N.C. A&T Alumni Times

Photo Courtesy of Jerome Myers

For many Americans, working a steady job is the societal norm, however, only a select few choose to jump into entrepreneurship for financial independence. According to The Kauffman Index, 6 percent of the U.S. population owns a business as their primary employment. For Jerome Myers ’05, the journey as an entrepreneur all stemmed from being a civil engineer for over a decade and his passion to give back to others.

Myers, a native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, grew up fascinated by buildings and skyscrapers, and the possibility to help solve people’s problems. When he made the decision to attend North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, his career choice was between engineering and psychology. Being strategic with his education, he decided that engineering would be the best fit for his future.

“As a young child, I had a passion for helping people with their problems but I didn’t think it paid all that well when doing career searches. I knew that engineering was more lucrative and could seed my dreams,” said Myers.

In fall 2001, Myers attended N.C. A&T and majored in civil engineering. During his time at Aggieland, he applied himself to his academics and was inducted in all of the engineering honor societies at the university. In addition, he played Aggie football for four years as an outside linebacker. After graduation, he secured employment at Dominion Resources, a Virginia power business unit, where he worked as a structural engineer. He would go on to work at several engineering firms and complete a MBA at Longwood University in 2010.

In 2015, Myers joined MasTec, the largest minority-owned construction company, where he managed a division that went from zero to $20 million in revenue with seven figures in profits in under a year. After the success of the division, he received a bonus for his work, however for him, the number of hours and the compensation he received for the project just didn’t make sense.

“People go to work every day and they trade their hours for dollars” said Myers. “I wanted financial freedom and that meant I had to get out of that cycle.”

In 2006, Myers started his own company, The Myers Development Group, LLC, a firm that provides solutions to clients in a wide variety of fields with regards to private lending, general contracting, engineering consulting, business strategy and organizational development. He incorporated all of his experience as an engineer, a licensed general contractor, his MBA and his passion for people to start his business. In 2016, he became a full-time entrepreneur.

“To simplify the mission of my company, we develop people and places,” said Myers. “I work as a life coach to help people stay accountable to their goals and I invest in real estate by fixing and flipping single-family homes, and buying and holding multi-family properties.”

Being a full-time entrepreneur for Myers has definitely been a journey but he credits his parents’ sacrifices for his motivation. “I grew up in a single-income household where my dad served in the military as a paratrooper. I know for a fact that my dad sacrificed his body by jumping out of airplanes to support our family. “Entrepreneurship is stressful and the load is heavy but I have broad shoulders.”

Myers is a huge supporter of A&T and believes that it is important for Aggies to give back to their alma mater. In support of the success of students, he established the Myers Family Endowed Scholarship that is available for engineering students who are sophomores with a GPA of 3.2 or higher.

On March 29, Myers will participate in the “I Love My 1891 Entrepreneur Panel Discussion” from 7-9 p.m. in the Academic Classroom Building on A&T’s campus. The program will highlight alumni who are entrepreneurs and provide students with an opportunity to learn more about starting a business. The event is sponsored by the Office of Alumni Relations and the Aggie Student Alumni Association.