Orlando, FL – Turning a vision into a growing business able to win a multi-million-dollar government contract may sound like a daunting impossibility, but it is not. Lizbeth Walker, CEO and owner of Qwalifize, LLC has proven it and credits the Florida Procurement Technical Assistance Center at the University of Central Florida (Florida PTAC at UCF) with assisting her in making the impossible possible.
Doing business as Qwalifize Staffing and Consulting, the firm connects high-caliber companies with exceptional professionals. The business focuses on technology, human resources, and administrative roles that help shape organizations. With more than 20 years of extensive experience in recruitment, operations, and human resources, Qwalifize serves a client portfolio of Fortune 500 company employers in the Health Tech, Microelectronics, Aerospace, Defense, and Attractions industries. It can now add providing staffing solutions to government institutions and creating strategic partnerships to its “company resume” as well.
“Our mission is to prepare, attract and place professionals into jobs that are meaningful to them while problem solving the workforce issues challenging our employer clients,” says Walker. “What’s important is that we have integrity, transparency and reliability and we’re here for our clients, no matter what the problem.”
When she started her business, Walker had a vision and a plan in mind to achieve it. “I knew where my vision and plan could take me but I needed real world guidance about how to get there,” Walker continued. “That’s why I sought assistance from the Florida Small Business Development Center at UCF (FSBDC at UCF) and later from its affiliate, the Florida PTAC at UCF.”
“The FSBDC helped me create a stellar business plan and to think like a business owner, not just an employee. They set me up for success,” recalls Walker. “There’s so much I learned, especially about financial management, targeting clients, expressing what we do and our value proposition. They taught me what it takes to run a business.”
“And Kara Vernon, our PTAC Specialist, has been instrumental in providing me with focus areas, tools and templates that brought my government marketing strategy to life. And that helped us win a huge, 5-year transportation contract. I know without her help and all of her attention, that contract might not have been a possibility for us,” Walker added.
“We have achieved so many positive results with the FSBDC and PTAC. When Covid hit, we saw our commercial business slow down, so I opened my mind to government contracting. I relied on Kara and PTAC and, on our very first response to an RFP, we were able to win that 5-year, multi-million-dollar government contract with a major transportation agency here in Florida. It has been a game changer for us,” says Walker.
“If I had to use one word to describe the FSBDC and PTAC, it would be ‘winning’” concluded Walker. “Whenever I work with them, I know their goal is to set up Qwalifize Staffing & Consulting for success and for us to win.
To learn more about Qwalifize Staffing & Consulting, please visit qwalifize.com.
About the Florida Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) at UCF
Government Contracting Services offered by the Florida Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) at the Univer-sity of Central Florida provide high-value, confidential one-on-one consulting at no cost to help Florida businesses pre-pare, research, and bid on federal, state, and local government contracts. Since 1986, Florida PTAC client businesses statewide have won $9 billion in contract awards, helping to create and save almost 200,350 jobs. This PTAC is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the Defense Logistics Agency. For more information, please visit www.fptac.org.
About the FSBDC at UCF
Hosted by the University of Central Florida (UCF), and with its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of the UCF Office of Partnership & Innovation and the Florida SBDC Network.
The Florida SBDC at UCF provides aspiring and existing small businesses with no-cost consulting, low-cost training, and access to business data and research resources. In addition to its core service offering, the Florida SBDC at UCF also offers specialized services to qualifying companies, including capital access, market growth, government contracting, international trade, business continuation, cybersecurity, disaster planning and recovery, and more. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 10 service centers across Central Florida.
In 2020, the FSBDC at UCF served more than 2,800 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 10,000 jobs created, retained or saved; $1.2 billion in sales growth; $92.4 million in capital formation; $92.7 million in government contract awards; and 86 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com.
About the Florida SBDC Network
For over forty years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.
In 2019, Florida SBDCs provided 114,064 of professional business consulting to over 12,500 client businesses, resulting in almost 38,000 jobs impacted; $4.4 billion in sales generated; $496.5 million in government contracts acquired; and $255.3 million in capital accessed.
A statewide network of over 40 offices, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Defense Logistics Agency, State of Florida and other private and public partners. The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a 2016 recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.
