Chamber of Commerce

DefenseCents BY JASON BRADY AND REBEKAH SANDERLIN Military-affiliated businesses find support F market to the military and that hire former service mem- bers open their doors to great success in Fayetteville and Cumberland County. Brian Kent, a service-disabled veteran, owns K3 Enter- prises, a technology company. "We don't build anything," Kent said, "but every customer we have, we train or help them with new technologies or services." K3 Enterprises employs 30 people in the Fayetteville area alone, and is looking to hire more. The company's earnings have grown from $300,000 in 2005 to more than $10 million in 2010, and in 2011 Inc. Magazine listed the company among its top 5000 fastest growing small busi- nesses, ranking it 559th overall and 14th among North Carolina companies. K3 En- terprises also has offices in Rosslyn, Va., and Tampa, Fla., and Kent is working to establish a presence in the Chesapeake/Tidewater area of Virginia. Kent said he considered retiring in either Huntsville or Tampa, but Fayetteville's proximity to Washington, DC and the fact that his wife is a Fayetteville native prompt- ed him to be pragmatic and remain here. To be a suc- cessful entrepreneur, Kent says one must first be willing to take risks. "The second thing is that you have to keep your aggressiveness to stay after it because people won't just hand you money," he said. He also believes that he has a responsibility to make Fay- etteville and Cumberland County better, from providing decent jobs for those leaving the military and remaining in the Fayetteville area to giving his time for the com- munity. "I want to be part of this city's revitalization and growth," he said. ort Bragg's presence has insured that defense- related businesses continually find the Fay- etteville area to be rich in both talent and opportunities. Each year new businesses that and success in Cumberland County TIGERSWAN You'd never suspect that the small town of Stedman, NC has an impact every day in countries all around the globe and in cities across America. TigerSwan, a defense contracting business headquartered in Apex, NC oper- ates a Training Colloboration Center and Sportsman's Outdoor Shooting Range in Stedman, where military and law enforcement personnel receive intense training in shooting and other tactics and sportsmen can go to hone their skills. The company recently received an email from a member of the 82nd Airborne Division who is currently deployed to Afghanistan, cred- iting TigerSwan with helping his unit re- spond to an attack: "Apparently we shot enough rounds at your course, and training after, for our stance and movements to become muscle memory.... We got hit by a suicide bomb- er and everyone looked and moved like we walked straight off your range," the email read. for foreign dignitaries in countries around the world and assist American officials and service members in providing for our nation's security needs. TigerSwan employs 250 people worldwide, with offices in Iraq, Jordan, Afghani- stan, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, the United Kingdom and India and assists corporations and governments with stability operations, vulnerability management and military and police training. Contractors employed by TigerSwan serve as security Like K3 Enterprises, TigerSwan is owned by service- disabled veterans who chose Cumberland County for their business because of the area's strong connection to the military. James Reese, TigerSwan's CEO, and Brian Searcy, the company's President, co-founded TigerSwan after retiring from the military and serving in the elite Delta Force unit. www.FayettevilleNCChamber.org | 13

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