EnrichHER: Give us your elevator pitch for Lillii RnB?Barbara: Lillii RNB Inc is a Retail IT Product and Services company that works with Fortune 500 retailers on their Point of Sale and other Retail IT related technical needs. We are a 6-year old consultancy and I am a Subject Matter Expert in the RetailTech arena working with large retailers like Home Depot, The Gap, LL Bean and recently Comcast/Xfinity Mobile Stores. We hire women and minorities fresh out of college and train them to work in the RetailTech market.
Lillii is an acronym for “Let’s Imagine Life with Ladies in IT”!
You can learn much more about our company at lilliirnb.com!
EnrichHER: Tell us about the employment history that led you to starting Lillii RnB.
Barbara: I had just graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Computer Science degree and was a budding Java programmer - one of very few in Austin, TX. Fresh out of college, I was recruited by tech startup 360Commerce as one of their first Java programmers. The startup was building one of the first “pretty” Point of Sale (POS) systems. It was built using Java programming language, which was pretty new back then. Four years later, Oracle Corporation bought us and turned our “pretty” POS system into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise POS system that is used by some of the largest retailers in the world! I was one of the first 25 programmers in the company and received some money from the acquisition. I decided NOT to work for Oracle and started a one-woman consulting company named R&B Jones and Associates, Inc. That company did very well and allowed me to start and fund Lillii RNB Inc which I still own today.
EnrichHER: That is a beautiful story. I'm starting to connecting the dots! Now, what makes Oracle a great partner for you all?
Barbara: Oracle has been a great partner since the acquisition and through their intensive marketing of the POS application they acquired from 360Commerce, I have been able to build two consulting practices from retailers who use ORPOS (rebranded after the Oracle acquisition). Our Oracle POS practice is our largest to date and we are now Oracle Gold Partners.
EnrichHER: Barbara, this is so exciting! I know you are working really hard. Who is the Lillii RnB target customer?
Barbara: Our target customer are Tier 1 Retailers: the biggest retailers with over a billion dollars in revenue per year. These retailers normally have their own IT departments but augment their staff with our highly skilled and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) on the Point of Sale side.
EnrichHER: How did you decide on your business model?
Barbara: I was inspired by the model that was used by 360Commerce and my mentor, Joe Halloum, who was responsible for the sell of 360Commerce and his own company which he founded AFTER the acquisition. His company Starmount Systems was also acquired after he led the company as CEO for 10 years.
EnrichHER: Your mentor sounds like he's been a key part of your journey. Tell us about Freeing Returns?
Barbara: Freeing Returns is a B2B platform that helps retailers stop fraud. We created this product after working with one of our clients, who is the largest home improvement retailer in the country with headquarters here in Atlanta, to solve the challenges they were having with their merchandise returns. After working on that project, I had an epiphany! Then after testing the idea at a Hackathon sponsored by the ATDC and Worldpay, we decided to build the platform. We won the prize for “Best in Show” due to Worldpay confirming that merchandise returns was a huge issue for MOST of their retail clients. You can learn much more about Freeing Returns at freeingreturns.com!
EnrichHER: What encouraged you to join the EnrichHER platform?Barbara: I was an early adopter of EnrichHER and one of the first women to signup and pitch for the very first EnrichHER pitch contest. I was on the original email distribution list which alerted women-owned businesses about opportunities for funding. This email distribution list helped us secure various acceptances for pitch contests, incubators, accelerators and hackathons.
I believe in the mission of EnrichHER and as a women who has owned several businesses, my funding options have been extremely limited. I have seen my fellow male colleagues grow and expand their businesses by raising much needed capital very easily, where as I have struggled and have taken very predatory lending and funding options. Therefore, I have supported EnrichHER from the beginning because I know first-hand how much this platform is needed by women-led companies.
EnrichHER: We appreciate your support, Barbara and we are excited to support you in raising the money you need for your companies. What’s your vision for Lillii RnB?
Barbara: Lillii RNB is my first company that has generated over $1M dollars in revenue. My goal is build Lillii RNB Inc. to the point where it can be acquired for millions, which will allow me to fund my product company, Freeing Returns!
Congratulations on everything, Barbara! It has been beautiful to watch your journey! Learn more about Lillii RNB and how you can fund your business by visiting our website here.
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