Meraki Roasting Company: How Small Businesses Impact Their Communities in Clarksdale, Mississippi | Cali Noland and Ben Lewis

We often underestimate the impact that a small business can have on their community while in reality, small businesses are the main driver of job creation in the United States. One small business has less impact than a major corporation, but as a whole, small businesses create more jobs, create a positive atmosphere within their communities, and create local role models for kids to look up to. One coffee shop in Clarksdale, Mississippi is a perfect example of such a business. Cali Noland and Ben Lewis of Meraki Roasting Company have combined their passions for education, community and business to use their local coffee shop to help teach kids necessary job skills.  With a poverty rate of 40% in Clarksdale, this program is filling an extremely important need for this community. These kids are learning necessary soft skills like time management, that will ultimately help them secure and keep a job in the future. We get into this program and much more in the latest episode of Small Business War Stories.