Raphael Sofoluke

The UK Black Business Show was founded in 2017, it is an annual conference and exhibition show which takes place during Black History Month to highlight and promote the amazing businesses founded by people from the black community. The show has been endorsed by Sadiq Khan the Mayor of London, and David Lammy MP for Tottenham.

The show highlights the achievements and contributions black businesses have made to the economy, and attendees can hear insights and advice on entrepreneurship, leadership, and business from some of the UK’s leading black business professionals.

2022 marked the show’s sixth year and was a resounding success. Now a whole week of events, it attracted over 10,000 across the week, with the flagship UK Black Business Show attracting over 5,000 attendees in one day and 200 Exhibitors. The Show was featured in Forbes, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph and many more, with some of the biggest organisations in the world also attending.

Raphael has also launched the Black Tech Achievement Awards which is set-up to celebrate and acknowledge black role models and innovators within the tech sector and to help illuminate the pathways to greater black representation of the community within the industry.

Companies that have attended the awards include some of the biggest tech companies in the world. In 2020 the awards were featured on BBC and in 2022 Raphael appeared on Sky News talking about the event. In 2020 Raphael was also listed as one of Forbes 25 Leading Black British Business people to follow.

In 2021 Raphael has launched the UK Black Business Week, the first dedicated week in the UK for Black Business Owners, Professionals and Allies of the Black Community. The week had up to 8,000 attendees and included sponsors such as JP Morgan, HSBC, American Express, Moody’s, EY and more. It also had some incredible speakers such as Sir Trevor McDonald, June Sarpong and more.

Today, the UK Black Business Week & Show has sponsors and partners including HSBC, JP Morgan, American Express, Moody’s, Ralph Lauren, PWC, Barclays, The Times, TalkSport, Tesco, Dentsu, EY, Moneysupermarket, Morgan Stanley, British Business Bank, McDonald’s, Capital One, Mastercard and more. All of his shows are considered the number-one events for Black entrepreneurs, professionals, and allies of the Black community, not only in the UK but in Europe too.