Open in app

Sign in

Write

Sign in

100 Must-Follow Black Entrepreneurs, Influencers & Speakers in 2017

Lisimba Pink
24 min readJul 3, 2017

--

It has never been a better time to be a black entrepreneur. It is estimated that minority businesses contribute £25-£32 billion to the UK economy per year.

“However, ethnic minorities and women are seen to be under-represented as entrepreneurs”

This highlights the difficulty in becoming a minority entrepreneur. Although the majority of ethnic groups have high aspirations to launch businesses,

(especially Black African (35%) and Black Caribbean (28%) groups. This is compared to a figure of just 10% among the White British segment).

If you would like to break the barriers of discrimination or would like to overcome the challenges in starting, funding and growing a business, then follow these 100 game changers for inspiration on how you can hack entrepreneurship and growth.

If you would like to learn from some of the brightest entrepreneurs, influencers and speakers from culturally diverse backgrounds, check out my Podcast, The “Diversity All Star” Podcast.

  • Ade Hassan
    Ade Hassan is the founder of “Nubian Skin” nude skin-tone hosiery and lingerie for Women of Colour. Launched in October 2014, Nubian Skin has become an instant hit worldwide, including being worn by Beyoncé and her dancers during their Formation Tour. Ade continues on her mission to empower women of colour as her brand grows from strength to strength.
  • Adebayo Ogunlesi
    Adebayo Ogunlesi is the managing partner and Chairman at Global Infrastructure Partners, an infrastructure investment fund which owns 75 percent of London Gatwick Airport, acquired in a deal worth £1.51bn. He also serves as lead director on the director’s board of Goldman Sachs.
    His success story dates back to his time at King’s College in Nigeria. He has also attended Oxford University, Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.
  • Aisha Ayensu
    The Ghanaian-based fashion icon is best known for her luxury fashion brand, Christie Brown. She holds the enviable position of CEO, Creative Director and Head Designer of the highly acclaimed label. Her designs are Africa-inspired with a mixture of modern elements creating a chic luxury look in her products. She has a BA psychology from the University of Ghana.
    Her biggest success has undoubtedly been the Christie Brown brand that she started at a young age of 21. It has been featured in top publications including Vogue Italia and Glamor Magazine.
  • Akon
    Though he was born in Missouri, Akon spent much of his early childhood in Senegal, West Africa. There, he developed a musical foundation, later rising to become one of the biggest music icons in the United States and globally. Today he owns two major recording labels and is a successful businessman with various real estate and fashion investments.
    He also has plans to bring solar power to rural Africa, ‘light to learn’ is an initiative geared towards tackling sustainable energy and education in Africa.
  • Alexander Amosu
    Alexander Amosu is a brand known best for its extravagant bespoke products from diamond encrusted iPhones to custom suits. But the man behind the name has an even more interesting story.He grew up in North London with little to spare in terms of money. His first job involved a paper round. Soon, he had ventured into mobile ringtones, a business that catapulted him into millionaire status.
    From earning £10 a week, he now makes millions selling to the ultra-wealthy.
  • Aliko Dangote
    Worth around $12.9 Billion, Aliko Dangote is the richest man in Africa and number 51 on Forbes Billionaires list. The Nigerian-born tycoon does business in over a dozen African countries, specialising mostly in cement manufacturing. He also deals in flour and sugar and has plans to buy Arsenal.
  • Angela Benton
    Angela Benton is referred to by many as a Trail Blazer. She is the founder and publisher of Black Web 2.0, which sells itself as the top destination for African-Americans interested in technology. But her biggest accomplishment is the startup accelerator NewMe. The accelerator has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs get funding and kick start their businesses to success.
  • Andrew Mwenda
    Ugandan-born Andrew Mwenda is one of the leading voices in Africa especially on matters to do with foreign aid, economic empowerment and governance. His main career is as a journalist. He has written for the Daily Monitor in Uganda and several international papers including The New York Times and Des Spiegel. He is currently the owner of the Uganda-based publication, The Independent.
    One of his best known moments was when he gave a TED talk on the challenges of aid for ‘poor’ Africa.
  • Antony Pink
    Antony Pink is the Co-Founder & COO of Laundrapp, an on-demand laundry and dry cleaning collection and delivery service. Since launch, Laundrapp has secured over £10m in investments and operates in over 100 locations across the UK. Antony recently won the award for Consumer & Luxury Rising Star at the BBB Awards.
  • Bianca Miller
    Bianca Miller rose to popularity during BBC’s televised competition, The Apprentice. She beat thousands of rivals to reach the finals where she presented her idea for nude tights for all skin tones. Though she did not win, she went ahead and launched her business. Today she is the proud owner of Bianca Miller London, which provides hosiery in all kinds of skin tones.
  • Birame Sock
    From her days living in Africa, Birame was a natural born black entrepreneur, always ready with innovative ideas to make some extra cash. On her journey to entrepreneurial prowess she has left a trail of successes including a music applications company and MyReceipts. Currently, she is the founder of FlyScan, INC, an interactive digital marketing platform. She is also a board director at Viggle Inc, a NASDAQ listed company.
  • Brandon Carter
    Brandon Carter is a leading fitness instructor, nutritionist and lifestyle coach. He has trained numerous athletes and models as well as thousands of people online. With an inspiring message of hard work and never giving up, Brandon Carter has helped numerous people achieve their fitness goals. He has worked with top brands including Nike and Adidas. Currently, he runs his own company, Bro Labs, providing fitness vitamins and supplements.
  • Cathy Hughes
    Cathy Hughes is one of the greatest African American media personalities. Born in Nebraska in 1947, she was already a teen mum at 16 years of age and a wife at 17. She later divorced. In the 1980s she founded Radio One and bought the radio station, WOL-AM, though this brought on financial difficulties causing her to lose her home and car. Radio One has gone on to become a huge success and Cathy Hughes was recently honoured by Howard University with a school named after her.
  • Camille A Brown
    Camille Brown, a highly accomplished dancer and choreographer, started dance training at a very young age. Her successes with dance companies, universities and at Broadway have seen her receive numerous awards including a TED Fellowship. She is currently the founder and owner of Camille A. Brown & Dancers, a dancing company.
  • Chakabars
    Chakabars Clarke is a London-based personal trainer. Today, Chakabars is best known as the founder of weight training movement, Spartanfam. An accomplished athlete himself, Chakabar focuses on bodyweight training when working with other people, especially the youth.
  • Charmaine Hayden & Lina Naima
    Charmaine and Lina are both motivational speakers the co-founders behind F4M models, a 5 times award winning curve modelling agency. Clients include Nike, D&G, Vans, and H&M to name a few.
  • Chris Gardner
    Born in Wisconsin in 1954, Chris Gardner has gone through some tough times. He was at one time homeless while raising his son. But today, he is a successful entrepreneur, philanthropist and motivational speaker. His life story is told in his own memoir, The Pursuit of Happyness, which was later made into a movie.
  • Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    Chimamanda’s name is synonymous with captivating African stories and unabashed feminism. The famed Nigerian novelist has excelled at capturing the spirit of Africa and expressing it through captivating poems and stories. She was born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1977. She is a well-known feminist and has given a TED talk on the topic. Some of her most famous works include Half a Yellow Sun and Americanah
  • Clarisse Iribagiza
    In a field traditionally dominated by men, Clarisse Iribagiza stands out as an ultra-successful female entrepreneur in the Rwandan technology sector. Her company, HeHe Limited, is one of the leading mobile technology companies in Rwanda. She also helped found The iHills in 2011, a startup network aimed at helping tech startups in the country. In 2012, she won a $50,000 USD prize on the business reality show, Inspire Africa.
  • Corvida Raven
    Corvida Raven was raised in Miami and by eighth grade, she was already blogging. At 19, she started the blog SheGeeks.net, to spread important tech information to other people. She is also a speaker, beloved for her ability to translate tech into simple plain language. Her efforts are aimed at empowering women, the youth and people of colour. She has been given several awards by Fast Company and Black Weblog.
  • Curtis Jackson
    He is better known by his stage name, 50 Cent. After surviving a serious shooting in the year 200, Curtis Jackson has gone on to become a successful rapper and businessman. He has ventured into business with deals in fashion, drinks, music, books, headphones and apps. In 2015 however, he filed for bankruptcy with more than $30 million in debt. But this has not stopped Curtis from continuing to producing the hit TV series, Power.
  • David Fasanya and Gabriel Barralaga
    The duo are spoken word poets most famous for their beach body talk at a TEDYouth event in 2012. Both are accomplished poets based in New York and doing regular performances. David Fasanya was born in Nigeria but later moved to Brooklyn, New York. He has won several awards for his works including Urban Word and Art Initiative.
  • Daymond John
    Daymond is one of the top investors on Shark Tank, the popular ABC reality show. To date, he has invested over $8 million dollars in Shark Tank projects. () Away from TV, he is a successful entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $250 million. One of his biggest successes has been in the apparel industry where he founded and still owns the brand FUBU.
  • Dentaa Amoateng
    Dentaa is an entrepreneur, actress, TV presenter, producer, manage, philanthropist. She is also the founder of the GUBA (Ghanaian UK Based Achievements) Awards, a non-profit organisation designed to showcase and celebrate the achievements within the British-Ghanaian community. She has won many awards, including an MBE for her work with GUBA.
  • Don Peebles
    The Peebles Corporation is the largest real estate development company in the US owned by an African American. That owner is none other than Roy Donahue Pebbles, better known as Don Pebbles.
    Born in Washington in 1960, he entered the real estate market in 1979. Even in his early 20s, he had already found success notably serving as chairman of Washington’s real estate tax appeals board. Today, his main focus is on Pebbles Corporation, which manages a multi-billion dollar portfolio of luxury developments.
  • Dr Clare Eluka
    Dr. Clare Eluka is the founder of Premae Skincare, a highly acclaimed vegan-based line of skincare products for those with problems like eczema and acne. The London-based black entrepreneur has been recognised numerous times for her pioneering role in improving health and well-being especially among women. Eluka and her Premae Brand have collectively won dozens of awards including Educator of the Year, Best makeup artist and Best anti-ageing product.
  • Dr Ivan Joseph
    Dr Ivan Joseph is one of the top college soccer coaches in Canada, having been recognised as coach of the year a total of six times. After coaching the men’s soccer team at Ryerson University for six seasons, he shifted to the women’s team in 2015. He is currently the Director of Athletics at the University. Away from coaching, he is also a speaker on the topics of self confidence and leadership.
  • Dr. Ola Orekunrin
    Dr. Orekunrin is currently an accomplished medical doctor, was born in London and raised by foster parents. At 21, she graduated from medical school, making her one of the youngest doctors in the UK. Today, she works in Nigeria where she is the founder and director of Flying Doctors Nigeria.
  • Dupsy Abiola
    Dupsy was named as one of the most influential black businesswomen in Britain, on the Thomson Reuters Power List. Dupsy Abiola is the founder of Intern Avenue. She has also worked as a lawyer on several high profile cases. Today, Intern Avenue is her main focus. It is a platform aimed at helping graduates find internship and employment opportunities.
  • Dwain Reid
    Born in 1982, Dwain Reid is a British business mentor focused on helping young entrepreneurs find success in their businesses. While he is an accomplished black entrepreneur himself, he realised that his best role is as a mentor. Today, he has provided business workshops to thousands of young people and currently runs an entrepreneurship project at Kingston University.
  • Eddie Obeng
    Eddie Obeng is often seen as a radical in the field of organisation and management. But the Ghanaian born speaker, author and educator is respected across the board. He has a long career and entrepreneurship history having started as an engineer working at Royal Dutch Shell. Today, he is best known for his contribution to the field of project management.
  • Eugene Mbugua
    He is young and incredibly successful. At the young age of 25, Eugene Mbugua is the founder of one of the biggest TV production companies in Kenya. He has steered to success some of the most popular shows on Kenyan TV while also running a Yearbook business on the side. He is also an up and coming real estate tycoon. He has been featured on Forbes as one of the most promising young African entrepreneurs.
  • Eric Thomas
    Eric Thomas never had it easy when growing up. He dropped out of high school after a fight with his parents and subsequently became homeless for a couple of years. Later on he became a preacher while also helping youth from underprivileged families. Today, he is a hugely popular motivational speaker, minister and author.
  • Folorunsho Alakija
    Folorunsho Alakija is the richest woman in Africa. She is the 13th richest individual in Africa. Forbes pegs her net worth at $1.8 billion. While her first foray into business was in fashion, she has made most of her wealth in the lucrative Nigerian oil industry. She is currently the vice chair of Famfa Oil, one of the biggest oil exploration firms in Nigeria.
  • Fowotade Babajide
    It started as an experiment but soon, the computer program Fowotade had built was gaining public attention. The Facebook Messenger bot, previously called FXBOT but now named NAIRABOT, is designed to provide instant exchange rates for a limited number of currencies against the Naira.
    Fowotade graduated with a degree in computer science and now works as a software engineer.
  • Gary Elden
    For Gary Elden, CEO of SThree PLC, the journey from a council estate to the gleaming London offices has not been easy. From a salary of £3200 a year working in Camden, he now makes north of £1 million as an executive at SThree. On the side, he is involved in the Powerlist Foundation, an organisation that helps high-potential underprivileged youths to become leaders.
  • George Ayittey
    George is a Ghanaian-born economist, author and speaker. His background includes a Master’s degree from Western Ontario University and a stint teaching in colleges in the US. He is most famous for starting The Free Africa Foundation with the aim of triggering positive changes in the continent.
  • Geoffrey Canada
    Geoffrey Canada is best known for his humorous but substantive take on the current state of education in his TED talks. Born in South Bronx in 1952, Canada has been involved in various programs and initiatives over the course of his life. The focus of most of these initiatives is to improve educational opportunities for kids and youth from underprivileged backgrounds.
  • Gregory Lowe
    Gregory is an award-winning mobile entrepreneur and CEO of Lowekey. Lowe’s most notable app to date is SongBooth, a social video network for user generated music videos that have amassed over 8+ million downloads worldwide.
  • Haley Mulenda
    Haley Mulenda is a young motivational speaker, blogger, author and black entrepreneur. She is the founder of Inside a Dream, a motivational company that inspires youngsters. Haley has already won multiple awards, including the ‘Jack Petchey Achievement Award’ and the ‘BE (Black Enterprise) Mogul — Most Influential and Most Inspirational Black Entrepreneur in Britain for Under 21’, to name a few.
  • Herman Chinery-Hesse
    He is often called the Bill Gates of Ghana for his tech innovations and commitment to developing the ICT landscape in Ghana. Herman Chinery-Hesse was born in Ireland. He studied in the US and had a working stint in the UK. But when he decided to set up a software company, he headed to Africa. SOFTtribe, the company he founded, is currently one of the largest IT companies in Ghana.
  • Hilda Moraa
    From a broke undergraduate to dropping out of her Masters program, Hilda Moraa went on to develop Weza Tele, a business that was later acquired for almost £1 million. She has won several awards for her innovation and even had a chance to work for Google, which she turned down to pursue her own personal goals.
  • Iman Abdulmajid
    While Iman Abdulmajid may be famous for her marriage to the late David Bowie, she has her own long list of accomplishments. Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, she spent her early childhood and teenage years in Egypt. She studied in Kenya before moving to the US to kick start her modelling career. She worked with famous brands including Yves Saint Laurent and Calvin Klein. She is also an entrepreneur, philanthropist and founder of IMAN Cosmetics.
  • Inky Johnson
    Marked as a rising star in the NFL, Inky Johnson suffered a horrible career-ending injury during a game in 2006. Devastating as it was, it did not kill his spirit. Today Inky Johnson is a celebrated inspirational speaker, inspiring thousands of people to overcome challenges in their lives.
  • Jamal Edwards
    Jamal Edwards grew up in West London in a council estate. By 23 years of age, he was already a multi millionaire, thanks to his hit YouTube channel, SBTV. What started out as a hobby filming his friends singing and rapping grew into a serious business that has catapulted him to fame and wealth. He has won recognition from Google, been friends with Richard Branson and is now an ambassador for an online entrepreneurs’ platform.
  • Jessamyn Stanley
    The traditional image of yoga features a skinny girl, often white, doing seemingly impossible moves. Influencer and yoga pro, Jessamyn Stanley has broken this stereotype with her ‘EveryBody Yoga’ idea for all body sizes.
  • Jay-Z
    Jay-Z is a towering figure when it comes to rap and hip hop. He is one of the wealthiest and most successful artists. Known officially as Shawn Carter, is the majority stakeholder of Tidal, a music streaming service he acquired in a deal close to 466 million Swedish kronor (£36.6m). Forbes pegs his wealth at around $610 million as of 2016.
  • Janice Bryant Howroyd
    ACT-1 is one of the largest woman and minority-owned businesses in the US and the force behind it is Janice Bryant Howroyd. The owner of the billion-dollar company started her life in North Carolina, at a time when segregation was still present.
    She acquired business experience while working as a secretary, experience she later used to launch ACT-1 and develop it to a multi-billion dollar business.
  • Kobe Bryant
    The famous basketball player, spent his entire career playing with the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe has won several awards and is seen as one of the biggest names in NBA history. He is also a black entrepreneur with his own brand, Kobe Inc and a $100m venture capital firm, Bryant-Stibel.
  • Kwadwo Safo
    Kwadwo Safo and his son Kwadwo Safo Jnr, are responsible for Kantanka Group of companies, which produces Ghana’s first locally made car.
  • KSI
    Simply known as KSI, Olajide Olatunji is a multi millionaire, YouTube entrepreneur, Influencer, video-gamer, and actor. At the time of writing this article, KSI has over 14,000,000 YouTube subscribers.
  • Laban Roomes
    Laban Roomes is an award winning black entrepreneur and founder of a luxury customisation brand, Goldgenie. His clients include Rihanna and the Sultan of Brunei. He is also an active social philanthropist.
  • Leanna Archer
    At nine years old, Leanna started using her great-grandmother’s natural hair recipes to create hair products. Before she hit 20, she was already the CEO of a six figure business, Leanna Essentials. She later went on to establish an educational foundation to help poor kids in Haiti, the native home of her great grandmother
  • Malcolm Gladwell
    Noted in Time’s 2005 “Most Influential People,” Malcolm Gladwell is an author, journalist and speaker. His popular works include Outliers and Blink. He is also an acclaimed journalist having worked for publications like the New Yorker and The Washington Post. Malcolm still continues to be a prominent thought leader today.
  • Maggie Anderson
    Maggie Anderson is an American activist, speaker and CEO and co-founder of The Empowerment Experiment (EE). She came into the headlines for her real-life case study about applying self-help economics in the black community. She is a much sought-after speaker and has appeared on various shows on CNN, MSNBC, Fox, CBS Morning News and PBS Newshour. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed book, Our Black Year.
  • Levi Roots
    Levi Roots (real name Keith Graham) is a restaurateur, musician and black entrepreneur who has made his name all around the UK with his extremely popular Reggae Reggae sauce. Today he thought to be worth £30 million (after starting from a mere £50,000 of investment.) His brand features a varied portfolio of ready to eat meals, pastries and Caribbean-flavoured soft drinks in addition to the Reggae Reggae sauces.
  • Lisa Irby
    Lisa Irby is a successful online marketing tribe leader. Since 1998, she has been active in the field of affiliate marketing and SEO, and now runs multiple sites including 2 Create A Website and NapturallyCurly. Lisa has been helping people to build websites and earn money online following the same upfront and honest approach that she follows.
  • Luti Fagbenle
    Luti is the entrepreneur behind a growing multi-award winning production company, Luti Media. Founded in the kitchen of his mother’s house in 2006, Luti’s now has offices in London and LA. Along side producing films, Luti Media has produced music videos for high profile music artists, such as One Direction, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg and many more. Other notable clients also include BMW, Alexander Wang and Nike.
  • Ludwick Marishane
    Ludwick Marishane is a black entrepreneur and owner of the startup, Headbody Industries. He was named the 2011 Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year award for inventing a bath substitute lotion, DryBath. With his invention, Ludwick was able to provide an inexpensive bathing solution for the poor people in his native Africa where clean water is difficult to find. The lotion also paved the way for at least 2.5 billion people across the world who lack an access to clean water and sanitation
  • Mike Rashid
    Mike Rashid is a fitness influencer, and black entrepreneur. Founder of IMSOALPHA iX3 supplements, Alpha Academy Apparel, and also owner of the IronAddicts Gym in Miami.
  • Neo Ramaphakela
    Neo Ramaphakela is the founder of Seriti sa Bosotho, a construction company started in 2011. Starting with security gates, the company is now one of the fastest growing facility management firms in South Africa. Over time, Seriti sa Basotho has been involved in building housing projects in South African townships and managing them. Neo was named as one of Forbes’ 30 most promising entrepreneurs under 30 in Africa.
  • Nicole Roberts Jones
    Nicole Roberts Jones is a speaker, author, business coach and founder of Fierce Factor Lab. Nicole is well known for her work with helping aspiring female entrepreneurs.
  • Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
    Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a well respected speaker and global economist, who has also served as the first woman Finance Minister of Nigeria for two terms (from 2003–2006, and 2011–2015) as well as Foreign Affairs minister for a brief term. Between these two periods, she was also serving as one of the managing directors of the World Bank.The Harvard and MIT trained economist is credited with reforming the Nigerian economy that saw it register a growth of 6% per annum and become the largest economy in Africa. She continues to be a thought leader, and was recently appointed a member of the international advisory panel of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
  • Oprah Winfrey
    Oprah Winfrey is a well known American talk show host, actress, producer, publisher and philanthropist. Born in 1954, in the rural town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, Oprah made her name with The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired for 25 seasons. She is a recipient of USA’s highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was bestowed upon her by President Barack Obama in 2013 for her varied and important contributions to the country. Oprah Winfrey has also been named as one of the 25 most powerful women of the past century by the Time Magazine.
  • Olatorera Oniru
    Olatorera Oniru is a Nigerian entrepreneur and speaker. As CEO of Dressmeoutlet.com, she leads initiatives to make Africans rely less on imported garments.She is the founder of Nigeria’s foremost leadership program, Top 100 Our Generation and is currently, a member of Lionesses of Africa and Africa’s Best. In 2016, she was recognised by Commonwealth Africa Awards, Forbes Most Promising Africans, Africa.com’s Top 5 Youngest Entrepreneurs and African Achievers Awards.
  • Ozwald Boateng
    Ozwald Boateng is an English fashion designer who was been noted for his impact on classic British tailoring and fashion design. Born to Ghanaian parents, Ozwald has been associated with providing wardrobes for popular celebrities such as Jason Statham, Will Smith, Daniel Day Lewis, Paul Bettany and Keanu Reeves. In 2006, he was awarded an O.B.E by the Queen of England for his services to the clothing industry. The same year, he also co-created Made in Africa, to bring African enterprises on the international platform.
  • Prince Ea
    Prince Ea (real name Richard Williams) is an artist, poet, rapper and filmmaker. He was born and raised in Missouri, USA. Over the years, Prince Ea has garnered over 500 million views for his videos on Facebook and YouTube. Apart from his creative interests, he also indulges in giving inspirational lectures to high school/university students on topics of self-development and motivation.
  • Sophie Chandauka & Melanie Eusebe
    Sophie and Melanie are the co-founders of the Black British Business Awards, a premium awards programme that recognises, rewards and celebrates exceptional performance and outstanding achievements of black people in businesses operating in Great Britain.
  • Tina Wells
    Tina Wells is the CEO and Founder of the Buzz Marketing Group, a leading agency for influencer marketing. She is also the author of marketing books such as Chasing Youth Culture and Getting It Right. Tina is currently the Academic Director of Wharton’s Leadership in the Business World Program, and also serves on the United Nation’s Global Entrepreneurship Council.
  • Tyra Banks
    Tyra Banks is a famous American supermodel, television personality, actress, author, presenter and producer. Her best-known shows include the Tyra Banks Show and America’s Next Top Model. She is also the founder of TZONE, a foundation that works towards developing teen girls’ self-esteem and independence.
  • Rachel Sibande
    Rachel Sibande is a black entrepreneur, who is responsible for launching the first tech-hub, mHub, in Malawi. Founded in 2013, the mHub works as an incubator for technology startups in Malawi with a special focus on helping young entrepreneurs through training and skill development.
  • Rachel Wang
    Rachel Wang is the co-founder of Chocolate Films, a film production company started in 2001. Her aim behind creating Chocolate Films was to do away with the lack of representation of the full black British experience on the screen and to deliver high-quality content for commercial purposes. She has previously been named “Entrepreneur of the Year” at the Black British Business Awards.
  • Randal Pinkett
    Dr Randal Pinkett is an American entrepreneur, speaker, author and business consultant. He is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of BCT Partners, a multi-million dollar consulting firm. He was the first African-American to win the US version of The Apprentice, a reality television show, in 2005.
  • Renae Bluitt
    Renae Bluitt is the founder of Crush Media, a PR firm that represents brands like Eden Body Works and Vibrant Beauty. She is also the owner of In Her Shoes blog, where she narrates, highlights and celebrates the successful stories of African-American female entrepreneurs.
  • Samuel Malinga
    Samuel Malinga is the Ugandan CEO and co-founder of Sanitation Africa Limited. In 2015, he was awarded the Tony Elumelu Prize for Business at the Future Africa Awards for inventing a full-cycle sanitation system. For his work, he was also shortlisted for the African Prize for Engineering Innovation, and was listed as one of Venture Africa’s “40 African Innovators to Watch”.
  • Sangu Delle
    Sangu Delle is an Entrepreneur, Author, Clean Water Activist, Soros Fellow and TEDGlobal Fellow. He is also the founder and CEO of Golden Palm Investments (GPI); an investment holding and advisory company focused on building world class companies in Africa.
  • Sean Combs
    Sean Combs, better known as P. Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, actor, producer and entrepreneur. Beyond music, Sean is also the founder of Revolt, a music cable network.
  • Sebastian Thiel
    Sebastian Thiel in as award winning filmmaker, digital social entrepreneur and founder of Upshot Entertainment. Sebastian has filmed and worked with a number of high profile talents such as Dynamo the Magician, Westlife and brands such as Sony, Virgin Media & UKTV. He has featured on TEDx Talks, and was listed in the Top 25 Under 25 most influential Londoners by Evening Standard.
  • Sheila Johnson
    Sheila Crump Johnson is a black entrepreneur and co-founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), and the CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts. She is the first African-American to attain a wealth of $1 Billion, and is currently a part-owner of three sports teams in the NHL, the NBA and the WNBA. She is also a Global Ambassador for CARE, a non-profit organisation for fighting global poverty. In 2010, President Obama appointed her on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
  • Shonda Rhimes
    Shonda Lynn Rhimes is an American television producer, writer and author who is responsible for shows like ‘Scandal’ and ‘How to Get Away with Murder’. She is the first African-American woman to create and executive produce a top 10 network series — ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.
  • Stephanie Lampkin
    Stephanie is the CEO, founder and multi award winner behind Blendoor, which brings diversity to silicon valley and beyond, with a ‘blind recruiting’ app that lets job seekers hide their name and photo from employers.
  • Tara Reed
    Tara Reed is the developer of the app Kollecto, which matches people with art work based on their tastes. She has appeared in a TEDx talk on helping other entrepreneurs develop apps without code.
  • Tiana Von Johnson
    Tiana Von Johnson is a serial black entrepreneur, brand strategist, motivational speaker, publisher, philanthropist and author. She is also the founder of ‘Women Doing It Big’, a conference that helps and motivates women entrepreneurs all over the world.
  • Tim Campbell
    Timothy Campbell is the co-owner of Marketing Runners and the founder of Bright Ideas Trusts, which provides funding and mentoring for startups. He was awarded the MBE for Enterprise Culture in the 2012 New Year’s Honours List, and is also a former winner of the TV show ‘The Apprentice’.
  • Tony Elumelu
    As the name suggests, the Tony Elumelu Foundation was founded by philanthropist, Tony O Elumelu. Started in 2010, the foundation continues to empower entrepreneurs across Africa, while building upon the “capacity of the private sector” in order to create jobs, wealth and ensure sustainable development.
  • Will.I.am
    William Adams, better known as ‘Will.I.am’, is a rapper, producer, DJ and entrepreneur. He was an investor in Beats Electronics, which was later sold to Apple for $ 3 billion. He is also the founder of i.am+, a wearable technology company.

Would you like access to a community of inspirational thought leaders, founders or influencers?

Have you ever wondered where your business could be if you had access to this from day one?

Check out the Diversity All Star Podcast, where we interview entrepreneurs from racially and culturally diverse backgrounds, to find out tactics to help you grow your business.

Entrepreneurship
Business
Founders
Influencers
Entrepreneur

--

--

Lisimba Pink

Written by Lisimba Pink

29 Followers

Founder of IntelliPink, helping entrepreneurs level up their business

Help

Status

About

Careers

Press

Blog

Privacy

Terms

Text to speech

Teams