A sneak peek into Black and Good’s Demo Day - Female Entrepreneurs leading the way
Demo Day is a part of the Black and Good business training programme. Throughout the duration of the programme, we support participants to create outstanding pitch decks to present their business venture, along with continued support to practice, refine and feel at ease presenting to their community peers and a panel of judges. We ran two Demo Days in November 2022 to support those on the Starting up, Starting out, and the Build, Hustle, Grow programmes.
Demo Day aims to create a supportive and inspiring space for the participants in the programme to pitch their business to panel guests. This day creates the opportunity for participants to receive valuable feedback and insight on their pitch presentation, idea, and offerings. With this, they have a strong foundation to move forward from when raising investment, funding, and sharing with others about who they are and what they do. The day is a celebration for everyone on the programme to bring together all the knowledge they have gained, connect, and be encouraged through the powerful words, sounds, and stories shared by our special guests.
After the thrill of pitching, celebrating, and honouring the finalists who all received grants to further support their businesses, we were then joined by four very special guests. Here are a few key takeaways from what they shared with us.
Khalia Ismain - Co-founder of Love Jamii
On finding balance through work and building a business, Khalia shared:
“I said to myself, you will work on Jamii for an hour every single day and then an hour and a half on Saturdays and Sundays meaning eight hours a week. But the thing is when you're working full time and you're running your own business, you have to really forgive yourself. This is something I learnt really far down the line. You have to recognise that building a business whilst having a full time job is not easy. It means things will be so much slower, but that's fine."
Renee Kapuku - Co-founder of To My Sisters On leadership
"Oftentimes, when we think about leadership, it's something that we think occurs from the front. But in some of the most powerful organisations that I've worked with and been a part of, even in terms of To My Sisters, I don't necessarily think of being at the forefront of this movement, but rather, I think of being a servant of this new movement. And I think it's really, really important to really conceptualise leadership as servitude, because it really takes you outside of the work that you're doing and reminds you of the communities and the issues that you're actively trying to solve."
Tehillah Henry - Singer / Songwriter
Tehillah shared a snippet from one of her songs:
"If only we could see we’re all different and unique, we don’t have to be copies of life demands. And I know I can be wrong every once in a while but I’m not afraid to admit it. Gotta keep on standing strong, waking up with a smile, in this life I refuse to quit."
Ovyuki - Spoken word Poet and Artist
A snippet from Ovyuki's song:
"Before this land was mine to live in. The Creator of all things dipped my body into an ocean of melanin. There I found the fullness of my lips that added extra given to my hips and the golden skin, likened to ice tea, hot tea, brown sugar, gold. Soaked in the heat, my roots dig so deep Africa, universal goddess, home to the elite and land to many resources, cocoa beans, salt, tropical fruits, diamond, silver and gold, a nile of over 4000 miles there are too many great wonders in this one minute poem to compile. My culture is colourful, my people are wonderful, a part of the clan that I am, I am proud to be from the land, the source of the life force where scientists and scholars say it all began."
Our Demo Days were full of joy, inspiration, laughter, and bursting of new-found confidence. Along with brilliant pitches and wonderful guests we finished the programme excited for the future, with everyone feeling ready to channel into their success and thrive.
If you want support to grow your business, pitch with confidence, and develop a network of inspiring friendships, we have another three fully funded business programmes running in 2023.
