Sean Combs Teams Up With Salesforce To Launch SHOP CIRCULATE, A Digital Marketplace For Black-Owned Businesses

Combs Enterprises and Salesforce have teamed up to create SHOP CIRCULATE, a curated digital marketplace that allows consumers to discover and buy products exclusively created and sold by Black entrepreneurs. SHOP CIRCULATE provides Black businesses with a platform to reach global audiences and empowers consumers to shop the world's best Black-owned brands. This innovative new platform will be designed and built by Deloitte Digital, a leading Experience Consultancy and global strategic partner for Salesforce, and powered by Marketplacer's best-in-class online marketplace technology.

On the heels of the centennial anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, SHOP CIRCULATE's announcement reinforces the importance of supporting and empowering Black entrepreneurs and building wealth through "circulating" dollars within the Black community.

"Building Black wealth starts with investing in Black-owned businesses and giving entrepreneurs access to the consumers needed to build sustainable companies that can thrive," says Sean  Combs, Chairman of Combs Enterprises. "I'm excited to partner with Salesforce to create a platform that will advance our collective pursuit of economic justice."

"Salesforce is honored to collaborate with Sean Combs and Combs Enterprises to help close the unjust wealth gap that prevents too many Black Americans from achieving economic equality," said Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO of Salesforce. "SHOP CIRCULATE will empower us all — as individuals, communities and companies — to support Black-owned businesses, amplify the talent of Black entrepreneurs and move us closer to true equality."

Combs Enterprises has united the industry's most progressive companies and innovative minds to lead the charge in elevating Black-owned entrepreneurs. SHOP CIRCULATE has acquired The Nile List, a widely respected and rapidly growing digital community that connects consumers with Black-owned brands. With the acquisition, Combs Enterprises has appointed The Nile List founder Khadijah Robinson to Head of Product, where she will oversee development and spearhead all SHOP CIRCULATE global efforts. Additionally, SHOP CIRCULATE has inked a robust partnership with Official Black Wall Street, the leading directory to discover Black-owned businesses, with its founder Mandy Bowman joining as an advisor.

SHOP CIRCULATE was developed by a dynamic and diverse team of engineers, storytellers, brand marketers and product specialists across Salesforce, Deloitte Digital and Combs Enterprises. The platform will launch later this year, featuring an expansive list of businesses across categories -- from beauty, fashion and art, to health, wellness and home. 

"Deloitte's purpose is to make an impact that matters. As the largest professional services organization in the world, we have a responsibility to help level the playing field and advance opportunities for the Black community in business," says Punit Renjen, Deloitte Global CEO. "This is one of the most effective ways for organizations like ours to do our part in ending systemic bias, racial injustice, and unequal treatment in all its forms."

"Marketplaces are a great leveler in bringing together businesses of all sizes into a single venue to drive opportunity and growth. It's our goal that our partnership with SHOP CIRCULATE will bring our powerful marketplace platform to Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs as a vehicle to drive change, growth and success," said Jason Wyatt, Executive Chairman, Marketplacer.

To receive news on SHOP CIRCULATE, please visit Shop-Circulate.com.

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey Becomes Best-Selling African American Owned And Founded Spirit Brand Of All Time

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, the most award-winning American whiskey - including Bourbon - brand of 2019 and 2020, announces it has now become the best-selling African American owned and founded spirit brand in history, selling nearly 1.5 million bottles of its sought after super premium whiskey. The company's whiskey portfolio, available in more than 21,000 locations, is currently made up of its small batch whiskey (SRP $49.99), its rare single barrel whiskey (SRP $119), and its core aged whiskey offering (SRP $59.99).

"The spirits industry has never seen anything like this in all the years that data has been tracked through the three major data collection agencies for the industry," said Donn Bichsel, founder of 3 Tier Beverages, a spirits data collection and analyzation company. "No African American founded and led spirit brand has ever come close to what the Uncle Nearest brand and team have done. We analyzed every piece of credible data and Uncle Nearest is undoubtedly the top seller of all time, with the rest of the top 10 being so far behind, that they barely registered."

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey debuted in July 2017 and expanded into all 50 states in less than two years. Built on its knack for sourcing the best of Tennessee Whiskeys and Bourbons, the whiskey is made using a non- temperature-controlled aging process and a unique post-aging double filtration method, which is then blended to perfection by fifth generation Nearest Green descendant and Uncle Nearest's master blender, Victoria Eady Butler. This process, in part, has led to the whiskey garnering more than 160 awards in its first three years, including Double Gold at the 2020 San Francisco World Spirit Competition and back-to-back honors of "World's Best" at Whisky Magazine's World Whiskies Awards, who last month presented Butler with their coveted Icons of Whisky award for Master Blender of the Year. Additionally, the groundbreaking company was a 2020 Inc. Magazine Best in Business honoree, and earlier today was named one of the top ten Most Innovative Companies in the North America category on Fast Company's prestigious annual list of the Most Innovative Companies for 2021.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Uncle Nearest was forced to throttle its growth, according to Fawn Weaver, CEO and founder of the brand. "Our bottling and distilling partner did an incredible job of ensuring every area of the distillery was socially distanced and followed the strictest COVID-19 guidelines, which meant we could only move so quickly and had to cap our third full year at 120,000 cases sold," said Weaver. In spite of that, the company recently announced to investors its ninth quarter in a row of more than 100% growth over the same time the previous year, and is on track to make that ten.

This month, Uncle Nearest greatly increased its shipping and bottling capabilities at its Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville, Tenn., with the company on track to sell 250,000 cases this year, only its fourth full year since their debut.

"I couldn't be more excited that this announcement is coming on the heels of International Women's Day, given that we are the only major spirit brand with an all-female executive team," said Victoria Eady Butler. "Reaching this achievement at this moment in time is important as it reminds folks that whiskey is the great equalizer. The support this brand has received has been across every race and gender. As it turns out, people just care that it's a damn good whiskey, only matched by the remarkable legacy of my ancestor."

Learn more about Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey at its website.

Buy Black Christmas Ideas!

Every Christmas I like to post deals on gifts that African Americans might like in the hopes that readers might support some of these smaller black owned companies. The gift suggestions run from cheaper stocking stuffers to expensive watches and handbags. Check out the gift suggestions below:

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Men's Gifts

Women's Gifts

Books