We are Marie and Jef, a husband-and-wife team

After many years of corporate careers, we decided to switch gears and take the entrepreneurship route through business acquisition.

Our objective is to acquire a small business that truly resonates with our skills and passions.

With a hands-on mindset, we are eager to honor and build upon the legacy the owners created over the years, dedicating our full energy, time, & commitment to drive its success forward.

Our vision is to be the trusted partner every small business owner looks for when it is time to pass the torch and embark on their next chapter.

Investment criteria

$750k-1.3M
cash flow

Repeat customers

Stable profitability

10+ years in business

Texas

located

Owner-Operator ready to retire or firm exit

What we are not interested in: Restaurants, Logistics, Child/Elderly Care, Retail

Preferred sectors: Building & Construction, Manufacturing, Services Businesses

Why Us?

We are trustworthy partners that operate with integrity and care

We roll up our sleeves and put our reputation on the line

We are not mere investors: we will operate the business ourselves, entirely committed to it, and make sure the business reputation remains stellar

We have at heart to protect the business' legacy

Our combined 30+ years career give us the expertise and experience in business strategy, operations improvement, and revenue growth, as well as team building

We are investing our own capital

Because we are providing all the equity and have a solid personal balance sheet,
once you and we agree, there are no other investors to convince

We are competent business managers

We have a deep admiration for small businesses' achievements over years of hard work.
We want to preserve what makes it great: its culture and its employees.

About Marie

We met in Brazil while we were both working for BCG.

Marie moved to Houston in 2015 and Jef in 2016.

We had our first child, Arthur, in 2018. Our second child, Melissa, arrived in late 2019. Soon after, in 2021, Jef decided to quit his consulting career and become a full-time dad.

About Jef

My name is Marie-Helene Ben Samoun. I was born and raised in France, where I graduated with a Master of Science in Business.

I have over 20 years of experience, including 18 years in strategy consulting.

I began my career in food retail, working for Carrefour in Poland for two years before joining the Boston Consulting Group in the Paris office. Following that, I spent 5 years in Brazil in the São Paulo office before moving to the United States, where I have now been for 10 years in the Houston office.

I have extensive experience in core operations improvement, back office operations streamlining, and revenue growth programs across a wide range of industries, primarily in energy/ Oil & Gas, but also in manufacturing, retail, and distribution.

My father was an entrepreneur in wood furniture manufacturing and distribution, so I have witnessed both the successes and challenges of running a small business.
I believe the entrepreneurial spirit runs in my family: I am very excited to apply the skills I’ve gained throughout my corporate career to a small business, hand-in-hand with Jef.

Our Story

My name is Jeferson (or, one "f" Jef) Santos. I was born and raised in Brazil, where I graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Campinas, Unicamp.

I have over 12 years of experience, including 9 years in strategy consulting at Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

I began my career in manufacturing, working as an intern for Unilever in their Dove plant in São Paulo, where I was involved in their capital investment program.

Then I joined the Boston Consulting Group in the São Paulo office and transferred to the Houston office in 2016.

My consulting experience led me across a wide range of sectors: mining, insurance, pharma, and, over the last few years, oil and gas. My work focused on business strategy, operations improvement and cost reduction, and organizational structure re-design.

Now that they are 7 and 5 years old, we decided it's the perfect time to embark on a new journey and pursue the entrepreneurship dream.

We are very excited to start a new chapter in our lives!