSA missed the opportunity to go public and avoided the fate of other small over-the-counter stocks that folded, and when retired NASA engineers became available to lend their expertise to the company's processing structure.
The company is looking at expanding into a new, larger plant to accommodate growth from an added business source: In addition to refilling toner cartridges, the company is starting to refurbish and sell printers.
Some of CSA's cartridges are sold through office products giant Boise Cascade. Boise hooked up with CSA after Boise clients at NASA and the U.S. postal system suggested an alliance to their supplier.
That's concrete evidence of CSA's good relationship with its government customers, said Mark Heuer, federal business manager for Boise Cascade Office Products. That, along with the high quality of the company's product, are key to CSA's success, he said.
Heuer, who also teaches at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., has worked with Hurston as a guest lecturer in his classes. The entrepreneur demonstrates to the students how economic success can be used to support social good in a community, Heuer said.
CSA works closely with Brevard Job Link to provide employment, and Hurston continues to participate in natural disaster relief and contribute to other charitable causes.
"He has developed a reputation for supporting the community," Heuer said of Hurston. "By doing that he develops a reputation for trustworthiness. We want to work with someone we can trust."
Hurston, 52, points to what he describes as a dramatic conversion at age 21 as a defining moment of his life. The years before were marked by struggle: He left a difficult home life at age 13 and supported himself through high school. After his religious awakening, he worked for an evangelist in his home state of Louisiana until sensing a clear call to minister in Haiti.
Today, Hurston plans to grow the business beyond the proposed 12,000-square-foot Titusville plant. He sees multiple plants around the country and overseas, as well as distribution centers in the Caribbean.
"I started this company in one of the hardest places on earth. If I can make it work there, I can make it work anywhere," he said.
On the Web: www.cartridgesourceamerica.com
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SUCCESS NEWS
South Florida District Office, 100 South
Biscayne Boulevard, 7th Floor, Miami, Florida 33131
Contact: Thaddeus Hosley (305)
536-5521, Ext. 167
thaddeus.hosley@sba.gov,
FAX: (305) 536-5058
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SBA Website: www.sba.gov
Titusville,
Fla. – Joseph Hurston started a small business in the heart of
Haiti’s political and economic chaos, during 1994. The outpost where he and
his missionary colleagues worked showing their love for God and providing
hurricane and famine relief needed replacement laser printer cartridges. Hurston
offered saying, “I can do that.”
The alternative was to attempt to import cartridges from the United
States, a process that would take far too long and cost too much. Hurston’s
plan was to rebuild the printer cartridges on-site to save money and time.
“I
sold my re-manufactured cartridges for about $50. The same item was available on
the local market for nearly $250 and in the United States for just below
$150,” Hurston said. “I’d even trade cartridges for eggs, aircraft fuel or
rooms at the Holiday Inn. The barter system is alive and well in Haiti.”
It
was definitely good business for Hurston and his clients. Recalling one of his
prominent customers, a large hospital, he said, “Purchasing their printer
cartridges from me must have saved them more than $20,000 each year.”
Once
the learning curve leveled, Hurston’s profits from selling the printer
cartridges to local hospitals, hotels and other small businesses were quite
remarkable. He said, “I became a local hero almost overnight.”
He
continued with the new venture while growing a family. In the mid- 1990’s, he
decided to add to the five children that he and his wife Cynthia already had,
adopting a Haitian baby girl they named Juliet. Ironically, Cynthia became
pregnant shortly after the adoption. The pregnancy was difficult for her. She
was flown from Haiti back to Florida to have the baby.
Both,
mother and son survived the ordeal. Hurston, considering the medical needs of
his family and the turmoil in Haiti, decided to stay in Florida. Together,
Joseph and Cynthia spent more than 35 years of their lives in the tiny Caribbean
nation. Therefore, leaving was not an easy decision for them to make.
The
decision agreed upon, he called on acquaintances and friends to invest in his
new company, Cartridge Source of America, Inc. The printer cartridge
re-fabrication business was incorporated in Florida in 1998.
Hurston, who has a transport pilot rating, still longs for the adventure of flying missionary flights; however, he finds solace in building a solid business. He will again fly, Hurston asserts.
The company is located in Titusville near the Kennedy Space Center, an
excellent location from which to market the benefits of his product to NASA.
Growth came quickly for Cartridge Source. During its first year, the business
employed 5 people and grossed about $100,000.
“Fifty investors had faith in the my business concept and put their
money on the line. But, there came a time when I needed capital to continue to
expand the business, but not from investors,” he said. “That’s when I
sought out the SBA (U.S. Small Business Administration) for financing.”
Impressively, after 10 days from the initial contact with Riverside
National Bank, Hurston received proceeds of $150,000 from a loan secured by the
SBA.
The SBA’s 7(a) Loan Guaranty is the
agency’s primary loan program and generally is used to meet the varied
short-term financing needs of small businesses in the start-up and growth
phases. Under 7(a), the SBA guarantees loans to small businesses that cannot
obtain financing on reasonable terms through other channels. The program
operates through private-sector lenders who provide loans that are guaranteed by
the SBA.
Hurston’s loan guaranty was approved under the SBA’s LowDoc program.
The U.S. Small Business Administratio (SBA) Low Documentation (LowDoc) Loan
Program features an easy one-page application and a three-day turnaround on the
loan guarantee decision on loans guarantees up to $150,000. LowDoc was
introduced as a pilot program in 1993 to simplify the application process for
small business loans up to $100,000. In 1998, SBA implemented a 36-hour
turnaround for complete applications and raised the maximum loan guaranty amount
to $150,000. For loans up to $50,000, the SBA only requires the lender to submit
a one-page application.
SBA can
guarantee up to 85 percent of the loan amount up to $150,000.
“The loan was approved at a critical time,” Hurston
said. “The business was experiencing exponential growth. We had the business
experience and an excellent business plan. We were committed to growing the
business gradually and thoughtfully, based on solid business fundamentals.
Everything was moving very quickly. We knew that we needed to slow down to make
sure we were building a strong company.”
Hurston’s SBA guaranteed loan also kept him out of the
clutches of investors and provided him with a burst of confidence. The loan
financed the completion of a production plant construction project. The facility
was critical to Cartridge Source of America’s expansion.
Perhaps as important, Hurston said, “Getting the SBA
financing provided a psychological benefit. The U.S. government was willing to
back a loan based on my business idea. That meant that our business plan was
more than a clever idea.”
The Hurston approach to business development and growth is
apparently effective. He currently has contracts to provide a significant
percentage of the printer and copier cartridges to the Kennedy Space Center, all
of the U.S. Post Offices in Florida, with expansion into post offices throughout
the Southeastern United States. Plans are underway to build new facilities in
Atlanta, Ga., and another in Huntsville, Ala. Another SBA guaranteed loan,
Hurston hints, may be involved in this latest expansion.
The Cartridge Source in Titusville has more than tripled the
number of employees, from 5 to 16, in four years. Gross sales have also
increased dramatically, climbing from $100,000 in 1998 to an impressive $1
million projection in 2002.
Just being in business beyond the four-year point is a
milestone, Hurston said. He will continue to oversee the growth of the company,
and figure out how he can again fly a few missionary missions.
For more information about Cartridge Source of America,
Inc., call (321) 267-7726.
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The SBA, founded in 1953, is chartered by
the U.S. Congress to champion the cause of small businesses. SBA helps people
start and build viable businesses that create jobs and strengthen communities.
The South Florida District Office, based in Miami, provides SBA programs and
services to the business communities in the 24 counties primarily South of
Orlando. For more information call (305) 536-5521 or visit the SBA Website at www.sba.gov.
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Revised:
January 19, 2008
