We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Donald Watson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Donald, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

The mission statement of our Non-Profit Organization the DC Watson Foundation is Community Outreach and Support Through Teamwork and Technology. We came up with this statement following the events of the 2020 Pandemic. With everyone forced to quarantine, we realized the need for computers and technology in the more underserved school districts in our county. None of the school districts nor were any of the parents ready to have to homeschool their children. Most families only owned one laptop or desktop PC which is fine if you only have one child. But what if they have multiple? The school systems did not have enough computers to go around and trying to do a homework assignments from a cell phone is uncomfortable and almost impossible for most. At this moment I personally realized the need for kids and their families to have access to affordable and most importantly free if possible computers. I learned that most families did not even have one working computer and others could not afford to buy one from the get go. That is what prompted my board of directors and I to form the DC Watson Foundation. To assist others in providing technology resources to those in my community who could not afford to themselves. I also own and operate a IT company called Tech II Refresh and were constantly upgrading computers and tech in different office spaces. Most of the old computers are broken down and recycled never to be used again. But this was the perfect opportunity to reuse repair and recycle this equipment and donate it to individuals and families in our community.

Donald, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Donald Watson Jr. I am from Fayetteville NC and I am the founder of the DC Watson Foundation Inc a non profit organization based in Hope Mills NC. Our primary mission is to provide donated computers and technology to individuals, veterans, families, and fellow non profit organizations in our community. We also host a annual thanksgiving food drive and a christmas drive for the community. I also own and operate a IT managed service company in Fayetteville NC called Tech II Refresh. We provide managed IT services and support to small to midsize businesses, non profit organizations and home consumers.

I am most proud of our foundation. We provide a real service to those in the community. When I was growing both of my parents were hard working people. They both worked full time jobs and were both ill. They made sure we had what we needed and if we needed more they worked harder lol. But even with all of this it was difficult for us to afford a home PC. My first PC was donated to me and so were the parts. Even the knowledge of how to get these parts to work together was donated to me by my next door neighbor Mr. RC. That is how it all started. So I guess I feel it is my responsibility to pass that same knowledge and skill on to the next generation. The funny part of this story is that is how I actually got my first internship which turned into my first job. If my now best friend and brother Harrison Hall would have not given me the chance to take what I knew and hone my skills, Id would not be able to pass this experience to those who want to learn. Which is why the DC Watson Foundation also has a computer and networking apprenticeship program which allows us to teach tech skills to those who would like to learn and get into this industry. It also give us a chance to reach out to the community and help our youth have a place to go and older positive influences to talk to sort of like peer counseling. There is no replacing a positive influence in a child’s life. This also the reason the DC in the foundation name stands for my parents Donald and Charlesmagne. They worked hard to provide for us, but they always found a way to give. No matter what if the need was there they answered the call to whoever needed. I saw it to be only fitting that I honor them in namesake with the DC Watson Foundation. Their values are what prompted me to do what I do today.

As a executive director of a non profit organization myself, I understand that budget is everything and that you must make your donation dollars stretch. As a small business owner I also understand the need for services to keep your business running and to allow you to continue to grow. Because of this I am blessed to be able to assist fellow non profits in being able to further their missions by helping them digitize and gain access to the same support and skillset that the larger non profit organizations have and assisting them to keep their tech up and running for a very modest prices. Most non profits and well as start up businesses can not afford but do need IT support services. That were Tech II Refresh comes in, we provide these services to this start ups and non profit organizations for very nominal amounts enabling them to grow and thrive allowing them to further the reach of their own missions. Were all just trying to make the world a better place who am I not to help them carry out their missions.

I love technology and engineering I have since I was very young. I’ve always had a very inquisitive mind in learning how things work together and how they can be made better. I’ve also been a car guy my whole life my father was a mechanic. Most of my mechanical knowledge I credit to him and my uncles for passing down to help me have a understanding of how things work together in a system to solve a need or problem.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I was 18 years old I lost my father to Sickle Cell Disease. When I was 24 I lost my mother to stage 4 cancer. During all that loss, I gained custody of my 17 year old twin sisters. Most people shockingly enough did not believe that adopting my sisters was a good move for me or my sisters. They felt I was too young and that my sisters would not have a proper home environment they could thrive in. Both of my sisters now have their Bachelors Degrees and are both on their way to grad programs in their perspective fields. They have never been to prison and they have never harmed anyone. I own a successful small business and operate a successful non profit organization. People expected us to fail without our parents, We overcame our struggles and made our parents proud.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Word of mouth still to this day is my best source of new clients. People talk. Good and bad about your business. I gotten way more referrals for new clients from a existing client because of the work we do and the quality in which we do it at. I have even turned a potential clients away because they did not need the services we provided at that time. Instead of taking their money I instructed them to a better resource. Those same clients eventually became my client and brought additional firms with them simply because of our honesty.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dcwatsonfoundation.org & www.tech2refresh.com
• Instagram: @dcwatsonfoundation
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/dcwatsonfoundation