Byron Cole Announces Mentoring Scholarships for Black Business Owners
UK Award-Winning Authors, Entrepreneurs, husband and wife team Bianca Miller-Cole (of BBC Apprentice Fame and business guru on Channel 4 ''Save Well, Spend Better'') and Byron Cole create new opportunity to support Black Business owners via a business mentoring scholarship.
The month of October is Black History Month in the UK. With all of that is happened in recent times relating to racial injustice, disparity and inequity, they wanted to support the black community's financial rehabilitation via entrepreneurial support and mentoring.
As authors of Best-selling Business Book' Book' Self Made: The Definitive Guide to Startup Success'' has it'sit's 3rd Anniversary (this week), they celebrate three years of mentoring entrepreneurs and want to open this opportunity to more people, those who may have been unable to afford the support but need the help.
"We have been mentoring and consultancy services for over fourteen years collectively, and we have had immense authority amongst our mentees and clients. As a result of our mentorship, our mentees have had their dreams become an actuality, establishing sustainable businesses, improved turnover significantly (some passing over a million in revenue) and raising over £10k in crowdfunding. We currently support a diverse community of entrepreneurs, and we are proud of all they have achieved" says Miller-Cole.
However, levelling the playing field and changes in the racial division come in several ways, one such change in the struggle is economic. They acknowledge that black business owners need to create more thriving businesses and more success stories that can be used to create a positive narrative about the contributions the black community make to the economy.
"We want to be able to help more black business owners to get the mentorship that they require to get their business or business idea to the next level. There isn'tisn't a shortage of business ideas in the black community, but we have an issue with visibility, credibility, marketing and growth. These are certain areas that we can help with, and we have proven this time and time again in our existing community" says Cole.
This scheme'sscheme's initial funding has come from a community lead crowdfund and with two scholarships being provided by international law firm CMS London.
CMS London has pledged to provide:
- Three pro bono legal webinars on the essential topics of contracts, employment and real estate for all scholars on the programme.
- Sponsorship of two of the scholars on the six-month programme
- Up to five hours of pro bono support for the two scholars we sponsor
The fund has been cleverly structured to ensure longevity and to help as many entrepreneurs as possible with the funding being retained with a social enterprise and with each recipient of the scholarship agreeing to a sustainable ''Pay It Forward'Forward' strategy, whereby recipients of the scholarship will be supported for six months at a 50-100% fee reduction, and once the business is successful/financially stable in 6-12 months, they are asked to pay the cost of their mentorship back into the fund to enable someone else to go through the programme. And so on...
Applications are now open for the funding with an October 31st Deadline on https://www.selfmadebook.uk/scholarship-fund/.
Images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rnk9uuu395guakp/AAD0dtwcOYeT9pcDtNRzW7dpa?dl=0
For further information, please email office@selfmadebook.uk.