Recorded live at E-Scrap: The Longevity Conference in New Orleans, Uriah Kiser talks with Jen Holub, CEO of Export Computer Exchange, which partners with ITADs to send ready-for-reuse equipment — gear not right for e-commerce but not ready for scrap — to Central and South America.
Jen explains why her customers value consistency and relationships over bidding, why including adapters and mastering documentation and customs matter, and why fourth-gen laptops and DDR2/DDR3 machines still have a market there.
She also shares her path from owner’s assistant to sole owner of the company — and her advice to be bold.
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Transcript of episode 12: The Resource Recycling Podcast
Host: Uriah Kiser, Resource Recycling | Guest: Jennifer Holub, CEO, Export Computer Exchange
Uriah: Welcome back to the Resource Recycling Podcast. We are live at E-Scrap: The Longevity Conference here at the Hyatt Regency. I get my Hyatts confused all the time, but more importantly, we’re in New Orleans. Jen Holub is with us today on the podcast. We’ve been having a great conversation about the niche you serve and getting down into markets where you’ve found your market: the people who need consistency. Consistency in their tech, consistency in reuse. Tell us all about that market. Do me a favor and tell the audience your company and, broadly, what you do.
Jen: I’m Jen with Export Computer Exchange, and we specialize in getting equipment from here in the U.S. to Central and South America. It’s a unique market in that it has different barriers to entry and does business differently. We partner with ITADs who have equipment that’s not great for e-commerce but isn’t ready to be scrapped. We’re that middle ground. We take the equipment that’s good and still has life in it, and we ship it to Central and South America.
We work differently in that we don’t bid, and our pricing doesn’t change a lot. These people want consistency, like you said, and clear expectations. So we’re not constantly out there trying to get the best price. We’re trying to get product that I can actually get into the countries, and product that they need.
Uriah: South America is where you focus your time. Talk to me about the differences between other markets and what your clients are looking for.
Jen: If you think about Latin America in general, some things that are culturally different are that they have high levels of theft, and they also work in an environment of bribery. Those are things we have to take into consideration, especially when it comes to what we’re shipping to them.
They’re also not trying to add value down there. They want to get it into the reuse market as quickly as possible. Other parts of the world want equipment they can still add value to. They’ve got the employees, the manpower, and probably cheap access to skins, adapters and the components you need to actually put it on a desk and use it.
So for us, it’s really important to have the adapter with it. Over here, we think, oh, we can just grab another adapter for three, five, 10 bucks. There, they can’t just have one shipped down. One, they can’t necessarily expect they’re going to get it, and two, there’s the bribery and getting it through customs. And more important than anything is the documentation. That’s where we’ve really mastered making sure everything checks all the boxes so it actually gets to them, and that it’s packaged safely.
Uriah: It sounds almost like a James Bond movie.
Jen: I love that.
Uriah: But you did say you had mastered this.
Jen: Oh, we mastered it.
Uriah: It’s been 29 years. Talk about what it took, the changes you’ve seen in this industry, and what you had to change in your business to make sure it gets there every time.
Jen: Twenty-nine years ago, I wasn’t there at the start of the company. But the previous owner had connections in the Latin America market and saw this need. A ton has changed. Back then it was like calling out of a phone book. You had to fly down there. We didn’t have the connectivity we have now.
And they don’t necessarily have as much connectivity as we do either. There’s a technology gap and divide, and there’s also the question of what they can run. I was talking to someone yesterday about cell phones and towers, and how a lot of devices won’t work here but do work down there, because they’ve gotten our old technology.
Uriah: Interesting.
Jen: They’re also not the market trying to buy the newest, or even a couple of years old. They’re looking for something more affordable, and they’re running on old technology because they may not have had technology at all. So this is new technology to them, and their infrastructure wouldn’t be able to handle anything newer anyway.
People think there’s no value left in it, that it’s got to be scrapped, or that the components are worth more than, say, the laptop is. That’s not true. I’m still getting requests all the way back to fourth gen, equipment with DDR2 or DDR3 in it. And for us, we’re like, “What? That’s obsolete.” It’s not obsolete. These countries are still evolving.
Uriah: Do you see this opportunity growing with fourth-gen tech? Is it an expanding opportunity?
Jen: This isn’t ever going away. That’s why I bought the business. Next year, this company will be 30 years old. Our name is known. We’ve shifted a lot. We used to mainly do containers. But think about shipping CRT monitors versus LCD monitors, and towers versus laptops. That was one of the main things I had to figure out, because a container is much more secure than a pallet.
Uriah: Absolutely.
Jen: A container’s got a seal on it and a lock. It’s steel. A pallet’s got, hopefully, a gaylord, some banding and some shrink wrap. It’s a little easier to snag something off of.
Uriah: You brought up CRTs. Is there stuff they won’t take? Anything they don’t want?
Jen: There’s definitely stuff they don’t understand. And when COVID happened, I got really niched. At one point, I’d ship pretty much anything that plugged in. I’ve shipped refrigerators. I’ve shipped televisions.
But because of how big our industry has gotten, plus COVID and the shift to bidding and transactions, which I’m highly opposed to, I got specific. I’m about relationships, and I believe transactions come from relationships. That’s also how that culture works. They work on relationships, which is why it’s a great niche for me.
I got really specific so I can give pricing all the time. I don’t have to jump on a bid list or spend all that time not knowing whether I’ll get it. I can just say, “Here are the four products I focus on. Here are the different generations. Here’s my target pricing. If that works for you, awesome. If it doesn’t, awesome. I’m sure there’s someone else it works for.”
Uriah: Absolutely. There’s something for all of us. Speaking of working, you started as the assistant to the owner of the company.
Jen: I did.
Uriah: I don’t want to date you, but you’ve been there a while, and now you own the company. That’s a proud moment and a big transition. Talk about that.
Jen: I had just graduated with my bachelor’s degree and was looking for a job. I applied online and went in to interview. I don’t even think I applied for an assistant job. I think it was something in sales or procurement. I don’t even remember; it’s been a while. Once I got to the interview with the owner, he said, “I want you. You’re going to work for me. I’m going to train you.” Within a few months I was promoted to another position, and within a couple of years I was on track to become a partner. Not 100 percent owner, a partner.
Uriah: You were working your way up the ladder.
Jen: I was, and then life threw me some curveballs. I decided at that point it wasn’t a fit for me. There were some internal conflicts, and I had some trauma and really questioned my life.
Uriah: But my favorite part of this story is coming right up. Go ahead.
Jen: So I leave and go get my master’s degree. The owner kept asking, “Hey, are you interested in buying the company?” and would throw numbers at me. One time I replied, “If it gets closer to this, I’ll look at it.” Then I got a phone call that the number was closer to what I’d said I’d be willing to invest, and I bought the company with another former employee.
Uriah: That’s fantastic. The way she said it was just, “So I left, and then I came back, and I bought the company.” I love that part.
Jen: That was so fun. It’s been a journey from being the assistant to being a partner. I’ve had two partners, and I bought out my last partner last year. I’ve really been able to take the company in the direction I’d always envisioned, and in a way that feels good to me. I wake up every day excited about what I get to do.
Uriah: That’s fantastic. There are a lot of people who may be in the shoes you were in some time ago, listening to or watching this. As you look back at how far you’ve come, what might you have done differently to get here faster or better?
Jen: Hindsight’s always 20/20. Where I am today is only because of all the challenges and obstacles I had. But really, I would’ve been bolder. That’s for sure. I would’ve worked on my confidence and known that I belonged in those rooms, and that there were plenty of people cheering me on. I was my worst critic. Welcome to the human experience. We’re all just practicing every day and learning. With the kids I’ve fostered and worked with, I always say, “We’re just raising ourselves and each other over here.”
So just be bold. Go after it and learn what you can. And for me, know that I deserve to be in those rooms. It’s not that they let me. I get to, and I add value, and I know that I add value. The other thing is, I’m no longer the assistant. I started as the assistant, and that’s great, but sometimes I have to remind myself, “I’m the owner,” and put my CEO hat on.
Uriah: And you turn around and look at what you built.
Jen: And I look at the opportunities other people have been given through the risks I’ve taken. It’s awesome.
Uriah: That’s great. Tell people how they can follow you and learn more about what you do: your website, your socials, your favorite flavor of birthday cake. We’ll drop all of that in the description of the podcast.
Jen: Awesome. I’ll start with this: coffee is my love language. Coffee and dark chocolate.
Uriah: There you go.
Jen: The best place for suppliers, which I’m guessing is who’ll be seeing this podcast, is my LinkedIn. I have a master’s degree in HR, and I love leadership and organizational behavior, so I have a blog on LinkedIn, articles called The Mindful Leader. So, Jennifer Holub. LinkedIn is the best place.
Because we’re dealing with people all over and in different languages, our information is very simple. English may be their second language, maybe their third, maybe not a language they use at all. So on that side, it’s very much specs and numbers. Things that are translatable.
Uriah: Absolutely.
Jen: So it’s pretty simple. But you can always get me on WhatsApp or LinkedIn, follow my blog, or see me at one of these conferences.
Uriah: And she’s very approachable, very easy to talk to, as you have shown everyone. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you for coming on the Resource Recycling Podcast.
Jen: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Uriah: I’m Uriah Kiser. If you want more conversations like this, give us a follow at the Resource Recycling Podcast. Like this video, share it, and hit that bell notification and subscribe button so you know when we’re talking about circularity, ITAD, e-scrap, you name it, on the Resource Recycling Podcast from New Orleans.
