Two new businesses have sought the assistance of the University of Central Florida/Eustis Business Incubator in recent months – Waldmann Enterprises and Wallyak – as the new site at Mega Workplace continues to grow under the guidance of director Wendy Taylor.

Wallyak is the brainchild of Tom and Dawn Hofmeister, self-proclaimed serial entrepreneurs, who have extensive experience in a variety of businesses, including assisted living care homes. According to Tom, he liked to put photos on the walls of a care home for the residents to enjoy, and he began tinkering with ways to enlarge the photos and frame them, piece by piece.

“We worked on our wall mural system for two and a half years, and we patented and trademarked it,” he said. “We turned to the Incubator for assistance, even though we are self-funded, because we needed to learn where and how to focus our energy on building a national online presence.”

The photos are printed on regular copy paper and then mounted using the patented frames to create the wall murals, which can be easily moved and changed. The process is demonstrated on the business’ website, www.wallyak.com.

In addition to working with individual businesses, the Incubator offers monthly classes and workshops, and the weekly One Million Cups gatherings, which the Hofmeisters and Jon Waldmann of Waldmann Enterprises both began attending before becoming clients.

Waldmann said he enjoyed connecting with other entrepreneurs at One Million Cups, and garnered some ideas that he is using for his website, www.waldmannenterprises.com. Armed with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from UCF, Waldmann spent years in medical product design and CNC manufacturing before venturing out on his own.

“Finding skilled people who have access to higher tech equipment in North Lake County is like finding a diamond in the rough,” said Waldmann. “I own all of my own equipment, I design, do precision machining, 3D printing and reverse engineering. I also consult with companies on CNC Training and Process Improvement.”

Waldmann said the benefits of working with the Incubator include learning how to market, network, and connect with customers.

Taylor said it’s a pleasure working with the new businesses and helping them learn how to present their products and ideas. For more information, contact wendy.taylor@ucf.edu.