Today we’d like to introduce you to Ricky and Dave Etienne.
Ricky and Dave, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
S.K.B. Robes LLC is a black-owned, Atlanta based athletic sponsorship company. We sponsor extreme athletes and design apparel and gear for those respective sports. We started back in early 2016, donating over $30,000 worth of skateboard decks and baseball jerseys to skate parks, skate shops, and athletes in Georgia as well as California. We have been successful over the last four years, allowing the company to collaborate with Sprint and donate 10% of all gross earnings to low-income communities and minority-owned businesses.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it has been a very trying and harsh road. Our CEO, Ricky Etienne, as well as our CFO, Dave Etienne, bled and scratched tooth and nail in order to keep the company alive. Being a black-owned business, S.K.B. Robes LLC has struggled to accrue enough capital to even stay afloat. It did not help that S.K.B. is a sponsorship company, forcing the company to spend much more than it made on athletes and the manufacturing of gear of the athletes’ respective sports.
A huge struggle was the top of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. All national sports were shutdown, virtually crippling S.K.B.’s business model. The company only survived by being able to adapt and finding a new mission, one that is aimed to help low-income areas and minorities by manufacturing Dust Masks to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Please tell us about S.K.B. Robes.
S.K.B. Robes LLC is a black-owned, Atlanta based athletic sponsorship company. We sponsor extreme athletes and design apparel and gear for those respective sports. We are known for donating to low-income communities and minority-owned businesses, collaborating with the telecommunications company Sprint, and donating over $30,000 in gear to the youth across the nation.
We are proud of the fact that we redirected our resources into manufacturing high quality, washable Dust Masks to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. We have also donated over 10,000 Dusts Masks to low-income communities in the Metro Atlanta area. S.K.B. has donated 20,000 Dusts Masks to the Severe Foundation as well, keeping hundreds of kids healthy during these dangerous times.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Our favorite memories from childhood is when we used to visit our motherland, Haiti. We climbed Mango trees and traveled through the beautiful mountain regions. We also swam in the beautiful, crystal blue waters of Haiti’s beaches.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3379 Peachtree Road NE Suite 555
- Website: www.skbrobesllc.com
- Phone: (404)-999-2183
- Email: info@skbrobesllc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skbrobesllc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skbrobesllc
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/skbrobesllc
Image Credit:
ShotBySed
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