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Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8th, we’re putting the spotlight on eleven brilliant black business women from across the UK.

The annual event celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women – and underpins a movement for gender equality worldwide.

The theme for 2021 – #ChoosetoChallenge – encourages people to promote gender bias and inequality in order to create a more inclusive world.

This year, a report found that companies run by ethnic minority executives contribute at least £ 74 billion a year to the UK economy, with the leaders of these companies thriving against all odds.

We’ve highlighted just a few of the incredible black business women who succeed despite the challenges they face.

Our list includes rising stars and established leaders who have forged long and successful careers.

In no particular order …

Dame Sharon White, chairman of John Lewis

Lady Sharon White
(Image: Handout)

Dame Sharon White was named sixth chairman of the John Lewis Partnership in 2019, succeeding Sir Charlie Mayfield.

Previously, she was Managing Director of the UK Media Authority, Ofcom, and also held various public service roles, including serving as the Treasury Department’s second permanent secretary from 2013 to 2015.

Dame Sharon is a trained economist and has served on the board of directors in the Department of Justice and the Department of International Development. During the Tony Blair years she was also an advisor to the Prime Minister’s Political Department and worked at the World Bank in Washington DC.

She was named lady on the 2020 New Years Honor Roll.

Yvonne Bajela, founder of Impact X Capital Partners

Yvonne Bajela is the founder of Impact X Capital Partners
(Image: Handout)

Yvonne Bajela is the founder and principal of a UK based venture capital firm that invests in companies led by underrepresented founders in the Seed and Series A stages.

She founded her company in 2019 and was named one of 30 entrepreneurs under 30 in finance by Forbes last year after investing more than $ 200 million in various startups in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Yvonne is also a committee member of the London Chamber of Commerce, sits on a number of other boards and is a visiting professor at City University in London.

According to her LinkedIn, she is also an advocate for “empowering women”.

Kanya King MBE, Founder and Managing Director of the MOBO Awards

Kanya King is coming to the MOBO Awards in 2009
(Image: Getty Images)

Kanya King is the managing director and founder of the MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin).

She was inspired to launch the MOBOs after realizing that there was a “glaring void” in the market for a mainstream UK ceremony celebrating music influenced and inspired by black artists.

The MOBOs started in 1996 when Kanya re-mortgaged her home after failing to find a sponsor. She also signed a deal with Carlton TV (the London television franchise) to broadcast the event.

Today the MOBO is a year-round brand that sets the agenda. The annual awards are broadcast on mainstream television. In 2020, the ceremony, presented by Maya Jama and Chunkz, was shown on the BBC.

The MOBOs provided an early platform for British artists such as Stormzy, Goldie, Dizzee Rascal and Emile Sandé.

Ayesha Ofori, founder of the Black Property Network

Ayesha Ofori, founder of the Black Property Network
(Image: Yolande DeVries)

Ayesha Ofori is an award-winning investment manager, asset advisor and real estate specialist.

After previously working for global financial institutions Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs (where she was Executive Director), Ayesha is now Managing Director of Axion Property Partners and founder of the Black Property Network (BPN).

Ayesha set up the BPN to enable people in the black community to achieve financial and business goals through real estate investments.

Since its inception in 2018, the group has more than 700 registered members. Ayesha won the Rising Star Award in the Entrepreneur category at the Black British Business Awards last year.

Izzy Obeng, founder of Foundervine

Izzy Obeng is the owner of Foundervine
(Image: Izzy Obeng / Instagram Public)

In 2018, Izzy Obeng founded Foundervine, a social company specializing in digital start-up and scale-up acceleration programs.

The aim of their business is to eradicate the social and economic inequality that women and young people from underserved communities face when starting a business or a social enterprise.

Izzy’s company has worked with more than 2,000 entrepreneurs since its inception and last year partnered with Barclays to launch the Black Founder Accelerator – a 12-week program that spans product development, sales strategy, operations and leadership.

Kike Oniwinde, co-founder of BYP Network

Kike Oniwinde is the co-founder of the BYP Network job site, a platform that helps connect black professionals with each other and with companies.

In addition to finding career matches for their network of 50,000 members, the site works with large companies to reduce the bias in the recruiting process.

It counts Adobe, Airbnb, Sky and Lloyds Bank among its partners and has an app that has been downloaded in 65 countries. Kike was invited to Paris on a trade mission by London Mayor Sadiq Khan in 2019.

Prior to her career in business, Kike represented Great Britain as a javelin thrower at the 2011 European Junior Athletics Championships.

Dame Heather Rabbatts, Chair of the Four Communications Group

Dame Heather Discounts
(Image: Getty Images)

Dame Heather Rabbatts first came to prominence in the 1980s when she became the youngest executive director of a local agency as head of Lambeth Council.

The Jamaica-born British lawyer, businesswoman and broadcaster was governor of the BBC from 1999 to 2001 before moving to Channel 4.

In 2006 she was named the new vice chairman of Millwall Football Club and was the first woman to be named director of the Football Association in 2011.

Dame Heather was named chairman of UK marketing and communications agency Four Communications in 2020. She is also Chair of the Compensation Committee at UK construction and infrastructure company Kier.

Gisela Abbam, Chair of the British Science Association

Gisela Abbam is the first black chairman of the British Science Association
(Image: Black British Business Awards)

Gisela Abbam became the British Science Association’s first black Chair when she was named in 2019 – that same year she was named Black British Business Person of the Year at the Black British Business Awards.

She is also the founder and managing director of OTGA Management Consultancy and has held a number of other director-level roles including Abt Associates – a leading global research company.

Prior to joining Abt, Gisela was the first global executive director for the government department and the policy department of General Electric. She has worked with governments, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations and the World Bank to improve health outcomes. She has also published more than 45 white papers on various public policy issues.

Gisela is also a non-executive director of Everywoman UK and was named as one of the 100 women to watch in the 2020 Cranfield Female FTSE Board Report

Marti Burgess, partner of Bevan Brittan

Marti Burgess is a partner at Bevan Brittan
(Image: MCPHERSON PHOTOGRAPHY)

Marti Burgess is a lawyer and entrepreneur and has been advising SMEs on corporate and commercial law for more than 20 years.

She is currently a partner at the national law firm Bevan Brittan, but has also worked at Gregg Latchams, Metcalfes and Humphreys & Co.

She is also a co-owner of the Bristol music venue Lakota, which she bought with her brother in 1994 – although she no longer has day-to-day responsibilities for the venue.

She sits on the board of the Bristol Cultural Development Partnership and on the Economy Board of Bristol City Council, where she represents ‘Bristol @ Night’ – an advisory body set up to bring together people who work in the city’s night economy.

She also chairs the St. Pauls Carnival CIC and the Black South West Network – a black-run infrastructure organization that works with black and ethnic minorities in the Southwest.

In 2020, she was named the first black member of the Bristol Society of Merchant Venturers.

Rachael Corson and Joycelyn Mate, Afrocenchix

Rachael Corson and Joycelyn Mate are the co-founders of Afrocenchix, the first Afro hair product launched in all nine Whole Foods UK supermarket stores.

The duo met at university and discovered a niche in the market for products for black women made primarily from natural ingredients and began formulating their own products.

While getting their business off the ground, they won the Grand Prize in the Business Venture category at the WeWork London Creator Awards 2018.

Not only did they land £ 275,000, but they also won the chance to enter the WeWork Global Creator Awards for $ 1M.

In the finale, Joycelyn presented the company to a jury, including rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, actor Ashton Kutcher and US venture capitalist Kirsten Green. Afrocenchix was awarded the second, second prize of $ 180,000.

Do you run a black-owned company or do you know someone who does? Send an email to [email protected] and share your story.

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