The Black Business Collective

Like many women, Black people, people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and from other underrepresented communities…the list goes on…I was not supposed to be in the legal profession! But all of us, if we’d listened to those voices, left the self doubt take over and didn’t have the #resilience to get back up time and time again to push, and keep pushing…but we did and we continue to do so as we build upon the foundations that others who went before us laid and #BounceBack from all the setbacks that we faced (and continue to face!)…regardless of where we are in our careers 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾 All very philosophical for a Friday, I know but I’m in reflective mood after last night’s brilliant 10 year anniversary celebration of Rebecca Mander FInstLM GuruYou®️ hosted at No5 Barristers' Chambers. I had the privilege of representing Trowers & Hamlins by being on the panel with the incredible Becca Horley (and I mean incredible!) and the phenomenal Sophie Wardell (and I mean phenomenal!), all expertly hosted by Rebecca Mander FInstLM and Marc Forrest-Thomas 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Despite the rain, the room was full and the conversation was real, open and most importantly…honest. Great to see Jessica Adeniran my #MenteeForLife 💕, I thank Catherine Edwards for almost moving me to tears with her kind words, it’s always a joy to see Clare Radburn 😘 and it was lovely to meet Amit Ghose in person. #Congratulations Rebecca Mander FInstLM and GuruYou®️ on all of your success to date and I wish you many more, as to are making a real difference to the lives of so many! #Leadership

“I gave my CTO 10% of my business and they won’t pick up my calls.” At the recent The Black Business Collective Investment Readiness Programme session, we discussed incentives within early-stage businesses. I make my opinions pretty clear about equity and incentives. Treat your equity like gold. Signing away percentages willy-nilly is doing you, your business, and any future investors a disservice. If you must use it, use it sparingly and align the remuneration with tangible impacts. The same goes, especially for advisors and mentors. I recognize that no one works for free, but in addition to the fact that it’s easy to try to “clip a few percentage points” for advising, that can mess your cap table up for future investors and future equity holders’ incentives. Once more, without performance-related outcomes, it’s very easy to have many cooks spoiling the broth, whereby everyone is holding on and doing the bare minimum to potentially cash in on their equity in the future. But guess what? That’s not how valuable businesses are made, and such things actually inhibit development to say the least. It’s common that everyone wants to be a shareholder and no one wants to do the work. And usually that means no one wants to pay anyone to do the work. And nothing happens. (“Just post on social media”…”just get someone from Fiverr”… “just sell to 1% of the market”… ☠️). The takeaway from the discussion was that everything is negotiable. Which also means people can say no. You can say no. And so can your employees or prospective investors. My main advice is that it’s not about cracking a deal that’s cheap or hard-fought. It’s about structuring your business in a way that it will succeed, which means everyone has to be motivated. If you’re squeezing someone, that might lead to animosity. If you’re asking someone to match your passion and commitment and paying them pittance, don’t be surprised if they’re not matching it. (I’ll add the common example especially with some business cultures such as the USA of hiring a part time/ freelance employee and expecting a full time performance eg. Attending regular team meetings or being on standby out of hours without the remuneration). Equally, when you’re asking for a massive commitment and paying a tuppence, and early employees are struggling to pay rent or don’t have the extra funds to have a lifestyle that reflects the business, something as simple as money for the gym or nice clothes, you can’t be surprised if your employee is working another job or not showing “full commitment.” (I’ve heard stories of company directors ridiculing employees for not wearing expensive suits, or working another job and making them “look like we’re not paying you enough” when in fact their salary barely makes rent - sad but true and a a speed run to animosity, unproductivity and employee churn). This is an uncomfortable truth for a lot of startups and businesses. How do you motivate in the early stages of a business?

A wonderful Wednesday in the West Mids ⚡️ This morning I’m at Legacy Centre of Excellence delivering the 5th and final session of the Investment Readiness Programme’s Funding Accelerator for the The Black Business Collective (Birmingham Chamber of Commerce). So far we’ve covered everything from: - pitching your business… to funding it, to selling it and acquiring other companies - financial modelling… what investors want to see and how to build an investable business - doing business abroad… whether that’s selling internationally from the UK or entering a new market overseas (taking advantage of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office network around the world in addition to incentives that exist eg. Tax efficiency opportunities and countries that will pay you to relocate eg. Startup Chile) - legal considerations and pitfalls that entrepreneurs face when growing quickly (including how to structure your organization to protect yourself and your future exit) - tax considerations and efficiencies especially when selling overseas and also receiving investment from outside the UK (we deep dived on the USA exploring specific tax scenarios and support available for UK firms looking to enter the US market eg. SelectUSA) - how to access the funding and support from Business Growth West Midlands Invest West Midlands UK (West Midlands Growth Company) and more In fact. It’s too much to list! This is the final session of this cohort but hopefully not the last - it’s been so energizing working with this cohort from the The Black Business Collective - stay tuned to meet some of the amazing Founders building right here in the West Midlands 🇬🇧 💪

Some of the most powerful mentoring moments don’t come with a title, a framework, or a formal programme. They just… happen. I was in the chair this week with my cousin Daniel — someone I’ve known since he was two years old — watching him run his barbershop with real pride and professionalism. Mid-haircut, he said: “You know that one piece of advice you gave me a while back? That’s what helped me set this business up.” Honestly? I didn’t even remember saying it. And that’s the lesson. Mentoring isn’t always structured or intentional. Sometimes it’s a passing comment. A belief shared. A question asked at the right moment — long before someone knows they’ll need it. What is clear is the outcome: • A values-led business owner • A brilliant local establishment • Someone already thinking about giving back Which makes it even better that Daniel is now stepping up as a Baseline Mentor himself. The circle continues. If this resonates, you’ll love what we’re doing at Baseline. We have a Baseline Mentee Meet-Up tonight at 7.30pm — a safe, welcoming space to connect, reflect, and learn from others who are a few steps ahead (and some alongside you). Mentoring happens in many ways. Sometimes you don’t even realise you’re doing it — until some time later. Proud moment. ✂️

This morning was the first West Midlands Female Enterprise Forum of the year and I was truly blown away by all of the brilliant work being done to support women in the region. I’m so proud of the forum – we’ve now got over 50 public and private sector leaders from across the West Midlands involved; all sharing the same mission to support women-powered businesses. I can’t take credit for any of their brilliant work – all I saw was the need for better coordination and a way to help people connect and collaborate… and that’s how the forum was born. In the room today, we had the likes of EY, HSBC, KPMG, West Midlands Growth Company, Creative UK West Midlands, Minerva Business Angels, Future Planet Capital Regional, Evelyn Partners, Innovate UK, Warwick Innovation District, University of Birmingham, University College Birmingham... to name a few. All high-powered leaders who can push for change! Shoutout to the amazing Karen Rudich who came and presented too. What she’s building with sherloc really is a game-changer for entrepreneurs. Grateful to be able to make things like this happen through The 51% Club and extremely happy to have the support of West Midlands Combined Authority through Business Growth West Midlands. For me, this is the kind of work that’s going to help move that dial, so I'm already making plans for more forums across the UK...