By: Vanessa Araiza
Posted at 5:42 AM, Oct 26, 2020
TAMPA, Fla. — The pandemic has forced millions of people to reinvent themselves.
One of those people is Michael Lamb.
Since 1988, he has owned and operated RCP America in Tampa. It's a chemical manufacturing company that sells products like soaps, degreasers, waxes, and polishes to local auto dealers.
His business was steady and successful, then the pandemic hit.
"Obviously, when it happened in the later part of February early March, none of us knew what to do. Everybody was like what do we do? How do we keep people employed? How do I take care of my own family?" Lamb said. "The uncertainty that was happening at that time was devastating."
When he knew his company was in jeopardy, he circled back to what he knew; chemicals — specifically, quantum ammonium.
"Quantum ammonium is a compound. It's a disinfectant basically, and it's in a lot of products. Not only automotive products. A lot of household cleaning products. It's in a lot of that," Lamb said.
He sent two product
s he was already familiar with to an EPA lab testing company in Virginia. He began the testing journey in March and by May, results showed that his product killed 99.6% of germs. Then it was on to the big test.
"We sent it out to them and got the lab results back that not only did it kill COVID-19, but our KOC product, you put it back on the surface 24 hours later, and it killed it again," Lamb said.
Since March, Lamb made about half a million dollars in profits and kept all of his staff on the payroll. Now he's in talks with major companies for consumer distribution.
He acknowledged the pandemic has plagued the vulnerable in all aspects of life but hopes his product and story will help inspire others.
"We could have just been out of business, but we stayed resilient, we stayed strong. Our company stayed strong. Our employees backed us up from top to bottom," Lamb said.