Across Central Florida, the University of Central Florida is helping entrepreneurs get a leg up with starting and expanding their business.

  • UCF Business Incubator program funded by city, county governments
  • 140 companies being helped by UCF program
  • For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu/

“It’s not a one-size-fits all solution,” said Kayla Mitchell, who works for a company new to the U.S. and Central Florida called "Freshorize."

Up until 2012, they sold a three-in-one airline soap internationally, but after ten years of success overseas they decided to break into the U.S. airline market. They knew that would not be easy.

“The carriers are so much larger in the U.S. and it’s just a different game,” said Mitchell.   

The owner of the company, Aziz Patel, turned to the UCF Incubator Program for help.  

“We needed to immediately get started with U.S. manufacturing,” said Mitchell. “And that was something that the soft landing program helped us with, put in contact with manufacturers nearby, helped us negotiate terms, and basically create jobs for the local area.”

Already, Freshorize has created 44 jobs in Central Florida and they are just one of 140 companies now being helped at seven different locations by the UCF program.

“The incubator is really to create an environment to allow a company to grow and therefore create jobs,” said Gordan Hogan, the UCF Business Incubator Director.

From 2014 to 2016, 4,701 jobs have been created. Those jobs have created a $725 million cumulative impact on regional GDP and over $1.3 billion in regional sales. The program is funded by city and county governments.

Each company must apply and then get accepted into the program. Owners then take a class called Excellence in Entrepreneurship and, depending on their business needs, get enrolled into a program to help with their growth.   

It’s this set structure that helps almost all of the companies succeed.

“Our contacts at the soft landing program are helping us negotiate different cities, towns nearby,” said Mitchell.

She and her fellow employees are excited, because in the next week they expect to finalize a new major airline contract. This means more expected expansion for Freshorize and business in Central Florida.