Black-owned businesses in the UK face significant barriers to success. Only 0.24% of venture capital funding reaches Black founders, and one-third of Black entrepreneurs struggle to gain belief in their ventures. Channel 4, in partnership with Lloyds Bank (one of the UK’s largest retail banks), created the Black in Business initiative to address these disparities. Rather than simply highlighting the problem, the initiative addressed it by removing barriers to accessing national television advertising, enabling Black-owned businesses to scale.

Description

Black in Business is an initiative that awards selected Black-owned businesses with high-value TV advertising packages and hands-on mentorship to help them scale. The programme launched in 2023-2024, awarding five businesses £100,000 each in TV airtime. Following the success of the first year, the second edition (2024-2025) increased the investment to £150,000 per business and reduced the cohort from five to four winners, allowing for more airtime and dedicated support per entrepreneur. The second year attracted approximately 200 applicants.

The creative concept for the 2025 campaign took the familiar business phrase “elevator pitch” and made it literal. An elevator pitch is typically a short, persuasive speech that an entrepreneur could deliver in the time it takes to ride an elevator, around 30 seconds. For these TV ads, the winning businesses actually transformed a physical elevator set to visually represent their brand identity. For example, Alonuko, a bridal brand specialising in bespoke gowns, reimagined the elevator as a wedding ceremony, showcasing its designs in a distinctive and memorable way. Each ad featured the business founder delivering their pitch inside the branded elevator, turning the metaphor into reality.

The winning businesses’ TV commercials were brought together in a bespoke Channel 4 ad break takeover. All four ads aired back-to-back in a single slot during a major primetime show to maximise reach and impact. The break was unified with a continuity voiceover that included Lloyds Bank branding to demonstrate the partnership. This was supported with additional placements for each individual ad across Channel 4’s linear and streaming platforms.

What made the initiative different from standard advertising partnerships was its holistic approach. Beyond the final four winners, Black in Business supported all applicants throughout the process, offering masterclasses and insights delivered by Channel 4 and Lloyds executives. Winners received tailored mentorship from senior leaders across both organisations, ensuring founders received practical guidance rooted in real industry experience. The programme also expanded each entrepreneur’s professional network by connecting them with key figures in the media and advertising ecosystem. Notably, one of the 2024-2025 winners had been a finalist in the first year and credited the follow-on mentorship sessions with helping her refine her winning pitch.

Channel 4’s in-house sales and creative teams worked closely with Quiet Storm, a Black-owned creative agency, to develop bespoke ad concepts that authentically reflected each entrepreneur’s brand story. Lloyds also played an active role throughout, providing strategic input using their marketing expertise to help shape each business’s positioning. This joint approach ensured every creative decision aligned with both the needs of the entrepreneurs and the commercial objectives of both partners.

Campaign video

Results

The second year of Black in Business delivered results that exceeded all targets. Flora & Curl, a natural haircare brand, achieved a 60% increase in orders, 53% rise in sales, 40% uplift in web traffic, 71% increase in customers, and a 131% jump in branded search. Nylah’s Naturals saw sessions increase by 20%, new customers rise by 42%, and orders rise by 18%.

Flake Bake, a snack food company, recorded higher online orders and nearly doubled its annual sales through Aldi (a major UK supermarket chain), increasing from a £1.5 million forecast to £2.6 million sold year-on-year. The business credited Black in Business with elevating it to a nationally recognised brand and secured an expanded retail range for 2026.

Brand tracking confirmed strong marketing impact. Nylah’s Naturals achieved spontaneous brand recognition 340% above the microbrand norm, while doubling both brand awareness and consideration. Flora & Curl reached a 23% awareness peak and a 79% “likely to consider” score, significantly outperforming category benchmarks.

The first year (2023-2024) had already demonstrated the model’s effectiveness, reaching over 21.5 million people nationwide and doubling sales, subscriptions, and website visits for participating businesses during the campaign period. One in three viewers said they would consider buying from the featured brands after seeing the TV advertising. The initiative proves that television can be used to drive meaningful social and economic change while delivering measurable commercial results.

Source: egta.com

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