Technical Education as Foundation

The business acumen of Haroldo Jacobovicz was built upon a solid technical foundation. After seven years at Military College, he pursued Civil Engineering at the Federal University of Paraná, completing the program in four and a half years during the early 1980s. This educational background provided the analytical thinking and problem-solving skills that would later serve him well in identifying business opportunities, even though his career would ultimately take him in a different direction than traditional civil construction.

Family Technical Heritage

The technical inclinations of Haroldo Jacobovicz may have been partly hereditary. As the eldest of four siblings, he grew up in a household where engineering was a family tradition. His father, Alfredo, worked as both a civil engineer and a university professor, while his mother, Sarita, had made history as the seventh female civil engineer in Paraná. Despite these strong connections to conventional engineering, Jacobovicz found himself drawn to the then-emerging field of Information Technology.

Learning from Initial Ventures

The entrepreneurial journey of Haroldo Jacobovicz began before he even completed his university studies. Recognizing the potential for computer automation in retail operations, he gathered three friends with computer skills to establish Microsystem. Their company aimed to revolutionize how stores, pharmacies, and supermarkets managed inventory and cash registers. Though this venture closed after two years because the market wasn’t yet ready for such technological integration, it provided valuable lessons about timing and market readiness that would guide his future business decisions.

Corporate Strategic Training

Following this initial entrepreneurial effort, Haroldo Jacobovicz joined Esso (now Exxon Mobil Corporation). Selected from among more than 200 engineers, he quickly demonstrated his capabilities, advancing from reserve salesman to market analyst for the South region, eventually reaching a position responsible for commercial tactics and new business at the Brazilian headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. This period provided crucial experience in corporate strategy and how large organizations could leverage data processing for business advantage.

Public Sector Business Insights

Economic pressures during the Cruzado Plan period, combined with family considerations, eventually prompted Haroldo Jacobovicz to leave Esso and return to Paraná. There, he joined the prestigious Itaipu Hydroelectric Plant project as an advisor to the Technical Director. This role provided unique perspectives on how the public sector approached business and technology decisions, including the bureaucratic challenges associated with adopting new technologies—insights that would later shape his business solutions.

Market Gap Identification

After four years in the public sector, Haroldo Jacobovicz returned to entrepreneurship with a refined vision. He identified a specific market gap: the difficulty public agencies faced in adopting computer technology due to bureaucratic hurdles in classifying equipment as permanent assets. To address this need, he founded Minauro, offering an innovative solution: computer rental and maintenance with four-year contracts that included equipment replacement every 18 months. This approach proved highly successful, winning bids throughout Brazil’s South and Southeast regions.

Strategic Acquisitions

The business intelligence of Haroldo Jacobovicz led him to recognize opportunities for vertical integration. Through strategic acquisitions of companies including Consult, Perform, and Sisteplan, he expanded beyond hardware to incorporate specialized software for tax, financial, administrative, health, and education management. This expansion resulted in the formation of the e-Governe Group, which continues to serve Brazilian municipalities with comprehensive IT solutions for public administration.

New Market Entry

In 2010, identifying opportunities in the corporate telecommunications market, Haroldo Jacobovicz founded Horizons Telecom. Built from the ground up with premium resources and based on a project originally conceived by Renato Guerreiro (the first president of Anatel), the company quickly established itself in the corporate telecommunications niche. Within a decade, it became a reference in its market segment, demonstrating Jacobovicz’s ability to successfully enter and compete in new business sectors.

Strategic Exit and Reinvestment

After building Horizons Telecom into a reference in its market over the course of a decade, Haroldo Jacobovicz executed a strategic exit in early 2021, selling the company to a major investment group. Rather than retiring, he immediately reinvested his expertise and resources into a new venture: Arlequim Technologies. This startup focuses on computer virtualization, offering solutions that enhance the performance of existing equipment to match state-of-the-art machines without requiring new hardware purchases.

Current Business Focus

The latest venture of Haroldo Jacobovicz, Arlequim Technologies, demonstrates his continuing ability to identify market needs. The company targets corporate, public sector, and retail markets—particularly gamers—providing cost-effective alternatives to equipment replacement through virtualization technology. This approach addresses both economic and sustainability concerns by extending the useful life of existing hardware.

Throughout his diverse business career spanning multiple sectors, Haroldo Jacobovicz has consistently demonstrated strategic thinking in identifying market opportunities and developing innovative solutions that create value for organizations and individuals.