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BAME entrepreneurs. However, Brown urges<br />
BAME business owners to think of other<br />
ways to provide funding for their business<br />
instead of relying solely on the government,<br />
advising that “they shouldn’t put all their<br />
eggs in one basket”.<br />
If a company relies solely on government<br />
funding, they run the risk of having nothing<br />
to fall back on if the government suddenly<br />
decides to stop financially supporting them.<br />
The same applies to relying on one organisation<br />
to fund your business. Brown’s previous<br />
business, Elevating Success, was funded by<br />
26 organisations. He says that aspiring entrepreneurs<br />
should ask a variety of businesses to<br />
fund them and they can also create their own<br />
GoFundMe pages to collect donations from<br />
the public to help them start their business.<br />
Every entrepreneur faces challenges and<br />
unfortunately, being an ethnic minority entrepreneur<br />
can make things even harder, but<br />
that doesn’t mean that you should give up.<br />
She also thinks that all entrepreneurs should<br />
BREAK<br />
use their profile picture on<br />
THE<br />
their website re-<br />
SILENCE.<br />
gardless Race of and their ethnicity and “if in clients the management are<br />
pipeline.<br />
Black, Asian and minority is working ethnic to create (BAME) equal opportunities people are for under-represented in<br />
BAME entrepreneurs and things are slowly<br />
business and especially in management roles. It’s time for change.<br />
CEO Andrew Brown says: “I may have faced<br />
racism, but I don’t let that hold me back.” He<br />
advises aspiring BAME entrepreneurs that<br />
if they work hard, know their product and<br />
believe in themselves then they will be successful.<br />
Afghani business owner at takeaway<br />
shop Pizza Pizza has faced racism in previous<br />
jobs, but despite this he is still hopeful<br />
that “in this country, everyone who wants to<br />
work hard will receive their goal regardless<br />
of their race”.<br />
Entrepreneur Nova Reid advises aspiring<br />
BAME business owners to get a mentor<br />
who they can look up to and develop a strong<br />
support network of family members, business<br />
peers or people within their community.<br />
bothered about working with you because<br />
you’re black then they’re not your ideal clients<br />
anyway”.<br />
Although only 5% of businesses currently<br />
have a BAME owner, the government<br />
LET’S TALK ABOUT RACE<br />
changing for the better. Sadiq Khan is the<br />
first London Mayor to put the capital’s diverse<br />
communities at the centre of his work<br />
in his new draft London Plan, this includes<br />
providing economic development opportunities<br />
for BAME Londoners. In addition, Organisations<br />
such as UK Black Business Show<br />
and Asian Business Association are working<br />
to support ethnic minority businesses and<br />
increase networking opportunities.<br />
There are also numerous schemes set up<br />
to help young BAME adults develop their entrepreneurial<br />
skills and build business connections.<br />
The MeWe360 and Creative England<br />
incubator programme is one of many<br />
schemes which provide mentoring and business<br />
support for BAME entrepreneurs with<br />
start-up businesses. On top of all this, City<br />
Bridge Trust has awarded a £1000 grant to<br />
London’s black and ethnic minority community<br />
organisations, some of which work<br />
to support BAME businesses. Manager at<br />
UK Black Businesses Show Ezekiel says that<br />
although ethnic minority entrepreneurs are<br />
faced with extra challenges “there are ways<br />
to overcome these obstacles and you should<br />
never let them limit you”.<br />
Many managers<br />
are uncomfortable<br />
discussing it and<br />
wary of causing<br />
offence<br />
Only 54%<br />
of senior FTSE 100<br />
leaders champion<br />
BAME diversity<br />
21%<br />
of companies surveyed report<br />
publicly on BAME, compared to<br />
71%<br />
on gender diversity<br />
FACE THE NUMBERS<br />
83%<br />
of HR/Diversity leaders say<br />
they need better data to drive<br />
progress on race and ethnicity<br />
The view from business:<br />
“<br />
There is definitely a lack of proportionate<br />
BAME representation from middle<br />
management upwards; this is visible across<br />
all business areas in our company.<br />
There does not seem to be a real effort<br />
to acknowledge this.<br />
FTSE 100 DIVERSITY LEADER<br />
”<br />
TOP THREE BUSINESS DRIVERS<br />
FOR BAME DIVERSITY IN THE FTSE 100<br />
1. Improved business<br />
performance<br />
2. Greater understanding<br />
of customers<br />
3. Improved<br />
business culture<br />
Only<br />
6%<br />
of managers<br />
in the UK<br />
are BAME<br />
Full BAME<br />
representation<br />
would be worth<br />
£24 billion<br />
a year<br />
Businesses are<br />
35%<br />
more likely to<br />
outperform if they<br />
have ethnically diverse<br />
leadership<br />
SOURCE: MCGREGOR-SMITH REVIEW 2017 SOURCE: BEIS 2017<br />
SOURCE: MCKINSEY 2017<br />
47<br />
For more insights, case studies, and to sign up for CMI Race:<br />
5AM <strong>Magazine</strong>.indd 47 11/03/2019 13:59:44<br />
www.managers.org.uk/deliveringdiversity