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Sainsbury’s is aiming to help more black entrepreneurs
. Black-led businesses in the food and drink industry are set to receive Sainsbury’s backing with the retailer’s new incubator programme.
WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA? BAME businesses and entrepreneurs have long struggled for breakthroughs, facing various barriers, including inadequate funding, lack of social capital and networks, or limited industry knowledge and expertise. Now, Sainsbury’s has designed an initiative designed specifically to help address these obstacles, offering a bespoke programme of support for black founders of food and beverage businesses, in partnership with Foundervine and Mission Ventures.
HOW WILL IT WORK? The initiative, called Thrive with Sainsbury’s, will offer a welcome grant of £20,000 to nine successful applicants, as well as more than 150 hours of practical 1:1 support and group learning opportunities with a variety of subject matter experts during the process. Up to five new brands will land in Sainsbury’s stores by the end of the programme, with each participant’s journey to be tailored to their specific needs. There will also be additional funding available at various stages throughout the process, up to the value of £105,000 per brand that makes its way to a listing at Sainsbury’s.
The scheme is open to any food and drink business founded by a person who identifies as being of Black ethnicity or heritage. They must have an exciting new product, an ambition to grow and scale-up to supermarket level distribution and a vision for what the future of their brand could be. Applications for the programme will close on 16 August and hopeful participants can apply online. Silika Shellie-Manso, Director of Grocery Innovation at Sainsbury’s, said: “A key focus of our Win in Food strategy is to bring innovation to our customers and at Sainsbury’s we’ve always been passionate about seeking out new or emerging brands. As an inclusive retailer, we believe that to offer great food and drink for everyone, it should be made by everyone. We know that despite the strength of ideas and potential amongst Black founders,
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often opportunities and success can be hindered by ethnicity, which is we are starting with this group of the most underrepresented founders first.
