Ice & Water Supplier Rebuilds and Expands with Help from Florida SBDC at PCED
Dolphin Ice & Water of Pinellas County
When hurricanes Helene and Milton struck Pinellas County, Dolphin Ice and Water, a rapidly growing ice and water manufacturer and supplier, faced an uncertain future. Owned by business partners, Murad Ajaney and Saleem Hussein, the company had been expanding throughout the Tampa Bay area when disaster struck, damaging their facilities.
“Since 2015 we are in this business. We started with 20 ton and we move on as we have more requirement for the ice in the market so we did another 20 ton and after that we did another 40 ton. Now we’re opening another big plant, which is going to be 300 tons per day in Sanford so that’s going to be a huge, big company and that makes us the largest in Florida state, ice production,” Saleem Hussein said.
Determined to restore operations, the duo turned to the Florida SBDC at Pinellas County Economic Development (PCED) for guidance after being introduced by the Oldsmar Chamber of Commerce (Pinellas Chapter). With the professional assistance of business consultant Kurt Forster, they successfully applied for the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan, provided by FloridaCommerce.
“Every step of the way Kurt and his team had guided me, coached me into moving forward. There had been many instances where the system was down, the documentation was not accepted, constantly challenges with the way that these online applications go,” Murad Ajaney said.
“We are very thankful to Kurt and his team at the SBDC in Pinellas in Florida to stand by us and make sure that the applications were complete, and we were funded so we could actually be back up and running after the two hurricanes that damaged Dolphin Ice and Water,” he added.
This crucial funding enabled them to repair their equipment, restock inventory, and get back to serving customers quickly.
“With the two hurricanes back-to-back, we had a lot of negative impact on our manufacturing facility here in Oldsmar, our distribution facility here, as well as our property and loss of business in Englewood. With the funding that we received thanks to Kurt and his team at Florida SBDC at Pinellas we were able to get our machinery up and running, we were able to start manufacturing within a matter of days after we got funded, and we were back in business within a matter of weeks,” Murad Ajaney said.
Since working with the Florida SBDC at PCED, Dolphin Ice & Water has not only rebounded but expanded its reach. With operations restored, they have grown their customer base and added new service areas.
“When the state is in emergency, we help the people out and we enjoy doing that. We are prospering, we are making money, we are happy, we love this business. That’s why we’re putting another facility in Sanford so we can do more, and we can grow in the same way the state can grow,” Saleem Hussein said proudly.
Looking ahead, the business plans to continue leveraging the Florida SBDC’s resources for financial planning and strategic growth.
“We’re actually looking forward to working with the Florida SBDC at Pinellas County and of course meet with some of the people – the ambassadors from the different counties and commissioners. So we can actually use that as a resource to reach out to the various government agencies like FEMA, where we could actually be a supplier and in the time of emergency they could look at us and we’d be happy to stand by them and support them and provide them with whatever needed of our ice, bagged ice and water products for our community,” Murad Ajaney said.
When asked what advice they’d give to other small business owners, Hussein mentioned, “I would recommend any small business that is really suffering from all this impact and all that – they should definitely contact SBDC of Pinellas County and see if they can get help.”
