BUD Leaders, founded by Georgina Wilson, is a Black-led, female-led facilitation and training social enterprise that creates pathways for large organisations to onboard diverse suppliers. They support Black and global majority women-owned SMEs to create the infrastructure required to supply large organisations, including training and resources to start their journey to net zero. Their mission is to bring £50 million into black and global majority, women-owned businesses by 2030 through their programmes and partnerships with corporates, foundations and trusts.

Mandy Mahil, COO, and Katherine Kotz, Portfolio Manager at BUD Leaders were involved in the MSDUK Accelerator taking part in the masterclasses and guest workshops. Here’s what Katherine had to say about their time:

The workshops, masterclasses and guest facilitators were of an extremely high standard, with engaging content and careful attention paid to the practical application of each framework being taught. Each guest speaker made their sessions accessible and interactive, with hands-on approaches that founders could apply in real time.

BUD Leaders’ Learning Experience

The Hype Yourself PR Workshops stood out because we have previously outsourced all our PR, however, these sessions contained practical tips on how to build your own media list and move this function in-house. The guest speaker shared several tips and tricks that don’t require a consultant and gave practical recommendations on ways a founder can gain greater exposure.

Module 4: Sales and Communication helped us to distil the range of services we’ve developed over 10 years into one key message, and the Capability Statement Workshop delivered by MSDUK was also useful and highlighted the various ways of approaching this document, complementing our pitch deck for Demo Day.

As a mission-led business with the goal of bringing £50 million into black and global majority women-owned businesses by 2030, we structure our programmes around this mission. The workshops and masterclasses have added value to our existing processes and being part of the Accelerator was invaluable in helping us communicate our message to a wider audience, and build a closer relationship with MSDUK.

Showcasing BUD Leaders: Full Circle Moment

It was a gratifying moment seeing BUD Leaders on stage during Demo Day alongside nine other businesses. It was a full-circle moment, from seeing businesses pitch the previous year to now seeing BUD Leaders pitching only a year later. This added weight to both new and existing conversations we had with corporates during the day. It was also inspiring to witness the growth and confidence of other founders talking passionately about their businesses.

BUD Leader’s Biggest Takeaway

At BUD Leaders, we help corporates onboard diverse suppliers, by supporting black and global majority women-owned businesses to grow. The programme helped us further clarify and hone our value proposition to ensure our offer is directly meeting the internal needs and goals of our corporate partners.