Why Can't Brits Name Black Entrepreneurs? The Visibility Gap We Need to Talk About
Ask most people in the UK to name a Black British entrepreneur and you will likely be met with a pause. Maybe they will name a musician or an athlete. Maybe they will reach across the Atlantic and offer up an American name. But a Black British business owner, founder or entrepreneur? The hesitation says everything.
When Raphael Sofoluke took to the streets to ask members of the public to name British entrepreneurs the answers were as one would expect but when he went deeper to ask them to name Black British entrepreneurs that was particularly interesting.
The fact that so many Brits cannot name a Black entrepreneur from their own country is not a reflection of a lack of Black entrepreneurial achievement. It is a reflection of who gets covered, who gets celebrated and who gets to be positioned as a business leader in the mainstream British consciousness.
There are over 9,000 Black-led employer businesses in the UK according to Oxford's Said Business School. Black and minority ethnic entrepreneurs are estimated to contribute between £25 and £32 billion to the British economy every year. Black founders are building companies in technology, finance, fashion, food, media and beyond. Events like the UK Black Business Show have now celebrated over 100 exceptional Black entrepreneurs across their annual list and featured hundreds of entrepreneurs at the event itself. I’ve spoken at the event many times and I can safely say that the talent, the enterprise and the ambition are absolutely there.
What is missing is the mirror. The mainstream media which reaches the general population is not reflecting it back.
Before we talk about what Black entrepreneurs can do to raise their visibility, we need to name the structures that are working against them because asking someone to "just put themselves out there more" without acknowledging what they are up against might be well meaning advice but it offers an incomplete solution to a deeper problem.
Research has found that 55% of all Black ethnic groups in the UK feel underrepresented in the media and 51% feel negatively portrayed. This is not about perception. Findings from research into UK newsrooms demonstrate that mainstream outlets are often unwelcoming for Black journalists and that racist attitudes have become structurally embedded within news organisations, with seemingly a lack of will to fully address systemic issues at their core.
When the people making commissioning decisions, editorial choices and coverage calls are overwhelmingly from the same demographic, certain stories get told and others do not. Black business success, Black entrepreneurship and Black innovation are consistently among the stories that do not. The result is a feedback loop. Black entrepreneurs are not covered because they are not seen as the assumed default of what a British entrepreneur looks like and because they are not covered, the public cannot name them and because the public cannot name them, commissioners do not feel the pressure to cover them or offer significant media opportunities that make them recognisable.
Visibility and capital are connected in ways people rarely discuss openly. When your business is underfunded, your capacity to invest in PR, marketing and brand building is severely limited and the funding gap for Black entrepreneurs in the UK is staggering.
Between 2009 and 2019, just 0.24% of venture capital went to teams of Black entrepreneurs in the UK, totalling just 38 businesses across an entire decade. Black female entrepreneurs fared worst of all, receiving just 0.02% of total VC investment, with only one Black female founder raising Series A funding across the entire ten-year period.
More recent data shows marginal improvement but not transformation. By 2023, that figure had risen to only 0.95%. The British Business Bank's 2024/25 report found that 59% of Black entrepreneurs agreed it would be difficult for them to get finance and only 39% of Black entrepreneurs have their loan applications approved, compared to 67% of white entrepreneurs.
When you are spending significantly more energy and personal resource just to get your business off the ground, building a media presence becomes a secondary concern not because it is unimportant but because you are fighting to survive first. I don’t have a problem saying this even if it means admitting that the work that I do is sometimes overlooked but it’s important to be honest even if that honesty stings!
Business success in the UK is still disproportionately built on networks; who you know, who went to school with you, whose parents know your parents. Black entrepreneurs frequently face limited access to influential networks, rooted in historical and systemic exclusion from the professional and social circles where vital business relationships are built. When the journalists covering your sector, the investors funding your competitors and the editors giving profile pieces to emerging founders are predominantly operating in circles you were never invited into, your path to visibility is significantly longer and harder. I see it all the time within PR; the relationships you have very often dictate the coverage that is received.
Black African and Caribbean diaspora communities do not have the power to assert radical change in this country and whilst representation as it pertains to financial attainment and influence is important, our lack of significant power is detrimental to our collective growth.
— Ronke Lawal (@ronkelawal) April 8, 2026
Some people will read this and think: does it really matter if the average person on the street cannot name a Black entrepreneur? The answer is yes and here is why.
Visibility shapes aspiration - when young Black people in the UK grow up and cannot see Black entrepreneurs reflected in the media landscape, the implicit message is that entrepreneurship, wealth creation and business leadership are not spaces for them. Research from Oxford's Said Business School makes the case explicitly: we need more Black businesses because society needs more Black business role models, to help dispel stereotypes and open doors for the next generation.
Visibility also shapes investment. Investors back people who feel familiar which mean when Black entrepreneurs are absent from the business press, from podcast panels, from industry events and media profiles, they become less familiar to the gatekeepers of capital. Invisibility costs you money and opportunities. Visibility can also shape policy but only if that visibility is taken seriously. The businesses that governments, institutions and corporate partners prioritise supporting are the ones that they know exist because unfortunately they don’t always do the work to dig deeper. Systematic invisibility makes it easier to deprioritise those who deserve the spotlight.
None of what follows is offered as a substitute for structural change. The burden of visibility should not fall entirely on the individuals who are being made invisible. But while we push for better, there are things you can do right now to make your presence harder to ignore.
One of the most powerful things you can do as a Black entrepreneur is tell your own story, consistently and on your own platforms. Your website, your LinkedIn, your YouTube channel, your blog - social media matters even if you think that it’s a waste of time it’s not. When journalists, investors or potential clients search for you or the industry in which you operate, what do they find? If the answer is very little, you are leaving your reputation to chance and you’re not taking yourself or your business seriously.
Start sharing your story, share your expertise, document your journey. The media is not going to come looking for you if they cannot find evidence of who you are and what you know. Do not wait until you have something to promote before you start building an audience. Consistency over time is how personal brands are built, and the best time to start is always before you need it. LinkedIn in particular remains one of the most powerful platforms for Black British professionals and entrepreneurs to build visibility, thought leadership and professional reputation. The compound effect of consistent visibility is real.
Your personal brand is the bridge between your expertise and the opportunities that should be finding you. As a personal branding coach I see this constantly: Black entrepreneurs who are doing genuinely remarkable things but who have not yet built the public-facing presence that allows their work to travel beyond their immediate network. That facebook or whatsapp group you’re in is very useful and important but you cannot rely on it to grow sustainably - it has to be part of a wider, more expansive mix.
Your personal brand is not about being loud it’s about being clear on who you are, what you stand for, what makes you different and why your perspective matters. When this is communicated consistently, the right opportunities start coming to you. Do not wait until you have something to promote before you start building an audience. Consistency over time is how personal brands are built, and the best time to start is always before you need it.
LinkedIn in particular remains one of the most powerful platforms for Black British professionals and entrepreneurs to build their presence, visibility, thought leadership and professional reputation.
Waiting to be discovered is not a sustainable strategy. If you want media coverage, you need to approach it the way you approach business development: with research, preparation and persistence.
Identify the publications, podcasts and platforms that serve your industry and your audience. That means that you have to build genuine relationships with journalists who cover your space. Develop a point of view on your sector that goes beyond your own business, journalists are not looking for adverts, they are looking for insights and new perspectives. When you can offer a distinctive perspective on a trend, a challenge or a development in your industry, you become a source and sources get quoted. This requires courage so you have to work on your mindset because many of you are scared to share your views for fear of backlash or being “cancelled” which really shouldn’t be at the forefront of your mind if you know that you are not intentionally trying to cause harm to people with your message. A well-written press release, a compelling media pitch and media training are all worth developing or investing in. If you are not sure where to start, working with a PR coach or consultant can shortcut the process considerably.
Individual visibility matters but so does collective visibility. Events like the UK Black Business Show and initiatives like the Black British Business Awards are doing important work in creating visibility for Black entrepreneurs at scale. Initiatives like Channel 4 and Lloyds' Black in Business programme, which provides TV advertising and business support, are creating tangible opportunities for Black-owned businesses to reach wider audiences. Black British media like Black Ballad and The Voice are important gateways to telling stories from African and Caribbean Communities. Engage with these ecosystems and support other Black entrepreneurs publicly and vocally. The community visibility you help create contributes to the wider cultural shift that makes individual visibility more possible.
Another thing that changes the narrative around Black entrepreneurship is data. Share your growth and publish your milestones. Don’t be afraid to talk about your revenue (when relevant), your team, your reach and your impact. The stereotype that Black-owned businesses are small-scale community enterprises is dismantled every time a Black entrepreneur publicly owns their numbers and their ambition. You do not need to be a household name to demonstrate scale. On the flip side you do not have to scale to make an impact - your presence as an established business owner is significant, in and of itself.
While Black entrepreneurs do the work of building their own visibility, it is important to say clearly: the responsibility for change does not sit with them alone. Without Black professionals in commissioning and decision-making roles, mainstream media will continue to miss a nuanced understanding of the country and the issues people face. The absence of Black entrepreneurs in business coverage is an editorial failure and not just an entrepreneurial one.
Media organisations, publications and broadcasters that are serious about representation need to ask themselves honest questions. Who are we profiling? Who are we quoting as experts? Who is on our cover? Who is invited onto our panels? And who is making those decisions in our newsrooms?
That system can and must change and until it does, Black entrepreneurs deserve every tool available to them to make their presence undeniable on their own terms.
If you are a Black entrepreneur looking to build your visibility, your personal brand and your media presence, this is work I support clients with directly. You can find out more about my personal branding coaching and PR strategy sessions here.
And if you are in the media, in publishing, in investment or in any institution with the power to change who gets seen: the data is in front of you. The question is what you are going to do with it.
Ronke Lawal is a personal branding coach, PR strategist and media training specialist. She works with entrepreneurs and professionals who are ready to take their visibility seriously. Find out more at ronkelawal.com.