#0017 The Business of being a Black woman

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Morning Loved One,

Happy Monday! This week’s The Black Female Narrative reminded me how much I get out of producing the publication. At times, some of the news stories can be challenging like how Black women in London experience more Femicide than any other group which is a tough read. Then on the other hand you have news stories like that of former England footballer, Eniola Aluko, who has become the first Black woman to own an Italian football club. This is after becoming the first Black female pundit on Match of the Day alongside her many accolades. You can hear from Eni herself below in the ‘On The Reels’ section.

Creating for you also inspires me. One of the conversations I often have with other Black women is how challenging the workspace can be, whether you work as part of an organisation or for yourself. It’s not the same for everyone but the nuance of being a Black female leader comes with a set of experiences that our counterparts don’t necessarily have.

I write about this in my blog after being inspired by the writer Shauna Knox who, while writing about the US experience, made me feel seen in a way that happens rarely.

She hit an open wound about what it means to try and navigate business as a woman and the fact that sometimes it’s not just the industry that can slam us but also sometimes our peers and the people we’re fighting for. Honestly, it makes me think about how we may need counsellors as professionals in the workspace?

Entrepreneurship doesn’t come with rules or a blueprint and a whole load of emotional lessons. There are Black women I know who have been running businesses for years, some of you are reading this right now. In this moment, I want to say I see you and I honour you for the unspoken hurdles you’ve had to go through in order to get here.

Writing for you can be revelatory for me. For example, sharing the book this week, We Don’t Need Permission by tech entrepreneur Eric Collins made me think about my businesses differently. Even though I’ve worked with Eric and the book in the past, writing directly to you made the lessons land differently. I’ve shared my thoughts with you in Bookish Bliss in case it might be of valuable.

Anyway, thank you for sticking with me and for sharing your time with me every week.

Until next Monday, Loved One

This week’s book is by tech entrepreneur Eric Collins and is called We Don’t Need Permission: How Black Business Can Change Our World. Whilst Eric is a Black American, he has been instrumental in building several Black British businesses in this country.

Here’s the synopsis:

At a time when half of Black households in the UK live in persistent poverty - over twice as many as their white counterparts - We Don't Need Permission argues that investing in Black and under-represented entrepreneurs in order to create successful businesses is the surest, fastest socio-economic game-changer there is.

Long-lasting economic empowerment - from education to health outcomes - is key to solving the multiple problems that result from systemic racism and sexism. And it is the best way to close the inequality gaps that have hampered and continue to hinder Black people and all women too. To address this problem head on, Eric Collins co-founded venture capital firm Impact X Capital to invest in under-represented entrepreneurs in the UK and Europe.

In We Don't Need Permission, Collins identifies ten key principles of successful entrepreneurship, and reveals how it's possible to change a system that has helped some, while holding others back. The book not only aims to inspire and motivate under-represented people to take their future and economic destiny into their own hands, but will demand of current business leaders and organizations that they do business better.

It's time to stop waiting for someone else to give permission and start boldly making the world we want to see.

The thing is the American and English business landscape is very different. Despite sharing in some of the same cultural challenges, the Americans are undoubtedly ahead of us in terms of the ecosystem they have built for the Black communities. Their vast geography also makes each state like the UK in its own right. However, there’s an opportunity to take inspiration from them to see how we can build here. Thinking about it, maybe we should look at Europe as our United States when building our enterprises…