With the release of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list earlier this month, the issue of diversity in entrepreneurship has once again moved to the forefront of conversation. While Black British faces appeared in the technology & social entrepreneurship categories, ethnic minorities as a whole were largely absent from the “Big Money” category detailing entrepreneurs who had raised significant amounts of funding.
Forbes 30 Under 30 – Black British entrepreneurs
Samuel Ross
Former protege of Virgil Abloh, Samuel Ross is the designer & founder of A-Cold-Wall, which means more than 115 global stockists. Retail partners include Dover Street Market, Selfridges & Barney’s and last year the company reported turnover of EUR 8.4m.
Hakeem Buge
Hakeem Buge is the co-founder of Charged Up, a venture-backed green tech company that offers a phone battery rental service powered by 100% green energy. The company has 250+ locations in bars, restaurants and transportation hubs across London.
Simi Awokoya
Simi Awokoya created Witty Careers to educate and equip the under-represented in tech. The non-profit puts on practical events to provide mentoring and give minority women the skills they need to succeed in the tech industry.
Tolulope Ogunsina
Tolulope Ogunsina is cofounder and CTO of Playbrush, a technology company that digitizes oral care for children by gamifying the toothbrushing process. Playbrush has launched a connector that hooks up manual and electric toothbrushes to various iOS and Android games, as well as a parent monitoring app.
Jay Richards
Estimating that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are 87% less likely to start their own business, Jay Richards founded DivInc to increase the number of diverse startup founders. DivInc does community outreach and runs an eight-week incubator program for individuals aged 11 to 18 year olds.
Kiki Oniwinde
Kike Oniwinde is founder of BYP Network, a London-based app for young black professionals to connect for networking and job opportunities in the UK. Launched in 2017, they also work with organisations to help with diversity and inclusion.
Josh Babarinde
Josh Babarinde founded a smartphone repair service staffed by ex-offenders and at-risk youth. The company provides employment and training to this group of individuals typically systematically blocked out of upward mobility.
Bola Adegbolu
Bola Adegbolu cofounded Predina, which leverages AI and cloud computing to build a an analytics platform that predicts risks on transportation routes along with ways to mitigate them. Pilot tests of the company’s software has shown double-digit reductions in accidents.
Breaking down the barriers
Startup community for founders, developers, creatives and investors on a mission to make a difference.
Movement to change the face of start-ups by increasing opportunities for female and BAME founders.
A platform telling the stories of people of colour in tech
A community that provides first hand online and real life into the journey of underrepresented groups working in creative spaces.
A space for black women to learn and explore technology
With the launch of the Backstage London accelerator next month – an offshoot of the Backstage Capital VC Fund focused on funding underrepresented founders – the movement to break down the barriers faced by founders of colour is picking up steam. Hopefully next year’s Forbes list will reflect that.
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