With multiple locations throughout the tri-state area and a ferocious ad campaign that leaves their logo embedded in our subconscious, Solution Management Group has become a well-known and successful Haitian-owned business within the Haitian community. Solution Management Group, Inc. is a full-service tax, mortgage, and real estate firm specializing in individual and business tax preparation, as well as buying, selling, and financing real estate.
Solution Management is a Haitian franchise founded in 2001 by entrepreneur and musician Witney A. Volcy. Despite its popularity and success, not many people know the man behind the operation. Mr. Volcy, a graduate of the Taylor Institute of New York City, truly defines the term “humble beginnings” when he started Solution Management Group, Inc. in his living room.
After dedicating 11 years of outstanding work to Prudential Insurance Company, Mr. Volcy decided to venture off and start his own business. To do so, he obtained the help of a good friend, and the two opened a restaurant named Caribbean Grill located on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn, NY. After two short years, the business failed, leading Mr. Volcy to a point where he found himself penniless and nearly homeless. He ended up moving in with his father to get back on his feet.
To make ends meet, he started playing with local bands and was at one point dubbed the “Machen Guitar,” a term used in the Haitian Music Industry for musicians that don’t belong to any particular band but whose services could be obtained at any given moment. He continued to struggle, but his luck would soon change.
When asked about the location of his first business office, Mr. Volcy replied, “I remember walking into my house one day and my family yelled ‘surprise’ while pointing at a corner, but it wasn’t my birthday. When I looked at the corner they were pointing at, I saw a desk, with a computer and a phone on it. They said to me, ‘Here’s your new office, now get to work.’ To this day, I still have that desk, computer, and the phone number is still the same.”
Success didn’t immediately follow because it was hard to be taken seriously working out of your dining room. Then it happened: while watching the television news show 60 Minutes one day, it dawned on him that he had some savings bonds which he had obtained from his previous employer, Prudential Insurance. He quickly looked for the bonds and took them to the bank the following business day. With that money, he opened his first Solution Management Group Inc. office, still located at 1112 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, NY, and the rest is history.
Today, Solution Management has a total of five offices—one in Long Island, two in Queens, and two in Brooklyn—with a sixth due to open on November 22nd, 2008, at 86-23 Flatlands Avenue in Brooklyn, NY 11236. This is a perfect case of someone with lots of devotion and perseverance.
