To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here.
Ebay UK is launching a new hub on its website called Black in Bloom to connect consumers to Black-owned SMEs.
Fashion, beauty and other consumer goods such as household products will be sold on the hub by graduates of the Black Girl Fest X Ebay Sellers academy. Brands include Odyssey Box, a plant-based curly and Afro hair online store and subscription box; and Garm Manager, a vintage and modern pre-loved clothing firm.
The venture capital industry remains male-dominated, both among the decision makers and the entrepreneurs who succeed in raising investment. Time for a rethink.
One in five Gen Z consumers want to purchase from a business that supports people from underrepresented groups, an Ebay report found. “We are seeing from a buyer point-of-view, they are coming to the platform wanting to shop with their values front and centre,” says Chris Gale, head of social impact at Ebay. He adds that there is a clear need to make it easier for socially conscious buyers to shop from Black-owned businesses.
The launch follows a series of collaborations between Ebay and Black Girl Fest (BGF), a festival and platform designed for Black women, girls and non-binary people. In April, the companies launched an academy to nurture entrepreneurs with one-to-one training for 12 to 14 weeks, as well as mentoring to help upskill their e-commerce. Once graduated, brands can then sell via the Black in Bloom hub. “Once they’ve got those skills the hub is really a way for us, Ebay, to drive traffic towards those businesses,” says Gale.
Ebay hopes to empower close to 200 Black women-led e-commerce businesses this year via the programme. “Lots of businesses start programmes and then they die after a year,” says Gale. “The hub is partly a commitment from Ebay to say that this is an area we want to focus on over multiple years.”
The pandemic forced a lot of SMEs to lean into e-commerce, says BGF’s founder Nicole Crentsil. “Individuals were seeing platforms and marketplaces like Ebay as the place to go. So, it was really understanding how we can support founders in an environment like Covid-19… Ebay was at a point where they were trying to create economic opportunities for founders and I kind of steered Ebay towards the barriers that affect Black women founders specifically.”
The report found that one in 10 Ebay consumers say they don’t buy from Black-owned businesses because they don’t know where to find them. Seventy-six per cent of Black adults are more likely to consider starting a side hustle, compared to less than 28 per cent from other communities, the report shows.
“We commissioned this research because we want to shine a light on the depth of inequity Black entrepreneurs, and most notably Black women, face as they look to grow their businesses,” says Murray Lambell, Ebay UK’s general manager. “We believe we have a role to play in helping to overcome some of these challenges by helping founders to start and scale their business.”
Ebay is focusing on three main elements within the organisation to boost diversity: the workforce, the workplace and the marketplace, says Gale. It has a partnership with Black Young Professional network and also works with Colour in Tech, a non-profit organisation aimed at increasing the number ethnic minorities entering the UK tech workforce, which Gale says is an action the company is taking to increase its own workplace diversity.
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
More from this author:
Tom Ford is up for sale, Bloomberg says
Eileen Fisher wants to tackle fashion waste with open-access report on circular supply chains
