Since COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year business owners, medical personnel and specialists everywhere banded together in hopes of bringing the larger population to safety with the recent surfacing of the protective respirators and surgical masks.
Recognizing the importance of using personal protective equipment, a lot of distributors have shifted their efforts to manufacturing or sourcing overseas to meet demands.
One of the biggest distributors in Atlanta, is a black-owned company, S.K.B. ROBES LLC.
As some of the youngest entrepreneurs in the field, (26 and 24 years old) brothers Dave and Ricky have already managed to secure a 2.3 million dollar contract to distribute dust masks and PPE equipment, contracts with Meadows Regional and more – turning their once sponsor based company to one that’s playing with the big leagues of Big Pharma.
S.K.B., the acronym for “See More, Know More, Be More.” was built upon the premise of giving back to low-income communities, underprivileged youth, and minority owned businesses, procuring growth of community leaders and intellectual thinkers. As forward-thinking speculators, the switch to the reported multi-billion industry was innate nearly instantly as the news broke.
First stop was in innovating the equipment through the experience of their clothing factories and then proceeding to get the orders to the right, uncharted places – gas stations. From the end of February to the start of April, S.K.B. distributed 250,000 dust masks to a clientele of 10 gas stations on consignment, generating revenue of $625,000. As the pair hit the local Atlanta area, the original consignment engulfed something even larger than they anticipated at the early stages, a contract with numerous buyer groups domestic and abroad. As supply was made, so was the demand.
As community crusaders and first generation immigrants, Dave and Ricky are starting their own type of revolution that preserves S.K.B’s initial commencing motto of supporting poverty-stricken families and minority groups. When the company was founded, it was an athletic sponsorship company focused on providing properly equipped uniforms to impoverished schools, making the school system their top priority.
They spread the word of encouragement beginning with a 10,000 mask giveaway to the homeless prior to extending support to various causes including Black Lives Matter and educational reform. Having been successful over the last four years, S.K.B and it’s Founders continue to collaborate with Sprint to donate 10% of all gross earnings
S.K.B. Robes future is promising as they make their technology debut with the worldwide release of Trovar – a healthcare mobile app offering credible information on virulent pathogens and disease updates, mapping out hot zones and directing users to the nearest centers for testing. Like much to the rise and spread of the disease itself, many companies will aim to take charge in influencing and motivating others towards achieving operative first-response healthcare.
“What we’re doing is evolutionary. Our life mission is to become true philanthropists and help low-income communities and minority-owned businesses.”