Phoenix Court Group (former Local Globe) Annual Showcase.
Another day at the office, only it wasn’t just any other day.
It was our annual showcase with over 120 guests from around the world including Nigeria, Ukraine, Manchester, the USA, Kenya etc.
A mix of our LPs, Angel Investors, Founders, GPs, our neighbours from Edith Neville school and the Story Garden, academics from Boston University, journalists etc
An engaging day with speakers from art-tech, health-tech, fintech and much more. Black investors seeking equity in this ecosystem and off course my wonderful team.An inspiring and exhilarating day.
I had the great privilege and honour of chairing a panel to showcase our two year Black Out Tuesday initiative with a powerhouse guest list including.
Nicole Krystal Crentsil FRSA founder of @blackgirlfest. A network of over 50k women and non binary folk. Founder of Launchpad, a programme to support black female entrepreneurs.
“E” Iyinoluwa Aboyeji cofounder of Africa’s two Unicorns, Endela and Flutterwave. Current founder of Future Africa
Andy Davis Investor and Author of the Black Report.
Yvonne Nagawa of Black Seed, who have just raised over £5million to fund black founders
Tom Adeyoola of Extend Ventures who is an entrepreneur, founder, investor and advisor.
We had a candid discussion about the status quo of abysmal under investment in black founders and the initiatives they are involved in to remedy this. Our call to action is for all in the VC sector to use their privilege and agency to tackle racial inequity in our sector. Be consistent and persistent agents of change. Since the murder of George Floyd, progress was made in 2021 but 2022 has seen a decline to worse than it was in 2020.
At Phoenix Court Group we celebrated having just raised $500 million to support “values-based innovation” in the U.K. and beyond from pre-seed, growth to public listing through Basecamp, LocalGlobe, Latitude and Solar.
Phoenix Court Works, our charitable foundation, will be funded through the allocation of 10% of profits from the management company and 2% of carry from all the funds.
I am still on a high from a humbling and inspiring day.
We truly have great friends and partnerships that work.
Really proud to be part of this team.
