In recent years, the movement to support Black businesses has expanded within our communities and digital spaces. To meet this demand, entrepreneurs are seizing the opportunity by building and investing in their own innovative and dynamic Black owned businesses. Many brands such as, Hennessy, are championing this Black ingenuity and business growth by empowering Black entrepreneurs who are making a lasting impact in their communities.

Anthony and Janique Edwards, founders of EatOkra and members of Hennessy’s Never Stop Never Settle Society, are entrepreneurs who are changing the landscape of mobile apps – in particular, connecting consumers to Black owned restaurants. Janique Edwards, shares, “I fell in love with Black owned business because I understood the community they provide and just the sanctuary and safe space for us to connect.” 

With that understanding Janique and Anthony created EatOkra, an app that connects people to Black owned restaurants across the country. “We’re always continually trying to be innovative, to make sure its fully holistic, its fully for us by us. It’s important for us to build something of our own,” says Anthony Edwards.

Hennessy’s Never Stop Never Settle Society provides Black entrepreneurs, such as the Edwards, with $50K in high impact funds, access to Never Stop Never Settle headquarters and amenities in NYC, hands on mentorship from Moet Hennessy executives, and membership to The Gathering Spot Connect—a physical space for community and collaboration. According to Baron Davis, a member of the Never Stop Never Settle Society Advisory Council, which is providing mentorship to the cohort members, Hennessy is championing Black excellence. “Hennessy has stepped up to the plate with the Never Stop Never Settle Society,” Davis shares. “Hennessy has poured into entrepreneurs and poured into their brands.”

George Peters II, an entrepreneur, and an entertainer, founded Listen TWO Me. Also, a member of Hennessy’s Never Stop Never Settle Society, Peters took the skills he developed as a performer, “touring around the world, from being on stages, from being onsets, from writing, to producing, from postproduction and makes them available for those business owners and those peers within the Black community who deserve to have high level production.”

Peters, having honed a diverse array of skills, promotes, through his production company, the artistic musicality within the Black community. He is dedicated to providing people with an opportunity to expose their gifts. “Art has flavors, has colors,” Peters says explaining his vision, “you have to respect all of it, the most important thing is that when people walk away, and they feel.” 

Through the Never Stop Never Settle Society, the Edwards were able to see and be in community with more people like them who are doing amazing work and who have been fighting in the trenches to get their business out into the world.

“Each of us is a building block within the Never Stop Never Settle Society. We have a really beautiful opportunity to not only provide for each other, to our left and to our right, but to also lay some track for people coming down behind us,” says Peters.

Hennessy recognizes that a greater effort must be made in providing future generations a more equitable landscape for inclusive business growth and development. For the selected members, as Peters shared, “having peers and mentors in the same space is just ironing--it’s just sharpening.”

Through the Never Stop Never Settle Society, Hennessy is supporting the strivers and the dreamers who are building successful and sustainable businesses in the face of adversity.