In celebration of Black History Month we are celebrating Banya CEO and founder, Nyasha Gwatidzo.
Black-led companies contribute £25 billion to the UK economy but are held back from growth a new report has found. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) say that the government must do more to help BAME-led enterprises get access to finance. Many BAME entrepreneurs have struggled to access external finance to help their business survive and grow.
The report also found that they are often detached from mainstream business support. Over a 16-year period, nearly 30 per cent of people on average in the UK’s BAME population were typically involved in thinking about, setting up, or operating a business venture, nearly twice the level of the non-ethnic population. However only 3 per cent of respondents over that time period have been reported as running a start-up – suggesting that a high number of would-be black entrepreneurs do not realise their potential.
FSB National Chairman Mike Cherry said: Alongside the economic contribution ethnic minority businesses make, we must also note the vital role they play in contributing to the social value in our communities, by creating jobs and wealth, but also enhancing the social fabric in our society, something which is much harder to quantify, but has been demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic”
Banya Founder Nyasha Gwatidzo experienced the same struggles of access to finance when she set up Banya Family Placement in 1998. As a black African female social entrepreneur, she struggled and was refused finance to help start her business. However, undeterred, and in fact more determined than ever, she went ahead and launched Banya Family Placement and has now helped over 7,000 children within the UK.
