Anne-Marie’s Why: Family
ICIC Programs: Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC)
Driven by compassion and a commitment to helping others, Anne-Marie Jenkins, President of iStaffing Services, founded the company to overcome employment and transportation barriers in North Mississippi. With mentorship from the ICCC program, she sustained the company’s mission to transform lives and empower families across the region.
Anne-Marie Jenkins is a New Zealand transplant whose compassionate spirit and natural skills as a networker and problem solver landed her in the staffing industry. She spent 14 years in outreach and admissions with the Job Corps program. It was the combination of her experience at staffing agencies and time with students from Job Corps that led to the creation of iStaffing Services, a woman- and minority-owned company providing staffing solutions, HR services, and employee transportation throughout the North Mississippi region.
Anne-Marie and her family originally relocated to Batesville to help care for her husband’s aging parents. She explains that the decision to move was easy because “Family is my ‘why.’” It was there she discovered the challenges that Job Corps students faced in finding employment due to low pay, lack of access to resources, and significant transportation barriers in their area of the Delta. Anne-Marie used $1,500 to buy a van and secured a contract with a food factory 50 minutes from the town offering double the pay of local employers. She established a van route to transport employees from Batesville to the factory, addressing the transportation challenges.
Turning Adversity Into Triumph Through ICCC
In 2023, Anne-Marie applied to ICIC’s Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program, where she gained valuable insights from experienced business owners who had successfully navigated the same challenges she was facing. Engaging in training allowed her to receive real-time answers to pressing questions. Overall, she found the program to be a confidence builder, as she no longer felt isolated in her struggles.
Now an ICCC graduate, Anne-Marie is beyond grateful for her experience and continues to lean into ICCC’s network through contacts like Marnell Love, a management consultant for Communities Unlimited. Through his mentorship, iStaffing saw a nearly 400% increase in its net income in less than 30 days. Anne-Marie states, “Our business is open today because of the ICCC program. We were in the red and could not get a loan to keep going. Through ICCC’s network, I was connected to Marnell Love. His mentorship put us in the black in just one month. ”
“Our business is open today because of the ICCC program. We were in the red and could not get a loan to keep going. Through ICCC’s network, I was connected to Marnell Love. His mentorship put us in the black in just one month.”
Her mentor is also helping her to attain a loan, which she was unable to do before the program. By following the strategy he’s laid out, the company expects to see a minimum of 600% increase in its profits this year.
When Anne-Marie relocated to Mississippi to care for her aging in-laws, she discovered that her passion for family extended beyond her relatives. As the sole staffing agency offering transportation for workers, iStaffing Services has become a source of hope and a catalyst for positive change for families across her community. In the past year alone, it has successfully placed 300 individuals in jobs, enabling them to support themselves, their families, and their communities.