After consulting gig, he found his true calling

FRANK IGWE, 38, of Newark, Del., is president of Moravia Health, a Center City agency that provides home health care and other supportive services to Medicaid-eligible elderly and non-elderly patients in Philadelphia. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. from Penn State.

Q: How'd you come up with the idea?

A: My mom was a nurse for 30 years and I saw the joy she got from taking care of patients. After a few years in management consulting, I realized that helping people make their next million really wasn't compelling. I got into home health to help people. The idea was in 2010, but it took a couple of years to get all the regulatory approvals.

Q: The startup money?

A: When I was working as a management consultant I was able to bank personal savings for two to three years. I also had help from my parents. It was at least $350,000 all together to get off the ground.

Q: What's the biz do?

A: When we started, we were both Medicaid- and Medicare-certified. Our niche now is the Medicaid client who needs various services. We help people stay in their homes as they age because they don't want to go to nursing homes. We walk clients through the program from beginning to end. The services aren't one-size-fits-all, so it depends on the client. Some are bedridden and can't do anything for themselves; others just need somebody to cook, clean, run errands.

Q: The value prop?

A: We have an extensive process that matches the home-health aide with the client based on the client's needs. We have a weeklong meet-and-greet between the aide and the client to see if their personalities mesh. We want the right match so that relationship lasts for years. The feedback we get from clients is, we care. If you don't care, you don't work for us.

Q: Your clients?

A: Two types: Those above 60 and those below 60. The above 60 are referred by the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging. I'd say 80 percent are African-American, poor and often live alone. Those below 60 usually have had some catastrophic injury, like a brain injury or something debilitating, such as a stroke. We have 45 clients, and 55 people waiting for approvals.

Q: Biggest challenge?

A: Getting your name out there, because you're competing against Bayada and Maxim . We've grown just by word of mouth. This is also a capital-intensive business and it takes four to five weeks to get reimbursed by Medicaid, so you need ample reserves to meet payroll.

Q: How big a biz?

A: We have 48 employees, and most are full-time. In revenue we're into seven figures. We pay above the industry average, and turnover is minimal - 2 to 5 percent a year.

Online: ph.ly/YourBusiness