Rising star marketers and General Mills launch competition to help ambitious ethnic minority-led food businesses scale

A group of ambitious rising star marketers from the UK have joined forces with General Mills to launch a new competition that will support ethnic minority-led businesses from across the UK’s food industry to help scale their businesses, as part of the ‘Not Just’ campaign they created through The Drum and Facebook’s ‘Marketing Can Change the World’ global initiative.

With a shared ambition to bring positivity to small business owners from ethnic minority backgrounds during these uncertain times, the team is inviting small business owners to visit a new website designed and built from scratch and enter a competition to receive an unrivalled package of support in promoting their business on The Drum and Facebook in 2021. The winning package will also provide access to the prestigious 301 EXT; the European venture capital arm of General Mills, the company behind the Häagen Dazs and Cheerios brands.

To help spread awareness of the competition, Team UK has created a series of ambassador stories, working with some exciting and ambitious ethnic minority-led businesses in the UK, including: Samuel Mensah, founder of Uncle John’s Bakery; Bobby Patel, founder of Prashad; Emeka and Ifeyinwa Frederick of Chuku’s.

The competition forms part of Team UK’s wider ‘Not Just’ campaign, which aims to break down one of the core barriers that immigrant-led businesses face and help to address this by connecting them with peers and industry professionals to deliver partnership campaigns and tools to accelerate business growth. The ‘Not Just’ campaign idea was also crowned the winner of a special category at The Drum Social Purpose Awards 2020.

Providing access to critical resources to unlock growth

The ‘Not Just’ website also includes information about the challenges that minority-owned small businesses in the UK face, details about the campaign idea and what the team hopes to achieve, as well as giving these businesses the opportunity to sign up to a bulletin to hear about upcoming opportunities such as partnership proposals from brands and entrepreneurs; tips and resources from UK business associations; expertise from business management professionals; and sources for training and development.

According to the GOV.UK, the accommodation and food services sector has the highest percentage (7.9%) of ethnic minority-led SME employers, which was a key insight for the team in choosing to support them through this campaign. Furthermore, the same sector experienced a significant decline in 2020 (almost 80%) and more than one in two workers were placed on the government’s furlough scheme, according to a Bank of England report.

The campaign aims to support those who are experiencing the unprecedented effects of the pandemic, by showcasing that they are ‘not just’ a business but dynamic individuals who are an essential part of their local community.

“We want to support the individuals behind ethnic minority-led businesses within the UK food industry by providing access to the critical resources which will unlock growth, whilst highlighting their world class services offering,” said Jade Nodinot, one of the rising star marketers who was part of Team UK.

The other team members leading this campaign are: Andre Campbell, partnerships lead, Mercedes-Benz; Fatima Diez, head of marketing, MunchFit; Shannie Mears, co-founder & talent chief, The Elephant Room; and Emma Luxton, senior account executive, Catch a Fire.

Throughout the ‘Marketing Can Change the World’ project, Team UK was mentored by seasoned marketer Arjoon Bose, marketing head - culture and brand experience at General Mills, who said: “When you bring a room full of marketers together with dreams in our eyes and with vision, the commitment, passion and determination has been felt in wanting to make a difference and affect positive change in the world.”

To find out more and to enter the competition, see here: https://www.notjustacampaign.com/.

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Source:The Drum Copy link