NMTC Client Spotlight: Pine Hills Drugs, Pharmacy & Medical Supplies

NMTC  Loan Pools were created to help close the racial wealth gap for minority business owners and improve low-income communities. The loan pools are used to provide capital to small, minority business owners to purchase and renovate owner-occupied commercial real estate in low-income communities.  

Pine Hills Drugs, Pharmacy & Medical Supplies

Pine Hills Drugs,  Pharmacy & Medical Supplies (PHD) stores,  prepares and dispenses medical preparations for general patients in the Greater Orlando Area. The pharmacy devotes a portion of its time to elderly patients, long-term care, and assisted living care facilities.PHD has been supporting many Black and underserved individuals residing in the low-income community of Pine Hills, Florida.  Pine Hills is an unincorporated neighborhood in West Orlando. Since 2011 the City of Orlando has included this community in their Neighborhood Improvement District. The vision of this program is to not only preserve the neighborhood’s diverse, multi-cultural, family-oriented community but also create a safe business-friendly environment that will allow the community to grow continuously.

Business owner and pharmacist Oscar Mibionwu has owned and operated PHD for the past ten years. Through his time practicing in the Pine Hills Community, Mibionwu has been able to make an impact with PHD’s service, and his vision was to become a pillar within the community. Initially, Mibionwu was operating from leased space. However, he knew that he would have to grow his business to make a more significant impact in his community. That is when he contacted BBIF.

BBIF, in an effort to help bring flexible, affordable capital to Black entrepreneurs in distressed communities, created its creative financing tool: the NMTC Loan Pool. Through the NMTC loan pool, BBIF worked with Mibionwu to finance the purchase and renovation of a larger commercial real estate property within the Pine Hills community. With a larger facility to operate from, PHD was able to expand its services and continue providing the much-needed medical support and resources to the Pine Hills community.

 In addition to the NMTC Loan Pool dollars that Mibionwu received, he is also a part of BBIF’s Resilient Grant Program. Through this initiative, business owners receive grant dollars and attend monthly meetings with BBIF’s Managerial Consultants. These meetings are designed to teach business owners strategies to endure business operations during an economic downturn.

“BBIF’s team took me in as family. I believe they care about me and this is not limited to just closing a loan. They want me and my business to succeed. Other lenders cannot compare to the wonderful experience I had with BBIF.”

Oscar Mibionwu, Owner & Pharmacist, PHD Pharmacy & Medical Supplies