Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have entrepreneur, beauty tech innovator with Embarkus Solutions. Ebony Karim, welcome.

Ebony Karim: Good morning. Thank you.

Lee Kantor: Well I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. For folks who aren’t familiar, can you share a little bit about Embark Solutions? How are you serving folks?

Ebony Karim: Yeah, Embark is solutions is a IT professional services boutique consulting company where we provide professional services consulting mostly to the public sector. And we’ve been doing that for about 13 years now.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved in this line of work?

Ebony Karim: So I have been in the consulting space for about two decades and early 20 tens. I decided, you know what? I can I can do this on my own. And, uh, that’s when I decided to branch out and become a small business owner.

Lee Kantor: So were you working for, like, a larger enterprise level organization? And then you decided.

Ebony Karim: I worked for quite a few large consulting firms on the on the government side. So companies like SAIC, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Lockheed Martin.

Lee Kantor: So you were working for very large organizations and you’re like, hey, I think I can do this on was that a big decision? Like, were you kind of weighing the trade offs of that? Like what what kind of got you over the hump to, you know, take the leap?

Ebony Karim: Well, you know, I think I’ve always had that entrepreneurial spirit and that was always the end goal for me. But I knew, you know, that I needed to gain some, you know, some some real experience and expertise. And when I felt like I was ready to take the leap, I reached out to some amazing mentors who helped, you know, guide me along the way. But I definitely, definitely used all of my relationships, right, that I had built, um, along the way. And so I already had a nice set of clients. Um, yeah. So it made the transition, um, much easier.

Lee Kantor: If you were advising other people who are working maybe in corporate and thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, do you think that that’s kind of a good path to follow, like kind of build up your network to the point where you have a client to go to before you kind of go out on your own?

Ebony Karim: Oh, gosh. Absolutely, absolutely. I would definitely say, you know, building those relationships Is is important. Right. And so your, you know, your reputation and your work ethic will speak for yourself. So when you already have ally supporting you right. You know they they also want to see you win. Right? And they have no problems helping to support you along the way. So yes, definitely those those partnerships and relationships are extremely important.

Lee Kantor: So now is is your work like what is your work when when clients hire you right now. What are what are they getting from you.

Ebony Karim: Oh goodness. Um. It depends. Most of my expertise falls under what we call, uh, program management office support. Right. So that can look like a lot of things that can be, uh, program project management support, that can be, um, like back office operations where I come in and, you know, take an assessment of what their current corporate infrastructure looks like. And so we set up processes and procedures. If none are there, you know, we help create SOPs and, you know, training manuals and guidebooks. Um, those who, uh, are federal contractors, we provide contract management support. So anything that falls under, uh, what we call that PMO umbrella, that’s that’s what I provide services in.

Lee Kantor: So project management, you’re, you’re coming in to kind of be the to show an organization how to be better project managers or to project manager a certain kind of initiative they’re working on.

Ebony Karim: Yeah. I mean, it could be both. It could be to, you know, set up, uh, like a, you know, PMO shop. Um, it could be to train, you know, their project and, you know, program team lead. So it just depends on what the company’s, um, needs are at the time.

Lee Kantor: So now, um, how are you kind of navigating this, the federal contracting kind of world that we live in today. It’s a different world than it was, you know, a few years ago.

Ebony Karim: I mean, it’s a different world than it was last year. Um, yes. I mean, we we we’ve had to learn to be, you know, very creative, um, being able and being comfortable pivoting. Right. As a, as an entrepreneur, you know, you definitely have to be comfortable in that space. But, you know, the government is still open. Um, they still are acquiring products and services. So that will never go away. Um, it’s just, you know, how do you increase your customer base? So, you know, um, you know, now I’m working with, you know, the nonprofit sector, um, you know, with other smaller corporate entities that that still require those same services. Um, you know, because they’re, they’re all transferable, you know, whether it’s public or private sector.

Lee Kantor: So let’s talk a little bit about some of the transferable skills. What kind of is the pain that that your clients are having, where you can come in and make an impact that’s noticeable to them?

Ebony Karim: I would say most of the time it’s on the operation side, right. So, um, again, the you know, we’re talking about micro businesses, micro small businesses who, you know, don’t have the bandwidth to, you know, hire a complete team, right? So they may not have a COO. So sometimes I may step step in as a fractional COO, you know, or they don’t have a, you know, entire contracts management department. So they’re, you know, doing their best to, you know, manage contracts. So it just depends on what the customer’s needs are. But primarily for small businesses, you know, um, capital is very limited. And so they’re they’re stretched pretty thin. So it’s, you know, it’s easier to hire a consultant to come in and help, you know, flush out some of their systems and, you know, create some efficiency so it’s easier for them to run on their own. So, so that’s that’s where I see most of the challenges is on the operational side.

Lee Kantor: Now operations obviously that’s the backbone to any organization. You have to have really tight, effective, efficient operations. But it may not kind of show itself in terms of a of an urgent thing to work on. It just seems like it’s kind of always running in the background. Is there a pain point that occurs where they’re like, hey, we should really call Eboni and her team because this is going to get out of hand quickly. Like, are there symptoms that I might have a problem that may not be like, you know, a fire in the kitchen, but it could be something that could cause a fire in the kitchen.

Ebony Karim: Well, typically you’ll see it mostly on the finance side, right. So that’s whether you know you’re not invoicing properly. You’re not receiving payment on time. Right. That’s that’s one symptom. Or it’s like okay, you know either the customer hasn’t billed or we haven’t built the customer. Um, and then it’s backlog, right. So like project backlog or um, you know, running over on like costs. So those, those are the initial red flags typically, um, you know, because everybody’s tracking costs. And so, you know, if you don’t have any processes in place, you’re definitely going to see a slippage there, and then you’re going to end up spending more money.

Lee Kantor: Right? So that’s where it shows up first.

Ebony Karim: Um, yes, absolutely.

Lee Kantor: Now I see here, um, also part of your, um, kind of work is in beauty tech. Can you talk a little bit about that? That’s fascinating.

Ebony Karim: Yeah. So, um, the Beauty Genie is a beauty tech platform that uses automated retail. So think vending machines, right? Um, and we incorporate AI software to make culturally relevant hair care products accessible. So this is for the demographic who may have had a challenge with finding hair care products that are made for textured and curly hair.

Lee Kantor: And then, um, are you developing the products or do you take existing products and put them in vending machines around the country?

Ebony Karim: Um, the latter, we are definitely not in the CPG space. We function more as a, uh, like third party distribution channel.

Lee Kantor: So how did this opportunity come up? This is, uh, sounds like a great idea.

Ebony Karim: Um, this is a passion project of mine. Um, I had thought about it for a couple years, and, you know, it was one of those great, um, Covid, uh, business ideas. You know, a lot of great ideas came came out of Covid. And so, you know, this was one of those where, you know, stores were closed or, you know, people couldn’t get to, like, the barber shop or their hair salon. You know, how how else can people access products? And so by me already having a background in the tech space, of course, my love for beauty and then being able to use the science behind it, which, uh, so I am a biochemist by education, so I, you know, I was able to use my knowledge in biochemistry and, you know, kind of tie that into tech and innovation and came up with, um, what they call smart or intelligent vending. So.

Lee Kantor: So you developed intelligent vending machines and then you deploy them to sell these hair care products.

Ebony Karim: Correct.

Lee Kantor: And then are you like, how do you deploy them like in different locations? Is that do you have like entrepreneurs in local markets that say, hey, you know, I’m going to put them in all the colleges in my market, or is that something you do as an organization?

Ebony Karim: Well, yeah, that’s that’s something that we are currently doing now. I mean, we’re we’re still very much in startup phase. So we have two verticals. One is, you know, direct to consumers where we work with, you know, entities like collegiate spaces. Right. Because those are very high foot traffic spaces. Um, so we work, you know, hand in hand with the, with the universities ourselves. And then on our B2B side, we work with emerging brands who are looking to add a, you know, a nontraditional distribution channel that doesn’t force them to be in like a big box retailer space. You know, it allows them to kind of test the market without, you know, huge overhead.

Lee Kantor: So when you deploy that to different markets, how do you kind of maintain the inventory? And like if the machine doesn’t work, like how do you kind of fix it? Like how do you kind of build the infrastructure to handle that type of logistics?

Ebony Karim: Yeah, I mean, well, we have a third party, right provider who does our, you know, servicing. And then in terms of like product fulfillment, we have brand ambassadors that function in that role. So so it’s great for, you know, our collegiate partners because it allows students right to be able to, um, you know, work with the startup company, those who are already, you know, studying like marketing or branding. It gives them, you know, first, first hand experience. And for those who already love beauty, right, they they kind of get like a little mix of both.

Lee Kantor: Wow. That’s what a what a fun project that is. Are you getting are you getting traction? It seems like there’s a lot of opportunity in this space.

Ebony Karim: Oh, yeah, it’s tons, tons of opportunity. Um, you know, again, you know, when you think about accessibility, you know, what better way than to have something that you can access, you know, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so you don’t have to, you know, um, rely on either ordering on online and waiting for the product to ship to you or finding a brick and mortar. Um, and then the cool thing that we’ve done, which is a differentiator, uh, a differentiator for, for us as a brand, is that we incorporate the hair AI technology, which allows the customer to do a complete hair assessment, and then they get custom product recommendations. So this is what stands us apart from, you know, shopping online at Amazon or going to Ulta.

Lee Kantor: Right. So then you kind of personalize it to every individual by making specific recommendations for them. So they’re getting kind of a custom solution.

Ebony Karim: Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: So um, what do you need more of? How can we help you? You need more, um, clients for your consulting or you.

Ebony Karim: Absolutely. Definitely. I always need more clients. Um, definitely. Looking for, again, those smaller emerging brands, um, you know, who are looking for another option when it comes to distribution. And then, of course, we always love our retail partners and, um, our, um, collegiate partners as well. So yes, always, always looking for for more customers.

Lee Kantor: So is the beauty genie. Is that out in the wild right now or are you on campuses or or is it.

Ebony Karim: Are we are in market. So yes.

Lee Kantor: So are you in a certain region or where are you looking to grow?

Ebony Karim: Well, I’m looking to grow all over. So of course the Midwest, since we are headquartered in Chicago, but we are primarily in the northeast. So we’re like in, um, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, um, Michigan. But yeah, just looking. And then we’re also open to global expansion as well. There are a lot of markets specifically in the in the UK, where the need to access hair care products for textured hair is even greater than here in the States.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, what is the best way to connect with you or somebody on the team? Uh, is there a website for the consulting and for the, um, the beauty genie?

Ebony Karim: Yes, for our consulting services. Um, you can reach out at Embarcadero solutions.com. That’s our website. And then we are also across all social media platforms at Embarq as solutions. And then for the beauty tech. Um, our website is Beauty Wishes in a box.com and then across all social media platforms at the Beauty box.

Lee Kantor: Well, congratulations on all the success. It sounds like you’re doing a lot of good work and having a lot of fun.

Ebony Karim: Thank you so much. Yeah, it’s a it’s a pleasure to actually, um, work in your purpose. And that’s and that’s what I feel like I’m doing.

Lee Kantor: Well, once again, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work, and we appreciate you.

Ebony Karim: Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We will see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.