Jimmy Stewart has the nation’s only Black-owned telephone company. Now he wants to help small Black businesses do the same. He is traveling the country to explain this and other technological issues that Black businesses should be aware of.

 “Most small businesses don’t have large technology corporations trying to cater to them. Most small businesses can’t afford a video conferencing solution or a unified communications solution,” said Stewart. “Our mission is to take features that large enterprises take for granted and bring them to the small business at a very affordable price with better quality and more features. It puts you on the leading edge of where things are going business-wise and puts you in the front seat.”
 If anyone is to qualified to pull off such a venture, Stewart is it. He is a computer science and electrical engineer by profession. He has been a consultant for more than 25 years, working for such companies as IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and large phone carriers such as MCI WorldCom.

 Stewart was born in Dallas, raised in New Orleans and spent some time in New York. He is the son of home-schooling advocate and proud mother Khemlah Lacey, who now lives in Shreveport. He currently resides in Plano, Texas.

But what is My Own Telephone Company? “The concept is to allow micro businesses the same opportunity that large enterprises are afforded as far as telephony solutions are concerned,” said Stewart. “Most large companies, have their own internal telephone systems. They get high-capacity from carriers but they have their own access and they run their own systems. So they control the allocation extensions and resources under that system but most of our companies don’t have that opportunity.”

He continued by saying this practice leaves the average Black or small business to buy phone lines from the phone company. As such, the phone companies dictate what type of phone can be used at the business location and business owners don’t have control of the phone itself or the resources. “You’re the endpoint user,” he said.

My Own Telephone Company (MOTC) gives small businesses some of the same opportunities that large companies enjoy by allowing them to have their own telephone companies similar to Vonage, Skype or other Internet-based services.

“The difference between our service and the others is your RTP stream (actual voice conversation) does not come through our network,” said Stewart. MOTC eliminates the digital “middle man” to get their customers directly into a public phone system which decreases the congestion, slow downs or heavy traffic that may interfere with the quality of voice being communicated.

The service is designed to be affordable for small businesses and for individuals. There is a fixed rate plan of $17.95 per month for unlimited nationwide calling.

The company’s technical support is handled via e-mail.

Stewart is frustrated at how far behind most Black businesses are in technology, “There are a lot of businesses that still use flash drives, faxes, e-mails with attachments and shared drives. They don’t realize that collaboration is a big piece of the IT industry now. Businesses are wired up. Large companies collaborate on documents. They don’t have to send them around with e-mail; they have Sharepoint and other systems that allow people to share documents and information in real time. It’s time for small businesses to jump on board with new Internet technology.”

The challenge that MOTC and others face is alerting Black businesses to the range of possibilities that current technology provides. But Stewart plans to fix that. Starting next month, he will start weekly teleconference seminar consultant services.

“These are the things that we are bringing to Black-owned business to drive their business practices and consult with them on the best ways to do that,” he said.

Stewart will be traveling the region doing a seminar on unified communication entitled “Black Speaks.” His purpose is clear.

“We want to make sure that this time around, as the next technology wave is being developed, that we are not left out of the conversation,” said Stewart. “It’s time for us to wake up and see that this technology is available to us and we’re the last to use it.” MOTC can be reached by phone at (469) 453-8026 or online at www.motctelcom.com.

Source: District Chronicles

For all the issues they face, small business owners seem to really love what they do....

Below is yet another example of a once bustling African American business community collapsing due to desegregation, racism, politics, neglect, and, most of all, lack of support from fellow African Americans.  We must support minority-owned businesses.  Likewise, minority-owned businesses must re-invest in the communities where they do business.

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