Donna Anderson, an African American woman business owner came to Dallas SBDC for counseling in February of 2010 after her application to gain office space at the Dallas Business Incubator Center (BIC) was approved. She left corporate America after securing a small line of credit from a factoring company in order to start a trucking company. Donna started to visit Dallas SBDC with a goal of becoming a stable, innovative and growing woman owned freight brokerage firm. She was familiar with this type of business because her father supported her family as an independent owned truck operator.
She had planned her transition from corporate America to entrepreneurship by scaling down her expensive lifestyle to live in a modest apartment on a tight budget. As a result of her financial acumen, she was on her way to attaining her dream. Donna came in for regular counseling where she learned how to prepare for a business loan, how to grow her small business through acquisition and joint ventures, how to improve her knowledge through training and further build her network using the Dallas SBDC.
Through her established relationship with the SBDC, she was introduced to a trucking partner; they agreed to combine forces in order to bid on a large government construction contracts. Through this joint venture, they won a DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) and Trinity Transport Authority contracts. During the deal day event held at Dallas SBDC last August, she established relationships with a few bankers. With the assistance of SBDC, Donna found a small trucking company, that was on sale and she convinced the owner that she was the right buyer. She purchased the company in 2011 with the assistance of SBA loans and then renamed the company DNA Transcomp. She approached JP Morgan Chase and was able to secure an SBA loan for $315,000 and a line of credit for $20,000. The proceeds of the loan were used partly to acquire the company and to purchase 7 trucks and 10 trailers. She also hired seven employees and now project revenue of $1.5 million for 2012.
DNA Transcomp is now a full-fledged trucking company; the latter operates in all States and also handles international intermodal shipments.