Joshua Williams was still working full-time hourly when he started his medical manufacturer business.
"Literally six and a half years ago, I didn't know anything about the industry," the founder and CEO of SurgiHealth Solutions said.
Williams, 32, was born and raised in Cincinnati and went to the University of Cincinnati for pre-med, which was his first introduction to the health care industry. He wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon.
Williams said he has always been entrepreneurial, and when he was working in a hospital, he started talking with his coworkers about the medical supply industry.
In February 2014, he founded SurgiHealth solutions, a Cincinnati-based company that sells a variety of products to hospitals. Products include brushes and other cleaning supplies for disinfecting medical equipment in hospitals.
In November 2014, Williams traveled to different hospitals in Ohio as a working technician for a few years. He did this to see how each hospital operated in terms of ordering products.
SurgiHealth didn't immediately take off. Williams was only told "no" for about the first year of trying to sell products to different hospitals. At this point, Williams said he was committed with about $40,000 of his own money. He said he didn't take out loans or raise any money
But then he got his first yes. It was only for one product, but that one product meant that the company was a registered vendor. Then, other hospitals started to say yes to Williams' pitches.
For about four years, Williams was the only person working for SurgiHealth.
Hospitals weren't used to a CEO of a manufacturers be selling them products, Williams said.
People in the industry told him his business wouldn't work because this model was not how many medical companies start. But he persisted.
"I was beyond all in," he said.
Williams wanted to prove to himself that he could get into the medical industry and have a successful business.
When he started selling products, he said, his biggest issue was that he wasn't innovative enough.
The hospitals that he was pitching his ideas to had already been purchasing the same products that he was trying to sell. So, he had to come up with something new.
He started with selling to local hospitals in the Tristate area, then to other medical facilities in the state. Now, SurgiHealth sells to hospitals in most states and is working to distribute to all of the U.S. and then look toward international business.
When he was getting the business on its feet, Williams said, the biggest issue he faced was not being taken seriously. He partially attributes this to having a new, small business, as well as being a minority.
Williams said that when he looked for minority-owned medical manufacturing businesses, he couldn't find many. In the future, he wants to be devoted to helping individuals and other minority-owned business within his own industry.
In a note on the company's website, Williams wrote, "SurgiHealth Solutions has and will always stand for equality, racial justice, and change. As a member of the black community, I am invested in the mission for equality and the rebuilding of our communities both locally and nationally."
The Enquirer is partnering with the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber on this Minority Business Spotlight series. This is the third of 12 stories that will appear on Cincinnati.com and The Enquirer. Videos and photos for the series were provided by Rooted Creative for the Cincinnati Minority Business Collaborative.
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