SBA Success Story: KIHOMAC

My name is Kiyo Kan. I'm the founder and CEO of Kiyo Kan. — Our business engages in aerospace engineering and manufacturing for our various military and civilian customers. I decided to separate from active duty as I was turning major. I wanted to be an engineer again. I was able to join the Air Force Reserve and spent 10 more years as a reservist. And I accidentally stumbled onto starting a business that would provide the maximum flexibility to accommodate my reserve commitment. So when I founded the company in October 2003, I was able to offer services based upon knowledge that I gained while I served in the active duty Air Force. Essentially, system design, testing, and fielding of major aircraft weapon system and upgrades. Our first year's revenue was $140,000. I was by myself for about 2 years. We didn't hire an outside employee until year 2005. Customer needed additional personnel and they trusted that I could bring similar kind of expertise that they needed to take this program into production. My name is Scott Maryhew. I'm the chief of staff of Kiyo Kan. I joined the team in October of 2008. And we had about 40 people and three projects. We started transitioning from services work where we support the Department of Defense to prototype and reverse engineering work, small manufacturing jobs to where today we do large manufacturing. That led to where I'm sitting today in this 140,000 square foot manufacturing facility here in Layton, Utah. During COVID, as a defense business, we were required to stay open and operate as normal. Contract that would normally be issued would get delayed for 6 months to a year, which then slowed down our revenue stream. We were eligible for Paycheck Protection Program. If that wasn't available, we probably had to downsize at that time. But with the availability of PPP, we were able to keep that labor force intact. My name is Becky Gartner and I am the director of the Utah Veteran Business Resource Center housed at Salt Lake Community College. We provide entrepreneurial support for our veterans, active duty, reserve guard, and military spouses. The SBA does provide access to capital in many different forms, similar to what Kiyo Kan did with the PPP loan. There is disaster funding relief available, especially for military reservists who may have to get deployed to help them keep their business operations moving forward. Using PPP funds, we developed a product called aerial travel pod. And it is essentially designed to be able to carry support equipment as well as the pilot's effects when they're deploying. It would have taken another 5 years of development time to get to where we are today. And that's what PPP loan made possible. So in 2023, we decided to expand our manufacturing capacity down in Warner Robins, Georgia. And one thing about military aircraft is they tend to be pretty big and you need a lot of space to manufacture them. Our bank recommended that we pursue SBA 504 loan. Guaranteed a loan for $5 million of the overall project. The total project was about $25 million. And so we were able to secure a loan, $18 million for the entire project was secured through the 504 loan. Our office helps businesses access capital through connecting with SBA loans and other types of funding that's out there. Kiyo Kan was able to utilize the 504 loan to help them get to the funding they needed. There's a lot of different ways you can tap into the SBA resources, similar to what Kiyo Kan has done to grow and keep moving forward. — What you see in the back behind me is a medical imaging device. Our customer tried to build this overseas and could not get overseas manufacturers to meet the specification. But if you are used to building aircraft parts, we have to hit those level of tight tolerances all the time. That's part of our culture. Over the last almost 17 years, it's been an awesome journey with an awesome owner and the people that work for us. Our owner, Kiyo, is honest, ethical, and he's reinvested almost every penny we've made into this company. We now operate four manufacturing spaces as well as two office spaces. And out of 410 people, 35% of our employee base are veterans. We're hoping to hit $150 million in the next 5 years. My advice to any veteran is learn — the art of delayed gratification. Capital is courage. Saving the profit will give you the courage to do greater things.