Islington Council launches local business survey in partnership with Black Pound Day

The partnership wants to support Black-owned businesses in Islington and launched a local survey to help determine what their most pressing needs are.

Black Pound Day (BPD) is the biggest Black-led socio-economic movement in the UK, focused on empowering Black businesses and entrepreneurs. BPD has disrupted spending habits to create a regular spending pattern centred on supporting Black businesses, every first Saturday of the month, enabling everyone to easily make a conscious choice to spend Black.

The partnership between the council and BPD aims to support the council to achieve its commitment to address the economic inequalities and imbalances affecting Black businesses and owners in Islington. Through the BPD Directory, the partnership will help increase the visibility of local Black-owned businesses and offer them support where needed.

Cllr Santiago Bell-Bradford, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Inclusive Economy and Jobs, said: “Part of our commitment to create a fairer Islington is helping to level the playing field for everyone, and tackling disadvantage in innovative ways.

“This new partnership with Black Pound Day will help us promote Black-owned businesses and encourage people to spend with Black entrepreneurs. We know that aspiring Black entrepreneurs and Black-owned businesses face additional barriers to starting and running businesses. We want them to have the same opportunity to succeed as any others, and contribute fully to Islington’s vibrant and exciting business community.

“By making our local, diverse talent more visible, we also want to motivate more organisations and bigger businesses to actively use Black-owned businesses as part of their supply chain.

“To do all of this, it’s important to first fully understand who our local Black-owned businesses are, the additional barriers and difficulties they face, and establish how best to go about addressing the problems. This is part of a package of support we are delivering to help create a more inclusive economy in Islington.”

Pierre Neil, Black Pound Day founder and CEO, said: "Partnering with Islington Council in this way represents the kind of commitment necessary for local authorities to uncover the specific requirements of Black-businesses during this period of economic recovery.

“Our country is made up of many communities; helping those that are amongst the most marginalised and affected only helps to lift the economy as a whole, therefore we all benefit from this kind of work. As a Black organisation ourselves, we understand the importance of not only being seen and heard, but the benefits of co-ordinating with others to produce sustainable outcomes. This is why we at Black Pound Day are committed to helping Islington fulfil their delivery of a more inclusive economy."

The local business survey is aimed specifically at Black-owned businesses trading within the borough, and its findings will help the council to identify what the most pressing needs are for Black-owned businesses in Islington and come up with solutions to best support their business journey.

The participating businesses are also invited to join the free Black Pound Day Directory – which lists more than 1,500 Black-owned businesses – and the option to have their business included on the local business map, which is powered by Google.

The survey is available now and runs until the end of October. It can be found at https://tinyurl.com/Black-Pound-Day-x-Islington

NOTES TO EDITOR

Black Pound Day aims to be the biggest market place and directory to spend Black in the UK and Europe. Black Pound Day is the most influential socio-economic movement in the UK & Europe serving the needs of the global diasporic community. We believe that by increasing the visibility of Black businesses and highlighting the importance of spending Black, we can facilitate change around socio-economic inequalities affecting Black communities. Black Pound Day encourages consumers to spend with Black businesses on the first Saturday of every month to achieve this vision.

www.blackpoundday.uk

For further information, members of the media can contact:

Islington Council: media.team@islington.gov.uk

Black Pound Day: Natalie@blackpoundday.uk