In 2018, the entrepreneur launched Tesix Wireless when she was a teenager after she saw a gap in the telecommunications space. Since its inception, her company has seen great success in the last several years as it has raked in over $12 million before taxes were deducted, according to Black Business. Although operations have been great, last year she decided to pause operations for new customers to acquire access to her network after she noticed some major changes needed to be done to elevate her prepaid wireless company. She took seven months to put into place concepts that would reshape her product. Starting this week, it’s ready for more users.

Her business bloomed from a place of irritation. When Moncrief turned 18, she was excited to become an independent adult, so much so that she was happy to take on the role of paying for her cell phone at the time. Things were great until she received the bill from her service provider, which exceeded the amount she saw advertised by the well-known carriers. Barely making enough money to survive at Taco Bell, it was hard for her to afford a wireless device.

“I was 18 years old, working at Taco Bell and making less than $450/month. I was finally old enough to get the phone I wanted on a contract. I thought everything was ‘pay-as-you-see,'” she said in an interview with Black Business. “I thought I would be paying $90/month — something I thought I could handle, but to my surprise, I had so many different fees that were resulting in $150 or more bills.”

 

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Since the Alabama native was planning on creating a smartphone, which eventually came to fruition in 2020 when it was released, she decided to go bigger and create an affordable phone service for teenagers and young adults. Customers who choose her service will pay $35 or $55 per month, based on the plan they choose.

“The frustration kind of got worse over time because I found myself spending my entire work checks just to get my phone back on. It finally got to the point — I had to go prepaid,” ” Moncrief told Black Business. “That pain point kind of stuck with me in the launching of Tesix Wireless years later because of course, launching a wireless carrier was easier said than done.”

To establish a well-rounded telecommunications company, the main components needed in a great wireless business are having access to cellphone towers, land, and a lot of funds to build the infrastructure. Typically, prepaid carriers work with major networks like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to use their towers.

“When I learned this at 18 years old, I realized it was nearly impossible to get this kind of access or even that kind of money to launch a carrier. Expensive wasn’t even the word for it,” she told Black Business. “I left the idea alone pretty quickly and it wasn’t until a few years later that I realized I needed to lease space on the other major carrier’s tower to create a prepaid carrier.”

After learning the tools needed and the right approach, Moncrief set out to make her idea a reality, which steered the wheel for her to become one of the youngest founders of a Black-owned prepaid company at 25 years old. Although her journey hasn’t been easy to accomplish this goal and is still thriving years later, so she’s grateful just to be a long-standing business that overcame obstacles. When it came to the rebranding and reformation of the company, the technology expert geared up for the future of mobile wireless servicing with ready-to-go activation, embedding AI characteristics for enhanced account management and “plan metric tracking.”

“This year we will be putting heavy focus into our marketing, more than ever. The key for us is to continue building brand awareness and increasing our brand credibility because, in this space, that credibility means everything to our growth,” she said. “I am very excited about the future of the company and everything that’s to come.”

Being a young entrepreneur that’s doing groundbreaking work not only for her community but the industry as well. Her experience in technology has helped her be able to build a brand she can navigate.

“Being in this space has been a major eye-opener over the last 5 years. I’ve learned a lot that will allow me to move forward to really build an amazing brand going forward,” she said. “Tech and telecom are a major part of the future — one that we are already entering, and running my startups has allowed me to really position myself for what’s to come in the space and to fully understand that there are no limitations.”

She added, “The consistency and drive required to succeed in telecom when you’re among giants that take up more than 90% of the space may be very intimidating, but I’ve learned that if I can make it 5 years here, I can build something even more incredible.”