In honor of National Black Business Month, we celebrate the impact and opportunities that arise when our partners collaborate. We are privileged to work with many innovative, game-changing small businesses.

We aim to deepen our relationship with these partners through programs like the Microsoft Black Partner Growth Initiative that support our small-to-medium (SMB) sized partners as they create a profound impact on the Microsoft Partner ecosystem.

As part of this commitment, in Q3 of FY22, select partners within the Microsoft Black Partner Growth Initiative participated in the BPGI Accelerator program, which facilitates community building and business growth among the program participants.

Four BPGI partners came together to demonstrate how close collaboration can help all of us achieve more. These four partners built a new framework in what is now called “Information Technology Partners” (ITP). They include:

• Jody Mitchell, CEO and founder of Directed Analytics, based in Washington DC
• William Storey, founder and CEO of Advanced Consulting Experts, LLC of Columbus, GA
• John Igbokwe, President, TechAxia headquartered in Denver, CO
• Dele Ojelabi, a professor of computer science at Marquette University and Principal at Comcentia, of Milwaukee, WI

A Cooperative Network of Smaller Tech Businesses

The four partners recognized that their unique areas of expertise meshed well, and each had been looking for ways to create lasting partnerships, lend their unique subject matter expertise, and draw on the skills and talents of the others—without sacrificing their individual ventures.

That realization led to the creation of Information Technology Partners, a hub connecting the four companies, pooling resources, skills, and brainpower to create a more competitive and complementary suite of offerings for their clients.

Dele Ojelabi explained, “For each of us, being smaller companies, the challenge is having the resources to compete against big companies. By working together, we bring all those skills to the table, with experts behind each of them, making us much more competitive than we would be individually.”

Jody Mitchell said that it was the BPGI Accelerator that provided the environment for this collaboration. “As entrepreneurs, we only have so much time and so many resources available to us,” he said. “I am always looking for ways to optimize my processes and to grow in ways that get the best results. With the Black Partner Growth Initiative, there was an immediate atmosphere of organic trust and a willingness to at least listen, if not work together. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”

John Igbokwe added, “As soon as we began talking, and now as we’ve been working together, we realize we have complementary skill sets that allow us to access markets and client networks that we may have never had access to as individuals.”

“We” is Stronger than “Me”

While the Black Partner Growth Initiative and other SMB programs were created as a foundation to help partner communities strengthen their core businesses and go-to-market strategies, what we are seeing—especially in examples like ITP—is that partner-to-partner collaboration yields even greater success.

“There was something different about that first BPGI connection. Meeting so many other professionals in that way was really invigorating,” said William Storey.

“When we looked at our market penetration and performance over the past few years in each of our individual specialties, we realized that as a group ITP is as competitive as many larger technology companies. That’s game changing,” Jody Mitchell said.

The basis for successful cooperative partnership and complementary affiliation begins with trust, according to the members of ITP. In the process of preparing a bid for a federal contract, they realized that one partner was better suited for the work than the collective. The other three partners stepped aside in favor of the one partner submitting the bid, while still contributing time and resources to ensure that the individual bid is successful. “If he wins it, we all win in the long run,” Dele Ojelabi said.

Looking forward, ITP is looking for opportunities for more federal contracts, and to partner with Microsoft to deliver solutions, both as a long-held goal, and as a validation of partners making more possible.

Get involved

• Join the Black Partner Growth Initiative
• Learn more about the Black Partner Growth Initiative accelerator program
• Learn more about how you can support by emailing us at ptnrsupp@microsoft.com
• Connect with the Black Channel Partner Alliance 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS105H5dl-A

As we near Microsoft Inspire 2022, we look ahead to the programs and opportunities that will help fuel our partners’ growth.  We also celebrate the stories of those who have moved us to dream bigger, innovate more, and solve the world’s greatest challenges through technology. The partners within the Microsoft Black Partner Growth Initiative are delivering a vast diversity of thought, solutions, and services underscoring the influence that this empowered community has had on the Microsoft ecosystem.  

Partners like Jacqueline Beauchamp, Founder, CEO and Chairwoman of The Engaged Media Company, a Mixed Reality firm, is leveraging her lived experience to develop best-in-class solutions for her customers. Meshing diversity of thought and technology, Engaged Media has positioned itself as a leading African American video game developer and publisher, with a focus on immersive content. The organization has brought to life immersive experiences for customers like the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Black College Football Hall of Fame, Texas A&M University, and more. Engaged Media has also collaborated with Microsoft to become the first African American company to receive a Mixed Reality Capture Studio license.  

As the Executive Sponsor of the Microsoft Black Partner Growth Initiative, I’ve had the unique opportunity to not only work with my team to invest in the enablement of a community, but I’ve also been able to bear witness to how our partners make more possible for our customers.   

We recently met with Jacqueline to discuss what inspires her to dream bigger, innovate smarter, and set the stage for the next generation of partners.  

You’ve been dreaming of this work since you were young. Do you have a moment in time that you can pinpoint?  

The moment in time was when I was around 10. My father was a chemistry teacher. He would bring new things home from radios to calculators to spur my imagination. I always wanted to know how these things functioned. He was also a businessperson, so his influence helped guide me as I pursued my dreams.  

What inspires you today? 

I draw inspiration from realizing that kids don’t always see hopes and dreams materialize. In the era that I grew up in there were tons and tons of people pushing the envelope through the civil rights movement. From that, I learned that you can’t let anything stop you. Young people keep me driven every day. 

What do you envision as the future of Mixed Reality and Augmented Reality? 

I see this as the endless possibility of telling different and unique stories that people can gravitate to in a different sphere. You can envision, create, and see yourself in there. The only thing that limits you is your own imagination. I like to say there are endless possibilities of the seemingly impossible.  

As a participant of the Black Partner Growth Initiative, you also were connected to the Microsoft Partner Capital Fund. How did that help support your business?  

It helped lift us into a growth position. Our industrial education practice is growing from a servicing standpoint. We’re now able to focus on technological and business development. Furthermore, it’s led to hiring. We have between 35-50 people that we’re planning to hire within the next 12 months.  

You and your team are bringing the Black experience to the gaming industry. Why is that important?  

Our experiences need to be told. We as African Americans are not necessarily represented in the gaming space. If we’re represented, unless it’s a sports title, the representation is typically negative – we want to change this.  

Engaged Media isn’t limited to gaming. Where else do you see your business going because of hiring and expanding your business? 

We see ourselves going after Department of Defense contracts. There’s a need to provide immersive experiences for the department. We feel confident in the value that we’ll add, and what’s exciting is that you don’t typically see a woman-led or African American- led organizations in this space.  

You mentioned that the next generation inspires you. How do you intend to invest in their future? 

As we expand into new opportunities, we want to partner with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to create talent pipelines. The talent is there, we just need to cultivate it.  

Partners like Engaged Media are embedded throughout the ecosystem. Throughout this fiscal year, we look forward to sharing more stories of impact that are being uncovered through the Microsoft Black Partner Growth Initiative.  

Get involved 

• Join the Black Partner Growth Initiative  
• Learn more about how you can support by emailing us at ptnrsupp@microsoft.com
• Connect with the Black Channel Partner Alliance