15 Aug Black Business Month Spotlight: Jacques M. Jean, TechFides
August is Black Business Month, and to celebrate we are highlighting a black business owner who inspires us: Jacques M. Jean, Founder & CEO of TechFides. Keep reading to find out how Jacques has built his business, how he’s continuing to grow and scale up, and how getting a minority-owned business certification has opened doors to opportunity and connection.
Tell us about your business.
TechFides is an IT Strategy Consultant borne of the idea that consulting value should reside with the client. Our team comes from long careers in global enterprise IT organizations. We bring that level of investment in success to our engagements with our clients.
What did you set out to do? How has it evolved?
Since we’ve done and experienced almost everything in an IT organization, we initially cast a very broad net of services and targeted industries. We’ve since honed our service offerings to a few critical areas for IT organizations, including Enterprise Digitization, IT Performance Management, and IT Merger/Acquisition/Divestiture Management. We’re also narrowing down some of the industries we focus on, where we have experience and a proven track record.
How are you scaling up?
TechFides has a robust partner ecosystem and several great staffing resources that have been able to find specific skillsets we need for particular engagements, so we have the ability to quickly ramp up as engagements dictate.
How are you finding success?
As mentioned earlier, we’re putting a lot of our focus on some particular industry segments; for example, we’ve found a lot of success in the Non-Profit and University sectors. There’s so much untapped potential in those organizations, and we’re able to help them by bringing some of the private sector bottom-line mindset to their operations. Financial and operational efficiency in those types of organizations means more pennies of every dollar being used to support their mission and directly help the people they serve.
Was it difficult to get your minority-owned business certification?
It can be a relatively straightforward process, depending on the agency. It’s worth the effort as those certifications have opened doors for us to connect with others in the larger community.
What struggles have you encountered?
We don’t sell widgets. What we offer is high-level strategy, in areas that people and organizations often don’t even realize they need help in. There’s a long sales cycle in what we do, and it requires a lot of planning and patience. From the pandemic to looming economic concerns, we must be mentally prepared and focused on what our potential clients need and where they want to be.
What’s one critical thing that you think every small business owner needs to know?
Unless you’re extremely lucky…creating a successful business takes dedication, perseverance, and a firm belief in what you’re doing. TechFides defines and maintains its integrity by following some simple guiding principles: Empowerment, Empathy, Partnership, Innovation, and Evolution. Those values are interwoven throughout our organization and client engagements.
