Each October, we celebrate Black History Month and the history of the African diaspora. This year’s UK theme “Reclaiming Narratives” centres on celebrating the stories, allegories and histories of Black culture. To contribute, we decided to celebrate some of the fantastic Black UK talent that has inspired us this year.
Here are 11 Black British entrepreneurs who inspire us every day!
- Kyle Frank – Frank’s Remedies
- Shabazz Patterson – Leo Armour
- Louisa Olafuyi – Kunda Kids
- Chloë Downes – SHFT
- Timi Merriman-Johnson – Mr MoneyJar
- George Imafidon – Motivez
- Emma Grede – Good American
- Gail Waterman – Watermans Hair
- Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham – Marshmallow
- Izzy Obeng – Foundervine
- Jamal Tahlil – First Response Group
Kyle Frank
Founder, Frank’s Remedies
His business: A natural vegan skincare brand
Londoner Kyle founded Frank’s Remedies as a solution to his personal battle with acne, a struggle he describes as ‘difficult and lonely’. After reacting badly to GP-described medication, Frank set about formulating his own acne treatment by gathering knowledge from different cultures around the world. He then used this information to formulate his own natural, vegan acne treatments.
As well as being the youngest ever entrepreneur to feature on the ‘Who’s Who in Natural Beauty’ list in 2023, Frank’s acne journey and the launch of his brand was followed by the BBC!
Recently, his products have launched into Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham airports. With the trend for natural skincare picking up pace, we’re keeping an eye out for Kyle’s products in more stores in the near future.
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Shabazz Patterson
Founder, Leo Armour
His business: Empowering activewear and accessories
Shabazz had hoped to become a personal trainer, but the pandemic changed his course. When lockdown meant he wasn’t able to complete a personal training qualification, he channelled his energies into creating an activewear brand instead and Leo Armour was born.
The brand aims to support people starting their fitness journey and caters to all shapes, sizes and genders.
The name, Leo Armour, is a nod to the astrology sign leo – the lion. Patterson believes everyone working out should feel like the ‘King of the Jungle’: strong, brave and confident. We love his mantra!
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Louisa Olafuyi
Co-founder and COO, Kunda Kids
Her business: Award-winning children’s edtech and media company
We had to call out Kunda Kids this Black History Month as a key part of its mission is celebrating Black history and culture through storytelling.
Louise and her husband Dele founded the company in 2020 to bring African storytelling to a global audience. Today, Kunda Kids books and digital content is used across 170 countries and within 400+ schools, helping children meet their early years learning goals while learning about African heritage.
A Cambridge University Press alumnus, Louise herself has authored over 50 children’s books, while Kunda Kids has scooped up numerous awards and nominations.
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Chloë Downes
Founder and CEO, SHFT
Her business: The inclusive influencer talent management agency
Chloë’s agency SHFT was founded to disrupt the industry and move it in the right direction, with the spelling reflecting her ethos that ‘there’s no ‘i’ in SHFT’. After working within talent management agencies, Downes commented that she found both the events and marketing industries “very White and very middle class”, often finding herself to be the only person of colour and only working class representative.
Rather than move to another agency with the same issues, Downes set up SHFT to bring more representation to the industry, and it’s a formula that seems to be working – she’s achieved revenues of over £2million in just two years.
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Timi Merriman-Johnson
Founder, Mr MoneyJar
His business: Financial education and content creation
Mr MoneyJar himself, Timi is a qualified financial advisor who moonlights as an award-winning content creator and personal finance coach. He even hosts a weekly podcast, the Mr MoneyJar Show, where he discusses all things personal finance – from getting on the property ladder to investing.
Timi also regularly discusses personal finance topics on shows from the BBC to Sky News. In fact, he’s such a break-out ‘finfluencer’ (finance influencer) that global bank Santander created deep fakes of him giving bogus advice to illustrate their latest cyber-awareness campaign!
Timi might not be as well-known as the likes of Martin Lewis just yet, but we think it’s only a matter of time!
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George Imafidon
Co-founder and CEO, Motivez
His business: Helping young people from underrepresented backgrounds become the next generation of STEM leaders
Originally from Peckham, South London, Imafidon is one of the country’s leading humanitarian engineers.
Since co-founding Motivez in 2015, he’s helped to support over 10,000 young people into entry-level STEM jobs through grassroots, employability and advocacy programmes. The company works with partners including Google, Rolls-Royce, and McLaren and George himself was awarded an MBE in 2023 for his services to young people.
Imafidon also works as a race engineer for Sir Lewis Hamilton’s electric racing team Team X44. Off the track, Hamilton is one of a number of high profile celebrities endorsing Motivez alongside the Royal Family, Idris Elba and even Beyoncé!
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Emma Grede
Co-founder and CEO, Good American
Her business: The B Corp denim brand shaking up women’s fashion
You might recognise Emma as a regular guest judge on Dragon’s Den. Or perhaps you know her from the US equivalent Shark Tank, where she made history as the show’s first Black female investor.
Grede dropped out of college at 16 after struggling with learning difficulties, but says she always knew she could ‘learn on the job’.
Emma went on to co-found shapewear giant Skims with Kim Kardashian, before branching out and launching size inclusive denim brand Good American alongside Kim’s sister Khloé.
As well as being a fashion powerhouse, Emma is Chairwoman of Fifteen Percent Pledge, a US organisation working with retailers to increase the shelf-space given over to Black-owned brands.
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Gail Waterman
Co-Founder and Owner, Watermans Hair
Her business: Hair growth products for all genders and races
Gail founded Watermans in 2012 alongside her husband Matt, after they had both struggled with their own hair loss issues. Prior to this, Gail had worked as a salon owner and hairdresser, so she knew what was needed to create a great product.
Fast forward twelve years and a Watermans Hair product is sold every thirty seconds around the world.
The company also cares about giving back, donating their hair growth shampoo to chemo wards across the UK.
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Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham
Co-founders and Co-CEOs, Marshmallow
Their business: The unicorn car insurance company
Twins Oliver and Alexander were just 29 when they co-founded insurtech company Marshmallow in 2015, following a conversation with a friend who had recently moved to the UK and couldn’t access a reasonable quote for car insurance.
It led them to think: How can you get reasonably priced insurance without a UK driving licence? And Marshmallow was born, using tech and data to specialise in motor insurance products for ‘riskier’ customers – including young people, those new to the UK, or people with low credit scores.
The company has since grown to become the UK’s second Black unicorn, worth over $1billion, making the twins two of the most successful Black British entrepreneurs ever.
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Izzy Obeng
CEO, Foundervine
Her business: An accelerator supporting ambitious founders to thrive
Since launching Foundervine in 2018, Izzy has helped over 5,000 diverse-led companies to start and scale. Foundervine offers accelerator programmes to support entrepreneurs and early stage companies from underserved communities to thrive, by offering them mentorship, financial aid and training.
She’s been so successful in fact, Obeng was named in Forbes’ 30 under 30 list for social impact in Europe.
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Jamal Tahlil
Chairman and Founder, First Response Group
His business: Experts in security and facilities management
Jamal came to the UK from Somalia alone as a teenager, getting a job as a security guard in London and then Leeds. His friend Edgar Chibaka arrived from Malawi in his twenties and faced similar struggles.
The bias they both faced in the workplace inspired them to start their own business, First Response Group. The company provides the services buildings or events need to operate safely, including security guards, cleaners, concierges, and facilities managers.
After re-investing much of their profits, FRG has grown massively and now employs a huge 1,200 people! It’s one of the most successful Black-owned businesses in Britain.
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Read more: Top tips for supporting the LGBTQ+ community year-round