Connecting more than just your cell phone after repairs

RECONNEX

ReConnex is an employee- owned and operated company that repairs digital products like phones and tablets.

ReConnex is more than a tech repair company.

The business, which opened in June, is powered by a Digital Champions Grant from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology with a goal of providing hyper-local, affordable tech repair services to underserved communities. 

ReConnex, located at 5430 N. Tryon St. Suite 11, is also a business of social venture. The company is owned and operated by justice-impacted people who are using digital access as a tool for transformation and change. As a result, each employee is a co-owner with an opportunity to build generational wealth while moving beyond standard employment. 

“ReConnex is a tech repair shop, but with a mission that goes far beyond fixing phones or broken computers,” assistant manager Mustaffa Jenkins said. “... ReConnex was launched by City Startup Labs and graduates of [re-entry] programs like myself.”

Henry Rock, City Startup Labs’ founder and executive director, said the underlying goal was to help justice-impacted citizens re-enter society with a leg up. 

“ReConnex is a contraction of two words — re-entry and connections,” he said. “The idea originally was about how could we get folks that are justice impacted devices upon return from prison? We wanted to make sure that there was not only the hardware, but also the connectivity. You're also looking at device repair, because we know that in communities around not just Charlotte, but other communities when a device breaks, now you’re dealing with the digital divide.”

Rock is hoping to bridge the connectivity divide as well. 

“It's one thing to have a device and be connected, be broadband or what have you,” he said. “But when that device breaks, then you’re now on the other side of the divide. We find that in many of these communities, for example, the one that we’re based in and on North Tryon, which is one of the corridors of opportunity. In these communities, you find a lot of mobile dealers, the Boosts and the Mint Mobiles and the Metros but you don't find any adequate device repair businesses in the same community.”

ReConnex is partnered with iFIX America out of Omaha, Nebraska. They help give what Rock described as the “blueprint” of the business model and how to plan for lowering cost of repairs and making sure they are still as dependable, if not more so dependable as other repair shops. 

Jenkins said that one of the biggest impacts ReConnex had on him is the relationships he’s cultivated with clients.

“The biggest thing for me is just the relationships we have with our customers,” Jenkins said. “We have certain things implemented in the system. We are in one of the corridors of Charlotte, so it helps with people coming in, and they can relate to you. It makes it better for them to come back in. Some tech repair specs might be like, ‘Oh, this is really the problem,’ and it might not really be a problem. So, we are just trying to give back to our community not just physically, but emotionally, also.”

Jenkins added that one of the most important things is to make people feel welcome when they walk in. 

“We have the opportunity as entrepreneurs to serve the community and create our own income, setting up generational wealth for ourselves,” he said. “It's just to show other people also, that you can't just be a felon and not be successful. It's very hard to get a job out here being a felon or being justice impacted. So, when you come into the store, it feels more welcoming than you feel when you walk in the Apple Store.”

Both Jenkins and Rock see a bright future for ReConnex. While the company is young, the goal will never change. 

“I've been through it with life,” Jenkins said, “and it definitely helps me give back to the community and give back to people that need our help. If we aren’t going to be the ones doing it, nobody is going to do it.”

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