Byocoat Enterprises Inc. (Byocoat), a worldwide developer of cleaning, sanitation and solutions to eliminate crosscontamination will create 100 jobs in Puerto Rico.

“I will be subcontracting our manufacturing to a plant either in Juncos or Humacao. The company that ends up doing the manufacturing will hire additional employees to cover our production requirements,” said Steve Burwell, president of Byocoat Enterprises Inc.

“In addition, I will also be opening up laboratory and testing facilities that will require additional employees, including scientists. We will be hiring an entire CPA firm to handle all our billing and tax work. In all, approximately 100 jobs will be created initially, but that number could grow depending on the growth of our business. Everything that can be done locally (manufacturing, lab work, testing) will be done here in Puerto Rico,” Burwell added.

Altogether, the company has about 20 technology-based products, the majority which have applications in the food safety industry and focus on the green concept.

“This really is the first company of its kind in Puerto Rico. There may be one or two others on the island, but nobody has a process like ours or such a wide range of markets like we are tackling,” Burwell noted.

After establishing their global headquarters in Puerto Rico, Byocoat projects to have an explosive business year in 2009.

“We have been an R&D [research & development] company up to this point, so we’re just going into revenue so, as far as projected growth next year, that wouldn’t be too meaningful but, as far as dollars, in 2009, it’s going to be in the tens of millions in revenue,” Burwell said.

“We actually have product out there [globally], and we are getting together different groups to handle marketing for us. We have a group in Central America that will handle around nine products. We have five different groups taking our products throughout Asia and China,” Burwell said. In the Caribbean, the company is already setting up distribution in the Dominican Republic,” Burwell added.

Although he has a degree in accounting & finance, Burwell describes himself as the consummate entrepreneur, having founded and run numerous businesses in the past. He also considers himself a scientist, in part through the knowledge and experience gained in developing his latest business and line of technology-related products.

“The reason we have been able to grow, instead of building a big infrastructure in the beginning, for instance, when I wanted to develop a poultry product, I found out who the expert in poultry processing was. That took me to University of Georgia, where we worked with the world-renown expert in poultry processing. When I wanted to develop a product for drip-line irrigation, I found the industry expert in California,” Burwell said.

“Instead of trying to hire people and hope they have knowledge in certain areas, I try to find the world-renowned experts to collaborate with. So, now that I’m on the island, I am focused on hiring people who are knowledgeable about my company’s categories and then let them work with the world-renowned experts for us,” Burwell noted.

Burwell explained that it was David Press, a tax & finance consultant from the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Co. (Pridco), who first introduced him to the island’s benefits during a meeting in Atlanta. “I said I really like this [Puerto Rico] business proposition. I had no idea about the real benefits of being here. I just knew about the financial benefits. However, since I have been here, I literally have met so many people who have helped me progress far more than I could on the U.S. mainland. I am a huge advocate of Puerto Rico,” Burwell concluded.