The Ke'nekt Cooperative

Coffee shop, Community center, Coworking space in Atlanta, GA

Address

1492 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd SW Suite A, Atlanta, GA, 30310

Phone

(404) 748-1149

Website

thekenekt.com

About The Ke'nekt Cooperative

The Ke'nekt Cooperative is a Black-led community hub and cooperative retail incubator located at 1492 Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard on Atlanta's southwest side. Founded by Kiyomi Rollins and Mark Eschoe, the organization operates as a hyperlocal community think tank made up of residents, legacy Black-owned businesses, creatives, micro start-ups, and solopreneurs. Rollins describes the space as being where community happens, and the Cooperative frames itself as a Black Liberated Third Space where neighbors gather to exchange ideas and build economic power together. At its core, The Ke'nekt Cooperative uses cooperative economics to turn ideas into locally developed, community-invested initiatives. The team helps small business owners identify the cooperative structure that fits them, works through the legal and governance steps of converting to that structure, and layers in customer service training so members can build culturally relevant, community-centered brands. The Cooperative also runs microfinancing initiatives for Black entrepreneurs, hosts a business marketplace, coordinates mutual aid efforts, and provides technical assistance and financial literacy support for Black-owned businesses across the neighborhood. In 2024 alone, the Cooperative reported $328,422 in local economic impact, served 151 Black businesses, and delivered more than 117 hours of community programming, including office hours, senior connection events, and cultural gatherings. The organization is open Wednesday through Friday from 8am to 4:30pm and Saturday from 9:30am to 4:30pm, welcoming residents and business owners into a working retail incubator rather than a traditional storefront.

Kiyomi Rollins and Mark Eschoe spent more than a decade supporting Black-owned businesses through other platforms before deciding to build something rooted directly in their own Atlanta neighborhood. That work led to The Ke'nekt Cooperative, envisioned as a grassroots response to the economic pressure gentrification and the pandemic placed on Black residents and business owners on the city's southwest side. Rather than simply offering space, Rollins and Eschoe designed the Cooperative as an economic reparative intervention: a place where community members could access cooperative business development, training, and legal support to convert their ventures into structures built for shared ownership and shared wealth. The founders describe their goal as building a democratic and reparative economic system so their community can generate and enjoy wealth together, rather than watch it flow elsewhere. Since opening its doors on Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard, the Cooperative has grown into a hub connecting legacy Black businesses, creatives, and new entrepreneurs, backing that vision with real numbers: over $328,000 in local economic impact and support for more than 150 Black businesses in a single year.

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