Over the past ten years, we've helped create an ecosystem of support for Black British entrepreneurs.
We’ve given brands over £100k in grant funding. We’ve generated over £500k in sales. We’ve supported over 2,500 businesses with growth resources and opportunities.
We built a community of thousands of shoppers who cared about the economic empowerment of the Black community.
Our vision in 2016 was simply to make it easier to find and support Black-owned brands.
By pioneering the Jamii card – the first loyalty membership designed to encourage spending with Black-owned businesses – we made it fun, rewarding and experiential to buy Black.
Now, we’re turning 10. And it’s our final chapter.
When we launched Jamii ten years ago, we could never have imagined the impact we’d be able to achieve in a decade. We’re immensely proud to have been able to serve and shape the Black British community, connect with so many talented individuals, and leave a legacy of collaboration and opportunity.
As we celebrate 10, now is also the most meaningful moment to close. As people, best believe we’re still as proud and passionate about the empowerment of our community than ever; but as founders, it’s time for a change.
It's just the start for Black entrepreneurship.
The ecosystem we needed back then didn’t exist, so we helped build it. What’s changed most visibly over ten years is this:
- Data on Black-owned business owners’ experiences and challenges exists where it never used to before
- Many corporate organisations are genuinely invested in targeted support for Black founders
- Community-owned organisations are continuing to equip and empower thousands of entrepreneurs every year
Black-owned businesses, and support networks for them, are no longer as hard to find as they were back in 2016.
That’s not solely our doing – but we’re proud to have been part of the progress.
We hope we’ve left a mark on the community of customers, cardholders and business owners that we’ve connected with over the years. We would have been nothing without you.
To every brand we partnered with, to every member who carried their Jamii card, to every person who showed up: thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Khalia and Courtney Ismain, Jamii founders