Local entrepreneur Kewaan Drayton, named the 2022 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, has recently accomplished another impressive feat in the business community by becoming a 2024 Truist Foundation Fellow. Powered by the Watson Institute, the Truist Foundation Fellowship is a fully funded 16-week program designed for emerging entrepreneurs, business owners and nonprofit founders in Georgia. More than 220 hopefuls applied to this year’s Truist Foundation Fellowship, and Drayton landed one of the 18 slots in this year’s cohort, being one of just two fellows from Savannah. He’d learned of the opportunity after seeing an ad for it online.
“I applied in October or November of 2023, and towards the end of the year, they sent me a message saying that they wanted to interview me to be a part of the 2024 cohort,” said Drayton. “I did the interview. Then earlier in January of 2024, they contacted me and said that I got into the fellowship.”
This past February, Drayton and the other participants began the fellowship program, which consisted of an in-person immersive experience in Atlanta, weekly virtual workshops, expert-led training modules, an impact speakers series, a basecamp workshop led by participating fellows in their local communities and a culminating summit during which fellows pitch a business venture to local leaders, funders and entrepreneurs.
The program began with a general overview and an on-the-spot opportunity to pitch a business idea, which proved challenging for Drayton.
“I completely blew my pitch. I had traveled from Savannah that day. I left Savannah at like 4 a.m. and I got to Atlanta around 8 or 9 a.m. The program started and I didn’t know these people. I didn’t know what I was getting into, and I also didn’t know what business I wanted to pitch because I needed to know more about the program. So I just randomly pitched a concept that I was working on and it didn’t go well. Everybody was super friendly and embraced what I did, but I’m my biggest critic and I knew I didn’t do well,” said Drayton.
Despite the rocky start, Drayton excelled in the program, earning the first-place venture development stipend award by its completion. In addition to the instruction aspects of the fellowship, a major part of it was the basecamp event that the fellows had to conceptualize and host in their respective communities. That aspect of the program presented a challenge, but Drayton rose to the occasion, hosting a community film screening and panel discussion event.
“I had never done anything like that before,” he said. “The program really pushed me to plan an event that was very community-focused, and I used that as a way to highlight some of the people in the community who’ve been doing great business work and also to allow other entrepreneurs and business owners or aspiring entrepreneurs to come and learn. We had a very good impact and I was very excited that it happened, because I can’t say that I would have done that without the fellowship.”
Held on Thursday, May 23 at Kingdom Life Christian Fellowship, the basecamp event included a screening of “Roots & Revolution,” a documentary by Red Eye Film Productions—one of Drayton’s ventures. The film followed several Savannah-based entrepreneurs who imparted words of wisdom to the audience in attendance, which totaled more than 160 people. Following the screening was a panel discussion with various entrepreneurs and professionals in the banking, accounting, insurance and legal industries. Audience members were able to pose questions and receive valuable insights from the panelists. The event closed with a mini-pitch contest and three participants won a combined total of $600 to invest in their personal ventures.
After the basecamp event, the fellowship culminated with a summit during which the fellows had to present a polished pitch to various leaders, entrepreneurs and investors. Initially, Drayton, who is at the helm of several successful businesses, wasn’t sure which of his ventures that he wanted to pitch. For much of the last year, he had been working on a new business idea called the Big Ambition Guild, or BAG, and decided to pitch it at the fellowship. After meticulous preparation and planning, Drayton put forth a successful pitch that got business leaders and funders in attendance excited about the concept.
“The Big Ambition Guild is something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time because of the funding barriers that a lot of minority entrepreneurs face. … People think about money and funding for businesses or investment as very daunting. It’s a lot to think about because people get analysis paralysis when it comes to [funding],” said Drayton.
He came up with the idea as a way to solve the funding gap for aspiring entrepreneurs.
“I really wanted to create a platform that allows millennials to be able to co-invest with other individuals who may be in the workforce and aren’t necessarily full-time entrepreneurs. So that way, if you work a regular government job or a regular nine-to-five job, but you have aspirations of being an entrepreneur, what you do is instead of quitting your full-time job, you just invest a portion of your earned income into a larger pool of funds with other aspiring entrepreneurs and you collectively use that money to invest in a business venture, whether that be in your community or your state. You can even choose to connect with other entrepreneurs on a national level,” Drayton said.
How BAG works is that it will provide a platform where aspiring business owners can invest with one another. The minimum investment is $1,500, and with the money accrued collectively, BAG will source business deals that the contributors can co-invest in together.
“Let’s use my business Mailbox Cafe as an example. If Mailbox Cafe was about to be a business that was going on the market to be sold, the Big Ambition Guild would put information about that business on the platform and a bunch of different people who are interested in investing would say, ‘I can put in $1,500. Maybe I can put in $5,000. Maybe I can put in $20,000,’” he said. “We are just a catalyst to be able to form those partnerships and help them execute the business deals while also giving them a place to build their business acumen. To learn how to build or buy a business. It’s pretty much a one-stop shop for training, investment opportunities and a place for people to network.”
The Big Ambition Guild offers people who lack the funding, innovation or network to launch their own business on their own, to come together and pool resources to invest in other opportunities without much of the risk that comes with going it alone. After pitching BAG, Drayton received a $6,000 stipend for his exemplary performance throughout the fellowship, which he plans to invest in his latest venture. His short-term goals for BAG include launching the website and developing a team of foundational members to use as a control group to prove the concept. He also plans to host workshops and events down the line to help people build their business acumen. In short, BAG is about making entrepreneurship more accessible. Interested parties can learn more at bigambitionguild.com.
Since completing the fellowship, Drayton is focused on building up his established businesses and advancing his personal brand. And he’s also looking forward to a big opportunity that the fellowship afforded him. For his stellar performance during the program, Drayton has been handpicked by organizers to attend the One Young World Summit taking place in Montreal, Canada, this fall. The annual summit is a gathering of the brightest young leaders from all over the world, providing vital networking and educational opportunities about entrepreneurship and leadership on a global scale.
“I’m super excited to be able to network with people on a global level because lately, my entrepreneurial skills have been used predominantly on a local level. … The fellowship allowed me to have more impact on a state level,” he said. “And now, like this opportunity through the Truist Foundation and the Watson Institute, this summit will allow me to take my entrepreneurial skills to the global level, and that’s one of the things I’m most excited about.”
Drayton is eagerly anticipating the summit and expanding his impact, and he remains committed to empowering other aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs to take full advantage of the resources and opportunities, like the Truist Foundation Fellowship, that are available to them.
“I just want to thank the Truist Foundation and the Watson Institute for the opportunity, and I just want people to know that I want to share this information with the community. Other people throughout the community can apply to the fellowship,” he said. “I think this was a great opportunity to show that Savannah has great entrepreneurs who are doing great things here.”
To learn more about Drayton, visit kewaandrayton.com/.
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This article appears in Connect Savannah I July 2024.