Diversifying Entrepreneurship in London - The Power of 25

by Startacus Admin

Last week, facilitated by Hatch Enterprise and YSYS, 25 women of colour - all entrepreneurs and founders, came together to discuss diversifying entrepreneurship in London and the necessary support and provision of services women of colour need to overcome barriers to succeed in business.

It is fair to say that there is still some work to do both within the UK and more specifically within the context of this article, London, to make sure that the entrepreneurial ecosystem is equal to all and everyone.

Whilst there has been some postive recent campaigns that have predominantly focussed on gender diversity, perhaps we fail to recognise the unique experiences and the barriers women of colour face as a result of their intersectionality.

As Dirk Bischof, CEO, Hatch Enterprise explained:

“Hatch has supported female founders ever since we launched in 2013. We found that we had more women on our programmes than men. Normally, less than 10% of women join an incubator or accelerator. We had over 55%. We felt we’re doing something different. We were also attracting people from diverse backgrounds (65%). With all this in mind, we launched a Female Founders Accelerator programme in 2016 and we now want to help those women who are at the beginning of their business journey.”

Following the rountable discussion they identified four key areas of focus for future programmes:

Flexibility: Women want to realistically be able to manage their work-life balance; having the option to engage in online and offline courses, coupled with childcare support.

Empowerment: There is a need for more campaigns such as #wherearethefaces which shines a light on amazing women of colour from the community who can act roles models for the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Investment: We need to attract a pipeline of investors who come from diverse backgrounds and understand the market women of colour operate in. Equally, we need to begin to share alternative access to finance, beyond traditional angel investment.

Wellbeing: There needs to be a focus on well-being and emotional support for women of colour, especially for those who lack support from their family and friends.

The team at Hatch Enterprise and YSYS are ready to make this programme possible and last week, they also got shortlisted for Natwest Skills and Opportunity Fund.

So, what we thought would be best, is to not only report on this important initiative, but to embrace this opportunity to shine a light on the 25 respective business founders and entrepreneurs, including where possible, their twitter or linkedin profiles, so you too can also support. (We are happy to update if additional LinkedIn / Twitter links can be given - editorial@startacus.net).

The 25 are...

Anushka Sharma, Founder, Naaut - @nushkino

Cecelia Adjei, Founder of Kuhlola

Charmaigne Bailey NLP - Practitioner Life Coach Trainer 

Debbie Cotti - Founder, Bella Lash Brow

Deepa Mirchandani - Director, Deep & Meaningful Consulting - @d_mirch

Georgia Bennett - Co-Founder, YDWC

Giselle Frederick - Founder, Zingr - @giselle__ldn

Ingrid Marsh - Founder, Women with Voices

Janet Oganah - Founder, Janet’s List - @Janet_Oganah

Josephine Otuagomah, Founder, The Black Hair Book - @jmotg

Michelle Killington - Founder, Empower

Ola- olive Oluturoti - Founder, Ladies of Virtue Outreach

Pamela Okah - Founder, revive

Renee Davis - Founder, Out The Box

Letitiah Obiri - Founder, ‎Polkadot Digital

Sarah Etudor - Owner, Sweets or Surprises

Segi Adewusi - Founder, By Segs

Sukhi Jutla - COO/Founder, Market Orders

Toni Martin-Clarke - Founder, Toni Martin-Clarke Consultancy

Keeley McKenzie - Owner, Coffee & Fandisha

Winnie Mak - Founder, One Dear World

Abi Mohamed, Co-Founder, CGV - @abii_mohamed

Deborah Okenla, Founder, YSYS - @deborahokenla

Neila Romdane - Founder, Tatteo

Karen Stenning - Founder, Absolute Alchemy - @aalchemy1

*Also spotlight photo take by Seb Wood*

If you are inspired by this diversity and entrepreneurship focused article, you might want to also read our previous articles on:

• UKBlackTech create stock photo's featuring BAMEs using tech

•  Diversity in Tech communities and platforms

 

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• #diversity
• #women of colour
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• #barriers
• #inspiration

Published on: 20th April 2018