Nubian Square's Yamacu

Salimata Bangoura is the founder of Yamacu, a West African fusion beverage company known for its locally handcrafted ginger drinks.

After COVID regulations led to a shutdown in March 2019, customers began reaching out because they could not get the desired ginger drinks anywhere else. This led to a business partnership with CommonWealth Kitchen, a nonprofit food-business incubator. However, demand continued to outpace Yamacu's ability to provide food and drink at local farmers markets.

Salimata heard about the Biz-M-Power Grant Program through CommonWealth Kitchen and her business succeeded in reaching its $10,000 crowdfunding campaign goal for new juicing equipment with the support of more than 90 patrons.

In April 2022, Yamacu opened a new brick-and-mortar location at the Haley House Bakery Café in Boston’s Nubian Square neighborhood.