Recognising and celebrating Black success is a key part of Black History Month. Here’s a list of 5 Black people in business whose achievements speak for themselves, so it’s no surprise that they are some of my biggest inspirations. Happy reading and happy Black History Month!
Kike Oniwinde is the founder of the Black Young Professionals Network, and an ex-Great Britain javelin thrower. She was named in Forbes 30 under 30, Maserati Top 100 Most Innovative Companies, and in the Financial Times Top 100 BAME Leaders in Tech.
BYP Network is described by many as “LinkedIn for Black professionals”. It is a London-based app for young Black professionals to connect for networking and job opportunities in the UK.
The platform has over 30,000 members, and BYP have worked with Deloitte, Uber, Sky, Spotify, Accenture and more.
Andy Davis is an Angel Investor and Founder of 10x10, a group of Black founders and investors in the UK. He also leads 10×10 VC, and the 10x10 Fund, which is a pre-seed fund investing in exceptional Black founders in the UK. Andy also invests at pre-seed on Atomico's Angel programme focused on Black and diverse founders.
Joycelyn Mate and Rachael Corson are the founders of hair care brand Afrocenchix, an all-natural, vegan and fair trade hair care company which is tailored to the needs of afro hair. Afrocenchix became the first afro hair brand to launch in WholeFood, and they are also stocked in Holland and Barrett.
Afrocenchix has had huge success, in 2018 they took WeWork’s Creator Awards by storm: they won $350,000 of investment at a regional competition in London and were sent to a bootcamp in New York. They were then flown to Los Angeles for the global finals, where they successfully pitched in front of 6,000 people, winning a further $180,000 in funding.
Anifa Mvuemba, is the founder of Hanifa and she is dedicated to representing Black women in the design space. In May 2020, Anifa held the world’s first digital 3-D fashion show, unveiling her latest collection, which was inspired by her homeland, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hanifa generated $1 million in revenue in 2019.
Sharmadean Reid is the founder of WAH nails and Beautystack, a new way to discover and book treatments with beauty professionals. Her mission is to use technology to economically empower women in the beauty and wellness industries, globally. She has written two books, created a product line with Walgreen Boots Alliance and she was awarded an MBE from HRH Queen in 2015 for services to Beauty.
