A goal of her own

Nation's Business, Oct, 1997 by Sharon Nelton

Kanta "Kay" Kuba was a University of Minnesota research biochemist with three nearly grown children when she decided it was time to do something else.

"I always wanted to try something of my own, to be able to create something, to be able to say I did it on my own, and to be able to take it to the top as far as I could," recalls the India-born Kuba.

That something today is GCI Systems, a $10 million-a-year computer reseller in New Brighton, Minn., a St. Paul suburb. The 34-employee company provides computer equipment, networking, and technical services to large and medium-sized companies in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. This year the firm garnered a $10 million contract with General Mills that might help GCI double its annual revenues by next year. Other clients include Honeywell Inc. and Medtronic, Inc.

Kuba, 55, started the company as Global Computronics Inc. in 1988 with $35,000 in personal savings. At first, it was a mail-order and retail operation in Minneapolis. But when mass merchandisers such as Comp USA and Circuit City began to move in, Kuba found that her customers would come to her for information but then go to the larger stores for the lower prices.

She decided to shift her focus, going after medium-sized companies. She spent two years winding down the retail operation, seeking business clients, and qualifying to become an authorized dealer for big-name manufacturers such as Apple, Compaq, Epson, Hewlett-packard, IBM, and NEC.

She grew more successful as she learned that she had to find out what her corporate clients needed and what they expected of her. Then she concentrated on living up to their expectations.

When she understood she could succeed with the medium-sized companies, she knew she could go on to the next level, working with major corporations. She moved the company from Minneapolis to a 4,500-square-foot space in New Brighton and changed the name to GCI Systems, hoping that people would come to think of it "as a high-end computer-support company," says Kuba.

Once again, she is competing with large dealers, and price is still an issue -- though not the only one. "I don't do business if it's only price that will bring me into a company, because I know I won't be successful," she says. The margins are just too low. She prefers client companies for whom she can bring knowledge to the end users and prepare them for the technological changes that are around the corner.

When she started her business, Kuba says, "I found out that I had technical capabilities I didn't know I had. I also had some sales capabilities that I didn't know I had."

She learned about running a business with the help of programs offered by the Metropolitan Economic Development Association, a local organization that fosters minority business, and she learned about computers largely by reading.

Kuba, whose husband, Ramesh, is a dentist, would like to see GCI stay in the family. Son Sanjay, an electrical engineer, is vice president. Daughter Vaneeta, who lives in San Francisco and has an MBA in finance, is the chief financial officer. Anita, the youngest, has worked in the company but is now studying for an MBA.

Kuba recognizes that having customers as large as General Mills and Honeywell means change for GCI. It has been a local company, but it's beginning to work on a national scale to meet the needs of its giant clients. But, says Kuba, "we're always ready for change."