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Patriot Drug & DNA Testing
A Veteran Owned/Woman Owned Small Business
Headquartered in Chatham, VA

Patriot Drug and DNA Testing provides a recent example of how the SBDC network can help a new business navigate the myriad of start-up issues and develop an effective business model. Nancy Harms, and her husband William Holmes, business owners, worked with Diane Arnold, Branch Director of the Longwood SBDC Dan River, through the entire startup phase from concept to the actual expansion of their business concept “southward” to the Danville/Pittsylvania County area. Initially conceived as a Roanoke business, Patriot’s concept was changed in the planning process to include a headquarters in Chatham, Virginia and future field offices in Lynchburg, Virginia; and Mebane, North Carolina.

When Nancy and Bill came to the Longwood Small Business Development Center – Dan River in 2004, they started working with Diane Arnold, Branch Director on the initial business plan for a drug and DNA testing service.

Nancy credits Diane and the Longwood SBDC-Dan River with helping her establish the business:

“I didn’t know how to proceed with the new business. Diane and the Longwood SBDC provided direction as well as motivation. Diane helped me consider many different facets of the business opportunity.”

The business idea was a perfect fit with Nancy’s background as a registered nurse and years of managerial experience as a Lieutenant Commander of the U S Navy and with Bill’s strong financial training and military service as a Navy Corpsman. After considering initial information and business planning assistance provided by the SBDC, Nancy and Bill decided to start the business as licensed affiliates of AMCTI (American Medical Compliance Testing, Inc.) and proceeded with plans to purchase protected license agreements as collection sites for AMCTI.

The licensee agreements stipulated that the corporate clients of AMCTI would be serviced according to AMCT standards and charges and that the licensee holder would be allowed to develop local and regional clientele and use AMCTI’s facilities. With a corporate client list including such heavy weights as Lowes, SAMS Club, WalMart, Cingular, Verizon, Columbia Gas, MOST, and Halliburton, the Harms and Holmes decided to purchase two protected territories. Their plans grew to include a protected territory in Virginia that encompassed the Danville-Lynchburg-Roanoke area and one in North Carolina that encompassed the Greensboro Triad area. In doing so, they realized that they would need to expand their concept to several office locations.

While Nancy and Bill went through the AMCTI training program to become Certified Professional Collectors, Diane began mapping out the plan to acquire the necessary information for them to use in locating the first offices, marketing their new service, and calculating their expenses. Diane enlisted the services of a Longwood University SBDC student intern to develop business lists and locate the demographic information needed for this project. Diane and Nancy spent several days working to sift through the data and pull together the information needed to make the location decisions and finish the business plan.

After several business plan presentations to area banks, American National funded the project with an SBA guaranteed loan. Harms and Holmes began their new business in June of 2005 with services offered in Chatham and a collection office in Roanoke, Virginia. Their territory also expanded to encompass all of Virginia and North Carolina, with future sites being considered in both states.

Nancy continues to work with Diane at the SBDC for assistance on research and business planning. According to Nancy:

“The SBDC service didn’t end when we got our funding and went into business. Diane continued to help me along, providing research and information on classes and other sources of assistance.”

Patriot’s latest business endeavor involves offering advanced testing services in the form of oral fluid tests. A simple swab of the mouth can now be more accurate than a traditional urine drug test, which is sometimes easy to adulterate or falsify. The test uses saliva swabs to test for standard drugs of abuse as well as steroids and heavy metals. The oral fluid testing for heavy metals is an efficient and accurate alternative to the standard blood test required currently, such as for lead and mercury testing. The portability of the test allows Patriot to take the testing process to the customer instead of forcing workers or children to travel to a lab. The advantages of portability and ease are spurring demand from the Department of Transportation, Athletic Associations, and Government Health Agencies including the Centers for Disease Control. The exclusive right to service a growing area with leading edge testing technology positions Patriot Drug and DNA Testing to outpace their expectations for success.