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The MSDUK Accelerator programme has officially begun! On 26th January, we welcomed 50 amazing ethnic minority businesses to Cohort 3. This is our biggest cohort since launching the programme in 2021 as we continue our mission to support the ethnic minority businesses of today, so they become the diverse suppliers and leaders of tomorrow. The founders’ energy filled the room as they got ready for the next four months.

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The Accelerator Tribe

They say that raising a child, takes a village, but we say to accelerate a business, it takes a tribe! We’re excited to welcome this new cohort to educate, challenge, and connect them during this four-month programme. Our businesses have come from all over the country and from various industries ranging from technology to mental health to food. This Welcome Event also gave our founders the opportunity to meet their other founders taking part. Every founder had 49 ethnic minority businesses with whom they’ve never interacted which truly shows the power of creating a platform for these businesses. You can find out more about the businesses on Cohort 3 here.

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Testing our Founders

Experiential learning is integral to the programme therefore, in true MSDUK fashion, we wanted to challenge our founders right from the beginning. We planned a fun icebreaker activity but, with a twist. Our businesses were instructed by Karolina (Accelerator Manager) to build a paper structure with a brief on how she wanted it to look like. Shazeda (Accelerator Coordinator) was nominated to choose the winner. So, in 30 minutes, all teams built a structure according to the brief which seems simple enough.

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However, this activity was a test of their entrepreneurial skills. The aim of the icebreaker was to test their listening and entrepreneurial skills. Could they identify who their real customer was? In this case, Shazeda was their real customer who wanted the winning structure to meet a different criterion and the key to winning was understanding what her needs were. Our founders left the activity with the important reminder: start with always identifying your customer.

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Whilst the icebreaker was created to challenge our founders, it was also an opportunity for them to interact with one another. We want to provide a community of founders who can share with one another their journeys, struggles, and successes. We are giving them a platform to express the need for diversity in the supply chain.

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Our Growing Ecosystem

Cohort 3 was also joined by Accelerator alumni from Cohort 1 as well as our sponsors, Unilever and WPP, who saw first-hand the incredible businesses we have. Our founders will also take part in a mentoring programme where each business will have an assigned corporate or business mentor. It’s great to see so many corporates, entrepreneurs, and experts wanting to support our diverse businesses.

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For the next four months, our businesses will take part in five learning modules led by expert facilitators. They will also hear from insightful guest speakers and other ethnic minority business leaders in the MSDUK network. The Accelerator tribe continues to grow!

If you would like to connect with any of our amazing Cohort 3 founders, please email [email protected]

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