While many tri-county companies frantically figure out how to tactfully lay off staff to save costs, one business is ready to bulk up.

Visual Concepts, based in Oxnard, may add as many as 10 high-paid, seasoned tech gurus to its current staff of 20 by the end of the year, all thanks to big contracts with the military and a rare $250,000 loan from the Economic Development Collaborative of Ventura County, or EDC-VC.

Visual Concepts is led by Chief Executive Officer Priscilla Becker, who founded the software engineering firm in 1998 after a four-year-long sole proprietorship under the name Visual Concept Enterprises. The company’s main focus has been software development for the Navy’s worldwide facilities.

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