[size=20pt] Britain: The rise and rise of black business[/size] London -- BLACK-owned businesses are a rising economic force in London. Reports by the UK Business & Enterprise department and Barclays Bank, as well as research by the London Development Agency, shows that the majority of new businesses are now started by people from ethnic minority backgrounds, a large proportion of whom are black. Eric Osei reports.
There are now around 16,000 businesses owned by people of black African and Caribbean descent in London - making up 4% of all businesses in the capital and a further 27,000 black Londoners are self-employed - up by 80% over the past decade.
London's black-owned businesses now generate a combined annual sales turnover of £10bn and employ 100,000 people. Coupled with the £4.5bn spending power of London's black community, African and Caribbean people are wielding increasing economic power.
A decade ago, the majority of blackowned businesses were concentrated in traditional, ethnic niche sectors like hairdressing, food retailing and catering - and were limited to serving mainly the black community.
However, an increasing number of black entrepreneurs are now running multimillion pound companies in mainstream growth sectors such as financial services, law, business, and professional services, ICT, media, fashion, retail, property services, consulting and recruitment.
There are many reasons for this shift. Part of the answer lies in the increasing numbers and the generational changes that have occurred within the black African and Caribbean community over the past 40 years. There has been a growing increase in the black population in London, and the figure is projected to grow by 31% in the next three years.
Most of the second and third generation black people are either British-born or came to the UK when they were young. This experience, coupled with the greater economic opportunities now available to them compared to their parents who came in the 1960s and 70s, has resulted in a major shift in mindsets and ambitions.
These newbreed second and third-generation black entrepreneurs possess higher levels of education and communication skills as well as a range of business and social networks, all of which influences their entrepreneurial behaviour and business decisions.
Furthermore, they tend to establish their businesses in mainstream sectors because of the larger market size and greater business opportunities that exist in these sectors.
A shinning example of a British-born Caribbean entrepreneur who is excelling in the corporate business world is Damon Buffimi. The managing partner of Permira, Europe's biggest private equity/venture capital firm, his company recently acquired major UK firms such as Homebase, New Look, Bird's Eye, Travelodge and Little Chef.
The 43-year-old's business journey is a classic rags to riches story. He grew up in a single parent household in a tough Leicester council housing estate. He later went on to graduate in law from Cambridge University and MBA from Harvard. His personal fortune is estimated at £300m.
Other notable examples are Michael Webster and Dawn Dixon - founders, joint MDs and partners of Dixon Webster Solicitors, the only black-owned law firm in rite "City of London", the UK's financial capital.
Specialising in business, tax and employment law, the 13-member law firm has built an impressive client base including multinational companies, banks, satellite TV firms and radio stations.
Black business women are an integral part of the black business success story as they now own more businesses than any other female ethnic group. Recent UK government figures show that black women have the highest level of business ownership in London with 29% owning businesses, compared to 21% of whites and 15% of Asians.
One notable black female is the remarkable Kanya King, founder and CEO of the Music of Black Origin (MOBO) awards. She has risen into an internationally recognised entrepreneur and innovator in the British music industry. Through MOBO, King has for the past 14 years played an important role in elevating black music and culture to mainstream popular status in the United Kingdom. She is also the publisher of the successful Mobo magazine, which celebrates black music, entertainment and culture.
A significant development in the UK business sector is the large number of firms owned by second and third generation Africans (British Africans), particularly entrepreneurs of West African background.
Other than their larger population (there are 451,000 black Africans in London compared to 415,000 black Caribbeans), there are a number of further reasons for the growth of British African entrepreneurs:
* Identifying and successfully exploiting the business opportunity or gaps in the market like any entrepreneur. Some individuals in this group tend to have cultural mindset which sees entrepreneurship as a first choice rather an option where jobs are scarce.
* Capitalising on qualifications, British African businesspeople tend to have higher educational levels and tend to start businesses in sectors where they can use and exploit their degrees or professional qualifications, such as law, accountancy, ICT, business and financial services.
Read the rest here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5391/is_200804/ai_n25418667/pg_2/?tag=content;col1 What are your thoughts on this article? I think it's absolutely fantastic that blacks in the U.K. are embracing entrepreneurship to employ themselves, and other members of the black community. This article comes to no surprise though, Black Africans are the most entrepreneurial Britons, with Black Caribbeans as a close second. Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/african-immigrants-are-most-entrepreneurial-britons-610681.html |
FINALLY! Its about time the blacks wake up to start doing things that will make us proud. Up until now, we only hear of Indian and Pakistani businesses and so on. All we hear about the blacks is that they love to fight and 'kill' each other.
I often say that during my stint as an MBA student in the UK, i wondered how many blacks there were in Snr Management position in corporate UK. I never one day saw a black face as an MD of a large institution like HSBC, BARCLAYS ETC. Well okay, the position of MD is even a bit 'too high'. I never heard of Black Executive Directors, Regional Managers, Snr Consultants, etc. There are however Indians, Chinese and Japanese (maybe because these ones manage their countries multinationals in the UK) and some other Asians in these high positions.
It is good though that we are beginning to run our own black enterprises. Maybe slowly, we (the blacks) would continually evolve to become as large as the Mittals, Tata's and so on.
As i am a well educated and forward thinking dude working in Britain, i intend to join this entrepreneural group soon and very soon. I am getting tired of working for Mama Charlie daily (She and others dey chop my tax well well). Lol |
