6 Black-owned organisations you should know about
August is Black Business Month, BusinessLive’s ‘Black-owned business’ campaign, launched to champion Black entrepreneurs and highlight their influence on the UK economy.
To herald the start of Black Business Month, we’re spotlighting six Black-owned organisations we think you should know about.
One of the most direct and sustainable ways to support the Black community is to spend with Black-owned organisations. There’s a wealth of Black talent out there fuelling the economy that not only benefits you but also serves to bridge socioeconomic barriers amongst Communities of Colour.
This by no means is an exhaustive list. There are too many worthy organisations to include in this post, but we’d love it if you’d share your favourites with us; just tag us on social media.
Black Young Professionals
BYP Network was founded with the mission to connect Black professionals and students from all over the world. To provide career opportunities, role model visibility, business support and ultimately, to help solve problems.
Former GB Athlete and A* student Kike Oniwinde knew she had been afforded many opportunities, including a full scholarship to the University of Florida. In addition, she had met some incredible people, including Black students and professionals from different backgrounds.
She realised that outside sport and entertainment, there was not enough representation, yet there was Black talent everywhere. So on top of being one of only a few Black people in her banking internships, the 2016 Black Lives Matter protests convinced Kike that BYP Network could be a real solution.
In 2020, BYP held a historic million-dollar crowdfund, grew the team by ten-fold and doubled their efforts of ‘changing the Black narrative’.
How can your organisation get involved?
BYP Network is the partner of choice for hundreds of organisations looking to diversify their talent pools by tapping into the Black professional community. With 150k members, 50+ events a year and hundreds of mentorship opportunities, they are the place to go for all things Black professional.
Through their products and services, they enable organisations to enhance their brand as an employer of choice to the Black community and hire from a talent pool that has previously been difficult to reach.
AudioMob
Christian Facey (CEO) and Wilfrid Obeng (CTO) created AudioMob to help developers monetise their games through non-interrupting audio ads.
Christian is a former Facebook Science Partner and Google Agency Strategist. His time with Google saw him manage a portfolio worth up to $100 million. His passion for both games and audio led him to co-found AudioMob, and in 2020 he joined the audio advisory committee to explore further the potential of combining the two.
Having worked for Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Bloomberg, Wilfrid also stood as Google Programmatic Account Strategist. In addition, he provided Amazon, Intercontinental and Hilton technical consulting on programmatic advertising campaigns. A talented coder and software engineer, Wilfrid has been honoured with several awards, including a Rare Rising Stars accolade.
How can your organisation get involved?
Founded on the core principle that there’s a better way to monetise games, AudioMob allows advertisers to reach their consumers and game developers to monetise their games without interrupting gameplay using audio ads.
Find out more about AudioMob here.
Marshmallow
Founded by identical twins Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham, who are both under 30, Marshmallow is valued at more than $1.25bn, making it one of two UK unicorns to be founded by individuals that are Black or have Black Heritage.
Marshmallow’s founding purpose was to modernise the insurance industry with the ultimate aim of using data to provide more affordable insurance to customers who fall outside the typical “good risk” profile.
The organisation’s innovative use of technology, big data and artificial intelligence has enabled it to grow into a serious challenger brand that aims to be one of the most prominent players in the insurance industry. It is one of just two UK’ insurtechs’ to have secured an insurance licence, allowing it complete flexibility from quote to claim.
Marshmallow’s unique approach, comprising fair pricing, quick and efficient customer service and no charge for changes made to a policy, has driven the growth of over 100% during the last six months, with the company has sold well over 100,000 policies.
The company’s headcount has also increased by more than 200% in the past year, and with fresh funding, it expects to hire 400 people over the next 24 months. Marshmallow will also use Series B to expand into other countries, continue to hire the best talent and build other products.
How can your organisation get involved?
Check out Marshmallow for fair-priced insurance policies for those who fall outside the ‘good risk’ profile.
Read more about Marshmallow here.
> > Find out how you can harness the power of data to advance racial equity
Found By Few
Danielle Bowman (Co-Founder/CMO) and Ben Elliot (CoFounder and CEO) created a forward-thinking recruitment partner specialising in providing contract and permanent talent for ambitious Design or Product teams.
“I know from personal experience that traditional recruitment companies are failing their clients when it comes to representing their values.” – Danielle Bowman, CMO
How can your organisation get involved?
Check out Found By Few to help your organisation overcome challenges with diverse hiring strategies. Whether you are looking for a solitary hire, a long-term preferred recruitment partner or looking to scale at speed, no company is too big or too small.
Learn more about Found By Few here.
>> Watch On-demand: ‘Creating a diverse hiring strategy that delivers’ feat. Found By Few
Pace Revenue
Jason, Jens and John-Paul spent the last two decades in various fields: academic research, venture capital and technology companies. Yet, they came together over two shared beliefs.
Firstly, revenue management and dynamic pricing is a discipline whose value is not fully understood by most. Secondly, today’s platforms and solutions are not even close to capturing the full potential value of their customers.
They founded Pace to change revenue management and help companies be more effective in their distribution and sales. That way, they better use resources, generate less waste and contribute to a better world.
How can your organisation get involved?
Pace Revenue believes that more than $100 billion of annual revenue could be added to the hospitality industry if it embraced the future of revenue management. Enter Pace Revenue, whose Revenue Management service optimises the entire customer lifecycle, supports multiple business areas and gets as close to the bottom line as possible.
FLAIR
Of course, we have to mention FLAIR (that’s us above!) when it comes to spotlighting leading B2B black-founded businesses.
Founded in 2020 during the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder by cousins Darrell Coker and Nii Cleland, FLAIR is the only analytics company in the market focused on racial equity.
Both Nii and Darrell were included in the Forbes 30 under 30 list. Goldman Sachs also selected Nii to join their ‘Launch With GS’ UK Black Tech cohort along with six other black-owned tech companies.
Racial equity is very nuanced, so finding a tangible solution that will create systemic reform, let alone measure progress against it, is incredibly challenging. However, nothing is impossible when you have the right answers to power change, and that’s exactly what FLAIR provides.
Now working with over 100 organisations, including The Premier League, Network Rail, EY, Natwest, Hogan Lovells and many more, FLAIR harnesses the power of data to effect real change.
How can your organisation get involved?
FLAIR are technology experts who leverage the power of data to beat racial bias and are here to help you benchmark performance, find the human truths revealed by numbers and lay the right foundations to measure and progress racial equity.
You can find out more here.
We hope we’ve highlighted some new organisations you can support today. Not the right fit for your organisation? Why not actively support Black founded businesses by recommending them to others?
