July 19, 2021
Black Tech Entrepreneurs Score $1M Prize From Pharrell Williams, Black Ambition Competition
Andre Davis and Justin Turk—co-founders of Livegistics—won a $1 million prize as singer and producer Pharrell Williams’ leading Black Ambition competition winners.
Congrats! @livegistics on putting #Michigan on the map as a million dollar prize winner! @JustinTurk_CEO @blackambitionpz @Pharrell pic.twitter.com/k2cKxDx8A1
— MVCA (@MichiganVCA) July 13, 2021
Williams’ non-profit works to close the opportunity and wealth gap for “Black and Latinx HBCU students and entrepreneurs” who founded start-ups, by investing “capital and resources,” according to Black Ambition’s website. Davis and Turk’s Livegistics qualified to land Black Ambition’s top spot. Livegistics is described as “a software company that services the construction and heavy hauling industries by providing cloud-based logistical tracking technologies” on the company’s Facebook page. The company’s website provides additional information about the Detroit-based operation. It was “born in 2017” because past construction projects “required inordinate amounts of labor to reconcile/audit construction processes.”
Livegistics incorporates environmentally friendly aspects because the company helps “the environment through the elimination of tons of paper each year and helps local communities accelerate the elimination of blight in urban cities and neighborhoods,” according to CNN.
“We knew we had something special, but you don’t go in thinking you will walk away with $1 million. But when it happens you are like, ‘Wow, we just won $1 million,'” Turk said in the interview.
Turk also feels that succeeding in Williams’ competition is about more than just securing a big prize.
“When we first entered the tech start-up world as two Black entrepreneurs, we had no idea how to navigate in this space,” he also told CNN.
The news story also mentioned that Davis and Turk met during their elementary school years, then attended Bowling Green State University together.
Williams’ has been launching multiple philanthropic endeavors. He is set to give back to youth through opening “a group of small private schools for students from low-income families, starting in Norfolk,” The Virginian Pilot reported.