Black British business trailblazers you may not know about
Here are our top pick industry leaders and trail blazers leading the way in technology and business. These businesses are inspirational and show how Black entrepreneurs are pushing new boundaries and penetrating exciting new markets.
Founded by Dr Rotimi Alabi, RAB-Microfluidics is a Research & Development company developing cutting-edge microfluidic technology to solve oil analysis problems.
They are revolutionising oil testing and analysis services by making conventional laboratory procedures mobile, rapid and routine. Rab Microfluidics’ innovation is driven by the needs of their customers in oil & gas, aerospace & defence, processing & manufacturing, power generation, transport and maritime industries.
Rab microfluidic technology invention is the product of a decade-long research from world recognised college of Physical Science at the University of Aberdeen. RAB-Microfluidics is located at the heart of this citadel of technological expertise, being the pioneering developer of microfluidic technology for oil applications in Europe. They have unparalleled world class expertise in development of microfluidic technology, working with award winning product development partners in the United Kingdom.
Smart headphones that learn from you; Play your favourite music, directly from streaming music services.
Audiowings, is a tech company set up by entrepreneur Carl Thomas. This tech company is passionate about creating tools to help increase the impact great music has on our lives. They have created The Shell, which is wirelessly powered directly by streaming music providers. It uses embedded sensors to learn how you feel, when you listen to your favourite music, to make smarter recommendations, for what you listen to next.
Put them on, the music starts. Take them off, the music stops. Control what you hear, using a patented interface, giving you access to over 30 Million tracks instantly. And the more you listen, the more it learns, ready to play you more of what you want to hear.
Crafted by a multi-disciplined team of music fans, with experience of working for some of the world’s most innovative companies, including Nokia, Telefonica, Google, DunnHumby and Rolls Royce.
Medixus
The Medixus puts the world's healthcare community in the palm of your hand, connecting doctors across Africa and beyond.
The mobile app offers a secure, confidential place to discuss patient cases, while broadening the peer-to-peer support network.
Nicole Kayode studied Natural Sciences: Organic Chemistry & Biomedical Science at University College London and did an MSc in Biomed, focused on cardiology research. After her studies, her options were to stay in the medical research world or leave her comfort zone and try her hand at business. She went for the latter and found herself as a tech start-up after spending some time in Zambia doing business consulting.
her path would lead to becoming a healthcare tech start-up, which has focused on solving the staffing crisis that the NHS in England is currently experiencing by making finding temporary staff seamless and inexpensive. It was in this role that her desire to combine a passion for healthcare with her love of entrepreneurship was solidified and the seed for her medical technology venture, Medixus, was planted.
Mansata’s idea to explore dementia therapies started 2 years ago when she set up a the Freestyle 4 Africa Foundation (freestyle4africa.org.uk) doing neuroscience research on how the arts and music impacts on our cognition and the brain.
Based in London. Mansata has a Mathematics background having achieved a Frist Class Honours degree and she wanted to set up the Foundation to raise awareness of the scientific and physical benefits of music and the arts to a young child’s brain.
Mansata has a passion for using creative technologies for good and through this research, she discovered similar therapies being used for dementia. She then began exploring ways in which the depression, anxiety and loneliness that comes with the disease can be alleviated.
Using VR for dementia was born in Start-up 54, a hackathon run by Foundervine.
They bring together ambitious changemakers, young professionals and aspiring social entrepreneurs to form teams, build prototypes and launch new business ventures. Since then, VR Revival has achieved many successes. Founder Mansata was one of the 12 MSDUK Challenge Finalists selected in 2018. She also won a Laura Award for Women in Africa Sumit where in each African country, they selected one innovate woman with high potential for leadership and she was selected to represent Gambia.
In her role as a member of the WIA Entrepreneurs Club, she hopes to inspire more African girls and women into STEAMED (Science Technology Engineering, Arts, Maths, Entrepreneurship & Design).