Jaco Transfer and its three co-founders including CEO Loic Jasmin are changing the Haiti food transfer and remittance industry. In addition to offering the traditional staples offered by its competitors, the fledgling startup has staked out other markets ignored or underestimated by older competitors. Jaco Transfer sells motor scooters for example? Motor scooters? Yes! But what does this have to do with helping folks in Haiti? Um, plenty, and rather clever thinking. Family members wanting for male relatives to have economic autonomy can order a scooter and have it home-delivered to said relative to start a motor scooter taxi company. The company also offers home goods. So if a client would like to help a relative in Haiti set up a home goods business in Haiti, the he or she can order everything in bulk to send to said relatives. And Jaco Transfer doesn’t stop there. It offers electronics…so if you have a relative who’d to be spoiled with an HDTV…well…there you go! Other electronic products offered by the company include refrigerators, stoves, mobile phones, pedestal fans for those heat waves, and even blenders.

One of the reasons why the company is thriving is because Jasmin and his three twenty-something co-owners are bringing not just new products, but new tactics. They no doubt realize that the Haitian immigrants who arrived in the United States in the 1970s and through the 1990s are reaching retirement age. Their USA-born and Canada-born and raised children are taking over or assisting them with some of their responsibilities which of course includes remittances. Members of this younger generation may not live where there is a transfer money office, but they do have access to the internet. This is where Jaco Transfer comes in. The company’s website makes it easy for users to log on and order. And then there are all these Web 3.0 and Web 4.0 strategies that the other older companies have not taken advantage of in the way the Jaco Transfer team has. Jaco Transfer sends out newsletters to existing customers and makes a point to send coupons regularly, an incentive traditional Haiti food transfer companies do not generally offer. The company is hyper-active on social media, a platform neglected and under-used by most of the other Haiti transfer and remittance companies.

Follow along as Jasmin answers more of my questions about Jaco Transfer.

Kreyolicious: What milestones accomplished by Jaco Transfer thus far that makes you especially proud?
Jaco Transfer: I think our biggest accomplishment at Jaco so far is to have created a community of Haitian online shoppers that love our service. Getting people who had been sending transfers to Haiti in retail locations to switch to online transfers is no small feat! On top of that, many of the people who try Jaco out are shopping online for the first time. We try to surpass our customers’ expectations to create a community of happy users. I think we’ve been successful in doing that. Those same customers who were shopping online for the first time are now effortlessly placing orders every few weeks! I think that’s our biggest accomplishment.

Kreyolicious: Where do you see Jaco Transfer five years from now?
Jaco Transfer: Five years from now Jaco Transfer will without a doubt be a top player in the Haitian remittance industry. We plan on using Jaco to have a positive impact on Haiti. The Diaspora is one of our biggest assets as a nation and should be given the opportunity to participate directly in strengthening our economy and bettering our country as a whole. That’s Jaco’s mission, and I’m confident we’ll make it happen.

This concludes PART II of the interview with Mr. Jasmin of Jaco Transfer. Be sure to watch out for PART I and PART II of the interview with him. Meanwhile, don’t keep your those relatives in Haiti waiting for that diri, pwa and somon!

CLICK HERE to visit the Jaco Transfer website! Use kreyolicious as your promocode and you will get 10% off your order. Hurry!

Loic Jasmin partnered up with three other like-minded twenty-something entrepreneurs to launch Jaco Transfer. Less than five years old, Jaco Transfer is creating lots and lots of buzz on the Haiti remittance market, and getting plenty of business.

The company’s take is to reach a younger demographic, apply nontraditional and grassroots marketing methods. One key strategy has been to offer food and non-food items, including hygiene products and electronics such as mobile phones as options. Jaco Transfer also dabbles with the fruits and vegetables market as a way to support Haiti’s farms and farmers, while also encouraging members of the population receiving these food remittances to be nutritionally-minded. Mindful of the reconstruction that has been taking place in Haiti since the earthquake hit the island in the early 2010s, and aware of the trend of Haiti born and non-Haiti-born members of the Dyaspora to return to and resettle in Haiti, Jaco Tranfer also offers construction materials among its product offerings.

For Jaco Tranfer CEO, the company has been one long life education course. Here he is sharing the lessons that the company’s CEO has learned across his entrepreneurship journey.

Kreyolicious: Entrepreneurship is a learning experience…full of lessons. If you were to round down these lessons to just five…tough lessons or otherwise…what would you say your journey so far as a businessman taught you?

Jaco Transfer: More often than not, your team is what makes or breaks your company. Having both founded companies with and without Co-Founders, I can say that you’re much more likely to succeed when you have a great team that works with you. I’m lucky to have what I think are some of the best and brightest to work with at Jaco. We fight against the largest, strongest corporations in the country every single day and are able to hold our ground thanks to our amazing team. My co-founders Stefan and Tariq are amazing guys both in and out of the office and work hard every day to make us reach our goals. You have to choose your team wisely! That’s my number one lesson learned.

Kreyolicious: Two…
Jaco Transfer: Don’t be afraid to share. As a first-time founder, it’s often excruciating to share equity. You want to keep 100% of the pie to yourself. I learned that business doesn’t work that way. You shouldn’t be afraid to give equity to investors, partners and employees who you think are valuable to your company! It’s better to own 10% of something amazing than 100% of nothing at all.

Kreyolicious: Three…
Jaco Transfer: Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time. One of my favorite quotes is: “It takes three years to blow up overnight”. I don’t know who originally said it, but I think it’s a fundamental truth in business and in life. You often hear success stories about overnight millionaires and things of that sort. Recently, there was even an article on one of my friends in Montreal who reached half a million in sales within 5 weeks of starting a business. What they didn’t say was that it was his seventh or eight business venture! So yeah, big things take time.

Above: Jasmin overseeing the training of a Jaco Transfer representative at the startup’s offices in Port-au-Prince.

Kreyolicious: Four…
Jaco Transfer: Don’t listen to people who say you can’t do it. Most of them haven’t tried. Few of them tried and failed, but you very well might succeed!

Kreyolicious: Five….
Jaco Transfer: Making money shouldn’t be your only goal, [but] don’t tell your investors. I think lots of people start off in business with only one goal: to make as much money as possible as fast as possible. I learned that money is just one of the things a business makes. Businesses can make a difference in the lives of the people they serve, of the community in which they operate and of their employees. They can give you a platform to push your ideas and express your creativity. Make sure you’re passionate about what you’re doing, not just the profits it could bring!

This concludes PART III of the interview with Mr. Jasmin of Jaco Transfer. Be sure to CHECK OUT PART I and PART II of the Kreyolicious interview with him. Meanwhile, don’t keep your those relatives in Haiti waiting for that diri, pwa and somon!

CLICK HERE to visit the Jaco Transfer website! Use kreyolicious as your promocode and you will get 10% off your order. Hurry!