From vision to reality

The first step can often be the toughest but for Araba, the simple act of getting your business idea down on paper can help bring it to life. “It sounds simple but the moment that idea moves from your head to paper, it becomes more real,“ she says. “You then need to set realistic, achievable goals and get into the details of what kind of company you want to be.”

Passion, determination and focus are the watchwords of a successful entrepreneur, and they’ve certainly worked for Yvonne throughout her amazing career. “Find your focus and be passionate about what you want to do,” she advises, “because if you’re not passionate, then when times are tough and you’re not earning money in those early days, you’ll lose focus.”

On that theme, Charlotte cautions that you need to know when to move on if things are not working out. “If you’re not making money, which you won’t for a period of time, you do have to identify when the period of time has expired, because not everything is made to be a scalable business.”

“I started my agency with 17 pounds and 22 pence and a kind of total naivety," says Charlotte, who now counts Meta, Pernod Ricard, Popeyes and BOXPARK amongst her clients. "Entrepreneurship is made up of incredible highs and crippling lows. You’ve got to go in with an open mind and just go for it.”

It’s a point of view that Araba echoes: “You’ve just got to take that first step, whether that’s making a connection on LinkedIn or doing some market research. You may make mistakes along the way but it’s about learning from those mistakes and doing it better next time.”

For some black entrepreneurs the temptation is to market to their own community and look to that same community for support and advice. “Right from the start, I wanted to target mainstream briefs to make my potential customer base as broad as possible. I didn’t want to box myself into only receiving black briefs,” says Charlotte. “That has made my life a little bit harder but having that mainstream focus has opened up huge opportunities.”

For Charlotte, that same approach applied to her support network. “You need to put yourself in different environments and learn from as many different people as possible. I have a lot of older, white men that advise me and they add huge value to what we’re doing.”

The world will always throw challenges at your business, whether it’s geopolitical changes or black swan events like Covid – so you need to be prepared to adapt to changing circumstances. “If your business or idea is strong enough, it will be able to adapt and thrive in the new environment,” says Yvonne. “It’s important, though, to remain true to your brand and DNA."

For many entrepreneurs, initial funding may come from friends and family or you may be bootstrapping the business. When, or if, the time comes to approach a bank for support, it’s important to show the passion that you bring to your business, says Araba. “We care about the people behind the business. So if you come to us with a business plan, we want to see that passion and commitment from the person that's presenting that idea to us.

“Beyond that, you need to have a robust business plan. Have you done your market research and considered different scenarios for the business? Also, any bank will want to see what you’re investing in the business yourself. Do you have skin in the game?”

“Finally, an initial no is not necessarily a final no. There may be different reasons a bank will say no at the outset; find out what those reasons are and be prepared to go back to the bank when you’ve addressed those challenges.”