We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Karimah Sloan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Karimah , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I came up with the idea of starting Generous Kare by just simply the love and passion I had to take care of others. In high school I had the chance to obtain my Certified Nursing Assistant license. So while I attended college, I worked at several nursing Homes, hospitals, assisted living facilities, and different agencies to earn money. As a child my father instilled the importance of being a entrepreneur and working for yourself to me and my siblings. Growing up my father set an example for us. My father was and still is very much a big influence for us becoming entrepreneurs. As I worked, the clients that I came across loved me so much it had gotten to the point where several clients would demand the company that I worked for at the time, to allow me to be their only caregiver. Several of the clients offered to pay me personally to come assist them when needed. That’s when I decided to create my own Healthcare Agency. In December 2018, Generous Kare at Home was created. The agency name was actually generated from my first name. Karimah means “generous” in Arabic and instead of using “c” in “care” I used “K” symbolizing my first name. As the agency grew my sister, Tymira was attaining her degree in Nursing. She came to me with the idea to expand the business. She mentioned that together we can ameliorate Generous Kare by offering more services that she found very much needed while working at a hospital. As we worked our vision for Generous Kare grew. We became excited about our thriving business. We seen the need of “nurses” as our business expanded. We noticed that some of the nurses in the healthcare field needed additional training, so we then created “GK Medical Skills Training”. We train people that are interested in furthering their career in the healthcare field. We also offer ACLS, BLS, CPR, and First Aid training, teaching students the essential skills to save lives. We are American Heart Association certified and we also disburse students certification cards on the same day that their course was taken. To give back to our community we created a nonprofit called, “Generous Kare Sundays”, where we give out home cooked meals for free to the elderly and disabled people in the community. The creation of Generous Kare was a worthwhile endeavor. My sister and I are breaking generational curses. We are creating jobs in our community, we give quality care to people that would rather receive assistance in their home instead of remaining in the hospital for long periods of time, and we properly train people that want elevate their careers in the healthcare field. The idea of uplifting the people in our community brings me joy. I am so pleased and proud of how Generous Kare has grown. I pray that our business continue to be successful. I look forward to accomplish every goal that my sister and I envision. This is only the beginning, we have so much more in store!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I mentioned previously how I got into the Homehealth business, I worked at several different nursing facilities and several of the clients that I was working with wanted me to be their personal caregiver. It got to the point that they were only requesting me to see them from the agency I was working for. at the time. Overtime as Generous Kare grew, my sister and I expanded our agency by adding skilled services such as skilled RN care, chronic care management, wound care, home IV infusions, paraplegic and , ventilator care, medication management, therapy (PT, OT, RT, ST), companionship, and transportation. Adding these services solves the problem of clients going to several agencies to get the care that they need. Generous Kare is like a one stop shop for all your healthcare needs. Our agency focuses on giving each client quality care. We started GK Medical Skills Training because we noticed the need of nurses in the Healthcare field. We wanted to increase the effectiveness of the essential skills to save lives. We strive to educate caregivers so that they are confident when giving care.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Yes I listen to a lot of motivational speakers and I read a lot of books. I do my research when it comes to something that I want to do or learn. I love to read. One morning after breakfast my father and I went to a book store, where we purchased several books. He bought the book Rich Dad Poot Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. The book is amazing! I’ve read it hundreds of times. It definitely teaches a lot about accumulating wealth due to entrepreneurship and investing. Another great book I came across was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. This book is very astonishing, Napoleon shares his philosophy of achievement and becoming successful. I read both of these books repeatedly and every time I do I learn something new.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
My business partner, Tymira is my sister. A lot of people may think that going in business with a family member is not a good idea. I can honestly say it is a challenge, but it works for us. I know her strengths and weaknesses, and she knows mine as well. Where I fall short she is able to pick up, vice versa. We were talk to work as a team, and that was very beneficial for us in the long run. I am just so thankful that we have each other!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.generouskare.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/generous_kare/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/100064189443757/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/generouskare
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB5XVLk00TOtNBp-SPVbdrA
- Other: Social Media for GK Medical Skills Training: Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/GKMS.Training/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gk_medicalskillstraining/