Ms. IyaSokoya Karade and Mr. Oloye Ifa Karade owned and managed a home-based family childcare program for a number of years. Over those years the childcare program gained national recognition, served as a resource for families in the community, and advocates for children on state and local issues.

But the couple still had bigger aspirations in mind. They wanted to create a program that offered children, and young adults, in urban cities an alternative to the usual sports and dance recreational activities. They envisioned a program that stressed development of self-esteem, disciple, creativity, and physical training. So out of this desire to serve was born Karade Gymnastics School, LLC. The school offers gymnastics instruction for children 18 months to 18 years of age. Ms. Karade was a competitive gymnast since high school and has been an instructor for USA Gymnastics, the governing organization of the national sport, since 2000. In order to turn their idea to reality the couple began conducting research and gathering information, then they approached the Rutgers-Newark Small Business Development Center (Rutgers-Newark SBDC) to prepared a business plan and to get counseling on sources of financing and lending criteria. IyaSokoya and Oloye continued to work with the Rutgers-Newark SBDC to fine-tune their business plan and identify a realistic funding source.

The Center provided referrals to a number of lenders and with their completed business plan they were able to lend start-up capital from Capital Lending Corporation. Jeff Bunin, Loan Office from Capital Lending Corporation diligently worked with the Karade’s to craft a creative financing plan that satisfied their needs at reasonable terms. According to IyaSokoya “it was a pleasure working with Jeff, he offered strategies for financing the business and kept me posted on the status of my application on a daily basis”. With the business consulting and training from the Rutgers-Newark SBDC and financial assistance from Capital Lending Corporation Karade Gymnastics School, LLC completed renovations on its new location at 109 Park Street in Orange, New Jersey and opened for business. In March 2006, Karade Gymnastics School was awarded another growth loan from Valley National Bank and in May 2007 received a 7a loan from Banco Popular which they have used to complete the renovations of their state of the art gymnastics center. Karade currently employs two full time staff and one part-time staff. ..

The Rutgers-Newark SBDC is very proud to award the 2007 NJSBDC Success Award to Karade Gymnastics School, LLC of Orange, NJ.