Serial entrepreneurs Nathaniel Wade and Albert Larter launched an online marketplace that provides shoppers of all backgrounds with a solution to discover and support underrepresented black and diverse UK talent.
Disparities in society means many of these businesses and creatives are undiscovered by the majority. These persistent disparities are indicated by the latest figures showing black entrepreneurs having a median turnover of £10,000 and £15,000 less than white, and Asian and other ethnicities respectively.
There is a major shift in consumer awareness around the impact of their spending and this is only growing. One example of this is the latest finding on ethical consumer spending, which has quadrupled over the past 20 years to over £41 billion annually. Though this is great news, shoppers still mainly use mainstream brands, with major factors being ease and accessibility.
Nathaniel Wade said: “We want to provide a sustainable solution for discovering and spending with these underrepresented UK brands. To address this inequality we need an equitable solution.”
- Wakuda fast tracks sellers on its platform by providing them with masterclasses and training from industry experts as well as being a hub of bespoke support to optimise their offerings.
- Wakuda will set up strategic partnerships with organisations to get these underrepresented businesses spotlighted consistently.
Wakuda currently has over 300 black-owned businesses and creatives onto its platform and over 2,000 products. Their listed products range from: art, home decor, clothing, jewellery, hair, beauty and gifts.
Wakuda provides a low cost opportunity for businesses to easily set up within minutes and start selling. Sellers create their own store when they register, this eliminates the cost of purchasing a domain, developing a website and generating traffic. These can all be costly and time consuming for a small start up. With Wakuda providing these fundamental building blocks it allows its sellers the best opportunity to grow, and shoppers the access to products at the best prices.
However, rather than just being a standalone platform that provides a means to sell products, we’re also a hub for our partners to find support via knowledge and resources to help develop and scale their businesses. This could be around anything from pricing structures to marketing campaigns or the best ways to optimise their product listings and increase sales.
Albert Larter: “As entrepreneurs with combined business experience of over 20 years, who have faced a lot of the same challenges first hand, we are uniquely positioned to lead this initiative to enable these businesses to grow and thrive.”
Wakuda has created a new channel for shoppers to spend in a meaningful way in the UK with hidden businesses and really help show traditionally mainstream shoppers what untapped talent the UK black community has to offer. It will not only be black entrepreneurs’ incomes that will be affected. More innovation being celebrated and supported benefits society as a whole.
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