Jeff Osuji knew his latest business venture had legs during the 2019 Black Alumni Ball in Washington, D.C. His platform, Eventnoire, served as the registration site for this annual event, which connects and celebrates Black professionals and influencers.
“It was a stress test for us,” Osuji said about the 1,500-person event. It was the largest event yet to use his ticketing platform, which focuses on Black-centric events and culture.
“What surprised me was that not only did people register and everything worked well, but that people got to know the brand,” the Chicago native said. “Oftentimes [the Black community] doesn’t feel seen or heard, so when there’s a brand or product that puts us first and allows us to be seen, there’s genuine adaptation, loyalty, and feelings of endearment.”
Not only did the attendees embrace the platform, but the event organizers were also impressed with it. This partly stemmed from the platform’s business model. The company offers revenue-sharing on processing fees with event hosts, unlike mainstream ticketing platforms that keep this revenue for themselves. This business model was important to Osuji and co-founder Femi Masha for two reasons:
“The Black community has made major contributions to culture and oftentimes we receive the least return on our investments,” Osuji explained. “It was really important for us to create something that allowed us to share in the investments we’re making, and also to give event curators – who are creating culture every day – a bigger piece of the pie.”
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This story was first published by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
