West Bloomfield, Mich. – Mariyah Saifuddin, CEO and co-founder of Innovative Solution Partners, an SAP service partner since 2012, has been named as one of the Enterprising Women of the Year for 2022 by Enterprising Women magazine.
The award was announced this month in Enterprising Women magazine, a global publication that reaches 1 million readers in 185 countries. There are 100 top women entrepreneurs across the world representing companies with under $1 million in revenue to more than $100 million in annual revenue.
Saifuddin, a leader in the Metro Detroit IT community, founded Innovative Solution Partners of West Bloomfield, Mich., in 1999 with her husband and business partner, Mustansir Saifuddin. In working with clients in the data and business intelligence realm, Innovative Solution Partners focuses on SAP, Microsoft Power BI and cloud-driven solutions.
“We use our F.O.C.U.S. Methodology, which takes clients from the requirements to rollout phase and ensures we deliver analytic solutions that can lead to informed decision-making,” Saifuddin says. “That has been essential in the past two years, when the landscape has changed dramatically for businesses in every sector.
“Our emphasis on helping businesses in their migration to the cloud has allowed us to highlight SAC features such as analytics designer, for one. The acceleration of cloud migration, at the same time companies are experiencing a talent crisis, has meant we need to be there for our clients every step of the way.”
While Mariyah Saifuddin has adjusted her company’s focus to deal with pandemic-related shifts in businesses, Mustansir Saifuddin has worked alongside his team to ensure he understands his clients’ needs. His “Tech-Driven Business” podcasts have focused this year on SAC and data-specific SAP products, featuring multiple SAP experts, including Iver van de Zand, Torsten Welte, Jason Shearer, Bill Newman, and Nichole Smith.
“The pandemic – and the major disruptions it caused for our clients – has given us the chance as an SAP Service Partner to sit beside those clients and figure out how to leverage analytics to quickly adapt to the changing environment,” Saifuddin says. “For example, the shift to the cloud was already a key to doing businesses in early 2020. Now that transformation is at warp speed. We are helping our clients on that journey.”
As a woman in the male-dominated field of IT, Saifuddin often has been the only female in the room. As a minority woman business leader, establishing her voice and developing leadership skills became even more important in her journey as an entrepreneur. She believes strongly, as well, in paying it forward.
“It’s really gratifying to be honored by Enterprising Women, which not only recognizes entrepreneurship in professionals but also promotes mentorship and encourages girls and young women in STEM,” says Saifuddin. “I got my own start in IT because of the strong example and encouragement of my parents. I want to help foster an inviting atmosphere for women to enter IT.”
Saifuddin is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners and is president-elect of the Greater Detroit Chapter of the organization.
Saifuddin is an alumna of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, a 12-week education and networking program for small business owners throughout the U.S. She attended the Executive Education Program at Dartmouth University’s Tuck School of Business through a program sponsored by the Women’s Business National Enterprise Council, an organization that certifies businesses owned, controlled, and operated by women in the United States.
