Ian Burell and Aaisha Dadral, Founders, Equiano
Equiano is a natural, additive-free small-batch rum blended from stocks from Mauritius and across the Caribbean. The Black-owned spirit company and its first expression - the world’s first African and Caribbean rum – were named after the Nigerian-born writer, entrepreneur, abolitionist, and freedom fighter Olaudah Equiano, and follows the extraordinary and monumental journey of Olaudah himself: beginning in Africa, traveling to the Caribbean, visiting the US and eventually settling in the UK - where he saved and paved his way to liberation through selling rum.