'I started the black business network I wish I had'

Jemima Antwi, 27, established Black Founders Studio (BFS) in September, a network she wished she had access to when she began her entrepreneurial journey. She reports having assisted approximately 50 founders since its inception.

Antwi, originally from Ghana, launched BFS after experiencing feelings of "loneliness" and "isolation" during her initial venture into business. Her first business, selling reusable water bottles, began while she was a university student in Chester. After it failed, she connected with other Black business founders and realized their struggles mirrored her own.

BFS, a not-for-profit community interest business, was founded by Antwi in September to support early-stage Black founders, predominantly Black women, in developing their business concepts into launched enterprises. In less than a year, she states that BFS has helped create 30 businesses, which are scheduled to launch later at Chester Racecourse.

Antwi emphasized the unique challenges faced by Black women in entrepreneurship, stating, "For black women in particular, entrepreneurship is so lonely. You don't really know anyone that you can look up to. Starting my business was the most difficult thing I had ever done. So I started Black Founders Studio to create the support I wished had existed."

In 2022, Antwi launched her own business, Mimes Reusables, selling reusable bottles through the University of Chester's Venture Programme. She recalled, "That was gaining some traction. It was doing well in Chester. People started calling me the bottle lady because I was doing a lot of local markets."

After two years, the business "crashed." Antwi explained that it took about a year after its failure for her to analyze what went wrong. "Two years in and it crashed," she said. "Sometimes when your business fails, you don't think about it straight away, you are still mourning. But when that period has passed, you start reflecting, and that was when I realised what caused my business to fail is not unique to me."

Antwi identified several issues she encountered, including a lack of a network, insufficient funding and contacts, and limited representation as a Black woman in business. "When I started the business, I didn't really know anybody," Antwi explained. "Chester is not exactly the most black place and I did not have any network."

During this period, Antwi felt lonely and isolated. She recounted, "I was working like three jobs to try and finance the business, because I didn't have any generational wealth or somebody, like a relative in the UK who could help me. It wasn't very easy to access funding, which was what caused the business to close down. And what was more lonely was the fact that there was no network. I did not really have a community. It felt so lonely because I was having to quite literally do everything alone."

Conversations with other Black business owners revealed that her experiences were not unique. "I was speaking to a lot of other black-owned businesses and it looked like it was the same pattern," she said. "We were all sort of facing the same barriers, the same challenges and the same issues. So I created Black Founders Studio, as a Community Interest Company (CIC) to help deal with this."

To dedicate her efforts to BFS, Antwi resigned from her finance job and now works at a local shop. She founded BFS to offer support and guidance to founders from the initial product idea through to launch.

Antwi observed that many Black women desired to start businesses but lacked the confidence to take the first step. "I spoke to so many people, black women, who wanted to do business, but they didn't," she said. "Because it is so uncertain that they stick to employed work. They didn't have people to talk to, they were here alone and didn't have family to fall back on."

She realized that providing education could significantly help these founders. "Some people didn't know how to set up businesses here in the UK," she explained. "Or what structure the business needed to follow, or what legalities were required to set up the business properly. And before we talk about loans and marketing, we needed to get that structure."

Antwi began by offering lessons on trademarking and company registration, then progressed to helping founders develop businesses that address "real life issues."

In less than a year, and without external funding, BFS has enrolled 50 founders in an incubator program, providing practical training, support, and a community network. Of these 50 founders, 30 are now preparing to launch their businesses.

Antwi highlighted the importance of community in entrepreneurship: "With entrepreneurship it is so easy to give up. And having that network, having that community that actually pushing you through, it makes a hell of a difference."

Her focus for BFS is on fostering "problem solving ideas" that create "something of use to society." As an example, she cited Anita Asante, founder of ADWO Makeup, an Afro-luxury, inclusive, vegan, and cruelty-free makeup brand that "celebrates under-represented skin tones the beauty industry has long overlooked." Asante started her business after struggling to find her foundation shade in a high street beauty shop last year.

Antwi noted the disparity in the beauty industry: "In the whole of Europe, a very small percentage of the market's makeup brands are owned by black people and are for black people."

Other BFS businesses launching include a wellness brand for girls experiencing their first period, an African cuisine brand, a menopause support network, and a Black skincare brand offering products for melanin-rich skin, including sunscreen.

"It makes me so happy, because every single one of the businesses isn't just about a product, they're actually changing the world in a way," Antwi expressed.

Ahead of the launch event, Antwi described her feelings as "incredible" upon seeing the founders' final products. "Seeing the products arrive, it's just so incredible, I actually cry because I'm like, 'oh my goodness this is actually real'," she shared.

Looking ahead, Antwi aims to expand BFS to help founders secure funding. She added, "Not just representation, but I want to see deep change in the UK, to give black people, women, men, children hope."