New York, NY January 20, 2004 - Provident Group announced the completion of an early stage financing round for MEDirect Latino, Inc. (MEDirect), a Florida-based company focused on distributing Medicare-reimbursed products to the US Hispanic community for the monitoring and treatment of chronic diseases, focusing on Type I & II diabetes. Proceeds from the financing have been allocated for spot television market testing of the Companys national Spanish-language advertising campaign on Univision and Telemundo, continued beta testing of the Companies HIPAA compliant electronic protocols, Customer Service Intake and Medical Billing divisions. Additionally, the Company successfully formalized its direct electronic data billing feeds to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). MEDirect has already initiated advertising in select markets. Participants in the financing included Provident principals and shareholders.

MEDirect is the first Company to focus nationally on the rapidly growing Hispanic market for Medicare reimbursed products and services to a community that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Atlanta, GA., report is disproportionately impacted by the effects of diabetes relative to the general US population. Pavlos Mavrides, Head of Investment Banking for Provident Group commented from its NY headquarters: This financing represents an important milestone for MEDirect, enabling it to implement its business model on an an authentically countrywide basis and to focus on the rapidly growing but underserved US Hispanic market. The deal is also a watershed event for Provident, reflecting its first foray into the increasingly important US Hispanic market, leveraging our expertise in the Latin American capital markets.

Debra Towsley, President of MEDirect Latino Inc., added from MEDirects Fort Lauderdale, Florida headquarters: MEDirect Latino represents the first effort to tap into the needs of the nations elderly Hispanic market by creating a business model that overcomes the barriers which have traditionally prevented this community from accessing quality medical care for what amounts to an epidemic disease. MEDirects model has been carefully engineered to overcome the cultural and linguistic factors that have created these barriers and enables Medicare-eligible customers to receive medical supplies on a direct-to-home basis without any initial out-of-pocket costs by contacting our Customer Care Center, which is staffed by Spanish-speaking and trained diabetic educators. We look forward to bringing primary healthcare directly to the homes of our Hispanic community.

Provident Group is an international investment bank focused on providing mergers and acquisitions, capital-raising, and corporate finance advisory services to companies in the Americas and enterprises servicing the US Hispanic community, as well as developing asset management products for its client base.

Contact Information:

Provident Group:
Steve Carlson Chairman
Tel: (212) 742-1852
E-mail: e-mail protected from spam bots

Banking
Pavlos Mavrides Head of Investment
Tel: (212) 742-1851
E-Mail: e-mail protected from spam bots

MEDirect Latino, Inc.:
Debra L. Towsley President
Tel: (954) 321-3540
E-Mail: e-mail protected from spam bots

# # #