Welcome to We're Building - the podcast showcasing and celebrating the best of black businesses across the UK
Our hosts speaking with multi-award-winning barber Mark Maciver, aka SliderCuts. He has nurtured an impressive client list, which includes basketball player Lebron James, world heavyweight champion boxer Anthony Joshua, TV personality Reggie Yates and high-hitting UK rappers Stormzy and Tinie Tempah, amongst others.
Our hosts speak with Jazz Rose, Founder of J&C Education - started in 2004, the company delivers high-quality specialist subjects in primary schools. Jazz shares the remarkable story of how he started with £30 and turned that into an established business with 150+ employees and a £3 million yearly turnover.
2017 Forbes 30 under 30 featured entrepreneur Tommy Williams speaks with our hosts. He shares his diverse journey from start-up founder to impact investor. Tommy worked for the Amazon of Africa, Jumia, before launching his UK e-commerce fast-fashion platform. Now spotlights the black community as a major contributor to Forbes.com. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommywilliams1/?sh=6da6e16e2380)
Fashion expert and entrepreneur Princess Ronke Ademiluyi shares her story of building the Africa Fashion Week London. The first of its kind in the UK - successfully running for 10 years - showcasing over 900 emerging designers & exhibitors, from Africa, Europe and America, to almost 75,000 visitors.
Founder & CEO, Demi Ariyo, kicks off Season 3. Sharing his amazing journey on becoming the first lender to solely focus on black, early-stage and ethnic minority entrepreneurs. Lendoe have provided over £1 million worth of loans to under-served entrepreneurs, who as a collective have now created 100's of jobs and contributed millions to the UK economy.
The hosts review all the guests featured in season two. They share their favourite stories and themes. The conversation with Godman and Daniel explore the progress in the black community and the work that still needs building. Season two, its a wrap.
Founder & CEO, Louise Broni-Mensah, graces the podcast to share her journey in building an event discovery and booking marketplace for nightlife events. Louise was the first Black woman to be selected in Y Combinator, the famous American seed money startup accelerator. https://shoobs.com/
The hosts dive in with businesswoman and named star in Management Today's 35 Women Under 35, Ayesha Ofori. Owner of a property investment company, Axion, and two communities – PropElle and BPN – that help under-represented groups get started or scale in property investment and improve their financial literacy. blackpropertynetwork.com
Scale-up specialist Gareth Buchanan-Robinson briefly runs through his successful 17-year business journey. From scaling a business from ground zero to selling four years later at $400m. Gareth shares with the hosts how he was an early adopter to technology from his background in M&A. As well as being an investor at Zenith Partners, Gareth now primarily focusses on a 16million customer-base at Ringo Parking. Ringo recently received investment from PARK NOW. www.myringgo.co.uk
This week, the hosts follow Khalia Ismain journey as the founder of a discount card, Jamii. UK's first discount card for black-owned businesses. There are more than 100 Jamii partners, each providing discounts to cardholders. The business has been featured in Forbes, BBC radio and Metro, to name a few. lovejamii.com
Award-winning businesswoman, Flavilla Fongang shares her rise in business with the hosts this week. 3 Colours Rule, the London creative branding agency focussed on tech companies. The company has worked with established brands such as BBC, WeWork, HSBC, Facebook and plenty others, to name a few. www.3coloursrule.co.uk/london-branding-agency
Kicking off 2021, resuming season two with David McQueen. Passionate about leadership in his 30 years as an entrepreneur, professional speaker and executive coach. The hosts explore, generational differences and how the black community can move forward. www.davidmcqueen.co.uk
Rounding off 2020, the hosts follow Sheun David-Onamusi, founder of Still Dapper UK Ltd, a lifestyle brand. Sheun also owns a Luxury Bespoke UK Shoe company called Solemate by Dapper. www.bespokesolemate.com
The hosts pick up with Jamelia Donaldson, founder and CEO of TreasureTress — a monthly product subscription service for girls and women with kinky-curly hair. Europe's first and largest natural hair product discovery box. As featured in Forbes, Buzzfeed, Good Housekeeping and Pride Magazine. The British-born Beauty entrepreneur talks through her mission to confront challenges for girls and women with kinky/curlier hair. https://www.treasuretress.co.uk/
This week, brother-and-sister duo Emeka and Ifeyinwa walkthrough starting 'the world's first Nigerian tapas restaurant', Chuku's. First bricks and mortar site in Tottenham follows successful pop-ups in the capital and a crowdfunder campaign which bagged more than £30,000 in 30 days. The London-inspired twists on classic Nigerian dishes, from Jollof quinoa to plantain waffles. www.chukuslondon.co.uk
The hosts, this week, track ex-banker Jude Addo. He is currently an entrepreneur in the Wealth and Asset Management industry focused on African high net worth clients and corporates. Jude, the Founding Partner, is building Cornerstone Partners, a private investment club with strategic holdings in fast-growing UK black-owned businesses. https://cornerstonepartners.co.uk/
Daniel and Godman kick off season two with award-winning Businesswoman and an Execute MBA Graduate from the University of Oxford, Lorraine Wright. Founder of University Gospel Choir of the Year (UGCY), and CEO and Co-Founder of VOCSTA amongst other positions. Whilst a Director at UBS - a Swiss global financial services firm, in her day job. www.vocsta.com
The hosts catch up with Andy Ayim, the founder of The Angel Investing School. Since this recording, Andy was awarded an MBE for services to Diversity in the Technology Industry. He was the Managing Director of Backstage Capital, and has worked in a range of product roles in companies such as Investec Bank and WorldFirst, acquired by Ant Financial for $700m.
This week, we build with Sharla-Jaye Duncan, a serial social entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of The Intrapreneurs Charity and The Intrapreneurs Club. Duncan is also the former founder and CEO of the charity, Team Up, which helps underachieving pupils from low-income households to progress in English and Maths.
This week we track a legacy business with Kay Dove. Following the founder Dr Francis Dove's retirement, the dentist delegated his work to his daughter, Kay Dove. The south London based dentist now includes wellbeing services.
This week, the hosts speak with Kelly-Jade Nicholls who self-published her first children's book more than three years ago. Woke Babies, is a subscription-based business which publishes books with diverse characters. wokebabies.co.uk
Alex Fefegha co-founder and head creative technologist at Comuzi. An experimental research agency working at the intersection of emerging technology and culture. They help clients answer questions about the future and experiment with emerging technologies with the purpose to build a better world. www.comuzi.xyz
In this episode, we build with Kike Oniwinde, founder of BYP Network. 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 they also work with organisations to help with diversity and inclusion. They have also raised over $250k. www.byp-network.com
We build this week with Ayo Jenyo building Cooperative Property Company which specialises in affordable housing. He completed a £50m worth of residential asset on behalf of third sector organisations. www.cooperativeproperty.co.uk
We build with co-founder & Managing Director of ClearView Research, Kenny Imafidon. A leading-edge research company, who specialise in research focussing on young people and social impact evaluation. Described by Huffington Post UK as a “young rising star making waves in UK politics,” Kenny has written influential & award-winning publications and has led on innovative partnerships with global brands such as Uber, Tinder and Deliveroo, on campaigns to get young people registered to vote and turnout in UK elections and the EU referendum. www.clearviewresearch.co.uk
This week we build with Anthony Odogwu, a serial entrepreneur. Anthony is the Founder/CEO of Future Space Technologies – London's premier Digital Creative Agency that specialises in the design/development of Mobile Apps, Social Media & Brand Management. Anthony Odogwu is a Winner of the Sony Mobile Technology Enterprise Award along with other recognized enterprise achievements including Winner of Sony Mobile London Youth Business Award 2013/2014. www.futurespacetechnologies.com
We build with one of the founding Directors, David Fisayo of Foundervine. The award-winning social enterprise on a mission to change the global face of entrepreneurship. Focused on running immersive startup acceleration programs that help young people from underrepresented communities imagine, start, and grow new ventures. www.foundervine.com
We're Building kicks off with UK Black Business Show founder Raphael Sofoluke. UK Black Business Show the UK's biggest dedicated trade show for black business owners 2,500+ visitors at London's QEII Centre. Launched in 2017 with the aim of highlighting the achievements and contributions black businesses have made to the economy and connecting business owners and entrepreneurs across a wide variety of sectors. www.ukblackbusinessshow.co.uk