Exclusive: Kevin Hart’s The Coramino Fund Awards New Cohort Of Grantees As Part Of A $1.5M Commitment To Support Small Businesses With AI Training – AfroTech

A new cohort of small businesses has received a financial boost to power their business with AI.

The Coramino Fund

Through The Coramino Fund, the investment arm of Kevin Hart and Juan Domingo Beckmann’s tequila company Gran Coramino, $10,000 grants have been allocated to small business owners over the past three years so they can utilize AI training provided by 1st Street Partnerships to improve their operations. The program was launched in partnership with Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) and is part of a $1.5 million commitment to support more than 150 under-resourced entrepreneurs across the U.S. and Mexico as they compete with larger companies, according to information provided to AFROTECH™.

“According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20% of new businesses fail within their first year, and nearly 50% fail by their fifth year. The most successful entrepreneurs — locally and nationally — are the ones that have support, whether from their networks, communities, or by leveraging new technologies like AI,”  LISC President and CEO Michael Pugh told AFROTECH™. “Even incorporating AI for ‘light’ uses such as drafting emails, scheduling, bookkeeping, or conducting market research can make a meaningful difference by freeing up time and mental bandwidth to focus on growth. As entrepreneurs grow more confident, AI can also help them analyze trends, understand customer behavior, and make data-informed decisions that support growth and revenue.”

Hart shared, “Our vision with The Coramino Fund is to lift up the hard-working entrepreneurs who keep our communities strong. This next group of grantees is a perfect example — they’re building businesses with purpose and that’s the kind of leadership we want to celebrate and support.”

Recipients among this year’s cohort include Jessica Hunter, founder of Journee’s Roses in Compton, CA. Through the training, she was able to build marketing strategies that may typically take weeks to complete. 1st Street Partnerships CEO Monk Inyang said that by Hunter’s second session, she had developed a positive attitude toward advanced AI techniques and had uncovered revenue streams she had not seen before.

Daniel Paulsen, grant recipient and founder of 4 Grands Piano in Fairfield, NJ, said the grant “came right on time.” Paulsen intends to expand to a second location, including a new recording studio that will support the next generation of artists, he shared.

In total, there were 50 recipients from The Coramino Fund in 2025, which also includes, but is not limited to:

• 7Studios
• About Town
• Beautiful Amore Skincare
• Friends and Family Circle of Love
• HelpMatch
• Make My Cake
• Mood Board Studios
• Niema Gallery
• Pretty Little Me Spa
• She-Pop Popcorn

“Entrepreneurs like Daniel, who opened one of the first Black-owned piano stores in America, or Amerrah (founder of Beautiful Amore Skincare) who is expanding access to inclusive skincare, exemplify the kind of impact we aimed to create with The Coramino Fund,” Vice President at Gran Coramino Tequila Kristin Turner told AFROTECH™.