Building The Alibaba Of PPE During The Pandemic

Innovation and entrepreneurship are very much alive despite the pandemic. If anything, innovation is being accelerated as it’s become necessary to survive these very challenging series of events. Everything has been challenged over the past few months, and we’ve seen tremendous stress in certain areas. Our grocery stores saw empty shelves and purchase limits, and our healthcare system is still experiencing difficulty getting PPE in the hands of frontline workers. 

Both examples were subject to supply chain and logistics, an industry that’s been notorious for being behind the technology curve and using old legacy systems. The supply chain and logistics behind our medical supplies industry is one that was put into the light as hospitals and state leaders competed to source and purchase PPE. The news reported shortages, but in reality, it was a resource allocation problem. This is a problem that can be solved by cleverly applying technology and efficient business systems.

Entrepreneurs Delivering PPE

Newly founded companies have taken it upon themselves to fill the gap and connect the dots in getting PPE to frontline workers. Upstarts, like the fast-growing CovCare, is using strong database technology to efficiently maintain and manage availability, capacity, minimums, pricing, and shipping for a large number of PPE manufacturers. 

This made them a quickly trusted medical supplies company doing over $20M in sales since being founded in March of this year and working with the likes of government departments like the DOD and NAVY, and hospital groups like Mount Sinai and Montefiore. As quick as entrepreneurs are to seize a market opportunity–they’re just as eager to give back.

Donations To The Frontlines

CovCare a built-in donation model into its business where they’ll donate one 3-ply face mask for every ten sold. In addition, CovCare is partnering up with many organizations to distribute 3-ply mask donations directly into the hands of healthcare professionals, essential workers, and first responders. 

Between March and April alone, CovCare has donated over $200,000 worth of PPE supplies across the US, and they have the intention of giving away 1million disposable face masks in the next month. This topic really touches so many people, because everyone knows a nurse–it’s no surprise that there are other great organizations forming around PPE donations. 

The Talent Behind CovCare

CovCare’s mission is to supply medical supplies in the fastest turnaround possible and for much lower than the market price. Leading this Staten Island-based company’s mission and goal of flattening the curve and saving lives is a group of entrepreneurs with a background in the apparel industry. 

Leveraging the business systems built around Wooter Apparel and Game Breaker, Alex Aleksandrovski and his team launched CovCare to provide a trusted source for PPE at proper prices. Naturally, it made sense to borrow the established efficient supply chains, highest-quality sourcing, and expanded distribution network from Wooter and Game Breaker to address this unprecedented need.

Some of the biggest names in the health industry are turning to CovCare to source their PPE, including government entities. While some may call CovCare the Alibaba of PPE, building a company that scaled to 20M in just 3months sure sounds like it can indeed be the next Alibaba.