Kevin Hart’s Gran Coramino Tequila has officially reached a new milestone. According to a press release shared with AFROTECH™, since its inception in 2022, the ultra-premium tequila company has provided more than $1 million in grant funding to over 100 Black and Latinx small-business owners and entrepreneurs through its Coramino Fund. The fund, powered by the company founded by Hart and 11th-generation tequila maker Juan Domingo Beckmann, has made giving back to the community its main priority from the very beginning, honoring its “vision to celebrate life’s hard-earned moments” by donating $1 from every bottle sold to support underrepresented entrepreneurs in the United States and Mexico. “As an entrepreneur myself, I’ve seen how early financial support can impact the long-term success of the business,” Hart said in a statement. “The Coramino Fund was created to provide support to some of the hardest working people out there — entrepreneurs and small business owners.”   View this...

The world of social media has grown to become an interesting place for influencers, where they can build communities and become their own business-owners. While some people establish careers as influencers with intention, others like Marley Mauvais stumble into it accidentally. But carving her own lane in the digital social space has allowed her to create an unconventional, yet successful brand through fruit content creation. Mauvais — a plant-based content creator and self-proclaimed fruit influencer from New Jersey — like many young people struggled to figure out what her career path would be after college. Even after earning a bachelor of science degree in entrepreneurship from Long Island University, she still hadn’t figured out if running a business was meant for her. “I always knew I was an entrepreneur,” she tells AfroTech, but after her first business flopped she moved back home to take a year off to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. At that same time, she...

Just like her father, Travis Scott’s daughter Stormi Webster might be making her own boss moves soon. In a recent video from Kylie Jenner, the reality star discusses all the entrepreneurial influences in her daughter Stormi’s life and implies that she may also be joining these women with her own business endeavor. “She’s actually launching a little secret brand soon that we’ve been working on awhile but finally it’s the pedal to the medal,” Jenner says in the video. The footage in the video also showed Stormi at Kylie Cosmetics’ headquarters along with a small kids table set that Jenner describes as her daughter’s “own office where she gets all her business done.” While details of the secret brand and how much Stormi will be involved have yet to be revealed, Jenner makes it clear that Stormi has plenty of strong men and women in her family to look up to as business owners. Stormi could potentially follow in her father’s footsteps, which have gone far beyond the realm of the music...

Google is continuing its ongoing commitment to minority groups with its latest announcement of grant-based programs — worth upwards of $25 million — to financially-back works of nonprofits and social enterprises dedicated to empowering women. According to an announcement, Google has unveiled its 2021 Impact Challenge for Women and Girls on International Women’s Day, an initiative that is working to create economic prosperity for women and girls through charitable initiatives and mentorship opportunities. Being that gender inequity has become one of the most pressing matters in our society today, Google wants this collective force of grant programs to help address systemic barriers that pose a threat to women pursuing entrepreneurial ventures and financial independence. “When women and girls have the resources and opportunities to turn their potential into power, it changes the trajectory of their lives and strengthens entire communities,” Jacquelline Fuller — President of Google.org...

Most people probably want to ask Courtne Smith about her time spent as Drake’s personal assistant and member of his management team. Working closely with one of the biggest pop stars and successful businessmen as his friend and right hand probably yields some inspiring, lifelong knowledge (and we get to that). But the more interesting thing about Courtne Smith, the co-founder and CEO of the polling app NewNew, is her ability to evolve her businesses and fearlessly meet new challenges along the way. It should be noted, this isn’t Smith’s first rodeo in business or tech. A serial entrepreneur, Smith previously launched the prize giveaway app Suprize in 2018. Users were given chances to win cool items, including concert tickets, Kylie cosmetics, and Nike sneakers. Then, Smith and her business partner Filip Diarra decided brands wouldn’t give away free goods forever, so they evolved Suprize into NewNew, which allows users to personalize polls around various topics using videos, popular...

Building a business is exciting, challenging — and scary. But you’ve made it this far — and can take it further as long as you keep at it. There will be challenging days ahead, but you can take your business venture to new heights by following these tips. Be persistent It’s not enough to have a vision. Every day, you must take another step to make that vision a reality. No one is going to do it for you, but as long as you keep moving forward and don’t give up, you’ll get where you want to go. Set realistic goals Anything worth accomplishing will take effort over time. Don’t let your impatience to conquer the world lead you to make impulsive and costly decisions. Instead, establish attainable goals that you can achieve each day, week, and month that take you further and further towards your vision. Build a strong team When hiring, find people whose vision and character match yours. You may find skilled workers more readily than those with character. And while you can bring...

In recent weeks, Black-owned businesses have made unique adjustments to stay profitable and ensure that their products stay within the community. In the Midwest, St. Louis-based entrepreneur Oran Taylor is helping make essential products accessible for the everyday Black consumer. Founded in 2016, Taylor’s distribution company TransTaylor Logistics offers same-day delivery of Black-owned products . These products include everyday items from laundry detergent and toilet paper to alkaline water and lip balm from partnering companies True Laundry Detergent , Alkaline Lyfe water , Garner’s Garden , and Freedom Paper. In addition to the convenience and high-quality TransTaylor Logistics provides, what’s more, delivery is free seven days a week. “We are determined to create a new culture in this city and it starts with economics,” Taylor said in an Instagram post. “Black businesses in black neighborhoods selling black-owned products. Now that’s a C-O-M-M-U-N-I-T-Y…,” Taylor said in an...

When Victor Anyirah arrived at AfroTech 2018, he had no clue a conversation with friends about finding the next move after the conference, would lead to the start of a business. Often, “I hear the phrase ‘finding the next move.’ At that time, I sat in the back of the car with my friends trying to figure out what exactly determined the ‘move,’” said Anyirah. “Was it the most popular event? Was it the event that had the most people? I realized the ‘move’ was the place our community congregates. Some platforms do allow you to find experiences based on your location, mood or musical taste. However, none helped you find experiences based on your community or the communities that matter to you. That was the birth of the Movement.fm.” Launched in May 2019, Movement.fm is an event platform curating everything from brunches to art shows and nightlife events for Black millennials. Now, Anyirah along with his co-founder, Tyler Bell and Kara Reeves, the head of the curation, are making plans to...