CityView Magazine

business the publicly funded business accelerator, which is tasked to help entrepreneurs and innovators develop new businesses and dual-use technologies. Today, his service-disabled veteran- owned company employs 30 people in the Fayetteville area alone, and at the time of this interview the company's website sought to recruit 15 more positions to include website and database administra- tors, systems and network engineers and advanced paramedic instructors. Three of Kent's employees are Raleigh residents who make the trek to Fayetteville every day. "I get resumes from Raleigh all the time," he said. While the third floor of the Festival Park building in down- town Fayetteville houses his flag ship offices, K3 Enterprises is also located in Rosslyn, Va., and Tampa, Fla., and Kent is working to establish a presence in the Chesapeake/Tidewater area of Virginia. The company's earnings have grown from $300,000 in the community. In 2010, he ran for a seat in the North Carolina General Assem- bly and since has immersed himself in a number of civic programs, from serv- ing on the legislative committee of the Chamber of Commerce to the business and economic advisory board at Fayette- ville State University. He believes his loss in the 2010 primary for the 44th House seat was a blessing since his business doubled soon aſter and it required more of his time. This year alone, Kent traveled more than 28,000 air miles in commercial aircraſt flying to California and Europe. In November alone, he made eight trips to Washington, DC, spending 80 hours in a car. Obviously travel is a major component of his business structure, so he recently bought his own six-seat Cessna 340 airplane. Always the entrepreneur, Kent plans to get the ap- propriate licensing and make the plane pay for itself by mak- ing it available to other businesses executives who need quick Brian Kent found a way to cash in on his military experiences and bring dollars and jobs to Fayetteville in the process 2005 to more than $10 million in 2010, and in 2011 Inc. Mag- azine listed the company among its top 5000 fastest growing small businesses, ranking it 559th overall and 14th among North Carolina companies. K3 Enterprises is a technology company. "We don't build anything, but every customer we have, we train or help them with new technologies or services," Kent said. The company's offerings are based on what Kent calls the 4Ts: technology in- troduction, technology integration, technology training and technology sustainment. Technology introduction involves connecting a client's business strategies with appropriate technology while tech- nology integration identifies commercial-off-the-shelf tech- nology that can achieve desired results and solutions to prob- lems. Technology training involves developing programs of instruction, creating training support packages, distance e-learning and game simulations and writing technical manuals. Finally, technology sustainment involves helping government and commercial clients with transitioning new technology into legacy systems and current operations. Kent actually considered retiring in either Huntsville or Tampa, but Fayetteville's proximity to Washington DC and the fact that his wife is a Fayetteville native prompted him to be pragmatic and remain here, where he has become active in flights to Washington, DC. Kent says it beats having to navigate through Ronald Rea- gan Washington National Airport and TSA checkpoints. Having one's own plane and landing at an airport with a cup of coffee in hand reduces travel time and stress, plus the plane's two desks allow him to pull out his laptop and get an extra hour of work in while traveling. To be a successful entrepreneur, Kent says one must first be willing to take risks. "The second thing is that you have to keep your aggressiveness to stay aſter it because people won't just hand you money," he said. Kent's goal for K3 Enterprises is to increase its footprint locally, nationally and internation- ally. Currently, he doesn't see K3 as a competitor with the big- ger defense contractors, such as Lockheed or SAIC since he oſten partners with those companies. The most difficult part of running his business, Kent said, is dividing his time between being the CEO and meeting with clients and remaining in Fayetteville to manage day to day operations. He also believes that he has a responsibility to make Fay- etteville and Cumberland County better, from providing de- cent jobs for those leaving the military and remaining in the Fayetteville area to giving his time for the community. "I want to be part of this city's revitalization and growth," he said. CV CityViewNC.com | 39

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