African American Business, Black Business, African American Professional, Emmanuel Irono, Motir Services, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN, KINDR'D Magazine, KINDR'D, Willoughby Avenue

‘Social Entrepreneur’ Uses Company to Give Back | The African American (AFRO)

Read Time 2 min.

‘Social Entrepreneur’ Uses Company to Give Back | The African American (AFRO)



[dropcap]When[/dropcap] Emmanuel Irono moved to the United States from Nigeria in the 1980s to attend Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, he dreamed of working as a banker at a premier financial institution. Instead, Irono found himself cleaning the school’s dining hall and a local Burger King at night to put himself through school and support his extended family in Nigeria after his parents died. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″]

African American Business, Black Business, African American Professional, Emmanuel Irono, Motir Services, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN, KINDR'D Magazine, KINDR'D, Willoughby Avenue

It was that experience, the values instilled by his parents and his business sense that inspired Irono to earn his MBA from Morgan State University, and in 1994, buy out a two-person cleaning operation for $10,000. He named the enterprise Motir Services Inc. – “Motir” being an acronym honoring his late parents and means Memory of Theresa Irono Romanus.

Today Motir, located in Northeast D.C., is a multimillion-dollar company with 300 employees and a second office in Prince George’s County. It offers a range of contract services beyond cleaning such as facility management, consulting, IT, construction, and medical staffing. Motir’s clients include municipal, state, and federal agencies as well as commercial enterprises.