Yaw Okyere – Ava Estell
It’s somewhat rare to find a male founder of a beauty company, but that’s just one of the factors that makes Yaw Okyere a trailblazer. Founder of Ava Estell, an all-natural skincare brand made with melanin in mind, Yaw Okyere, previously a chemical formulater for other brands, used this experience to create something for his wife, Esther, who struggled with hyperpigmentation. Originally from Ghana, Okyere studied Chemical Engineering and Business Management at Warwick University, England. When he decided to help his wife, who wasn’t able to find natural products that worked with her skin, he took on a Cosmetic Science qualification too. Since its launch, Ava Estell has established itself as a go-to brand for people who want to treat skin conditions such as hyperpigmentation, stretch marks, blemishes, dark spots, and eczema. Ava Estell was born out of personal experience, but once Okyere started to talk to other women he knew within his community, he realized that there was a real need for natural skincare solutions that were made with melanin skin in mind. The brand was a huge success upon its launch, earning £10,000 in sales and receiving rave reviews from customers. Focused for now on brand-to-consumer sales, Okyere believes they will soon be stocking in supply stores.
Michael Berhane – POCIT
British Eritrean founder Michael Berhane is the brains behind POCIT (People of Color in Tech), a media and job platform for people of color in the tech industry. Michael and his co-founder Ruth Mesfun founded POCIT to challenge the stereotypes around can work in tech. The idea behind POCIT is to provide stories that change the narrative when it comes to what a developer, entrepreneur, or engineer “should look like.” It has since grown to launch POCIT Jobs, its recruitment platform, and its own podcast, Techish. Born out of a personal project where Berhane interviewed people of color in tech, he soon realized the overwhelming demand for people of color to see themselves represented in tech roles. Within eight weeks, they were featured in TechCrunch. Now POCIT has several thousand subscribers to their blog and weekly newsletter, and Berhane feels this starting to shift the dial on the narrative.POCIT has been featured in Product Hunt, Tech Crunch, Blavity, Engadget, and Wired, and their impressive roster of partnerships includes Netflix, Hubspot, Amazon, Github, Pinterest, Citigroup, and the New York Times. Their podcast, Technish , regularly features in the top 20 Apple podcast charts and has been in the Guardian, Forbes, and Financial Times. Berhane himself was named African Diaspora 2019 ‘Young Business Leader’ Award and the Financial Times “top 100 BAME technologists in the UK”.
Yvonne Bajela – LocalGlobe
Recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2020, Yvonne Bajela is a Founding Member and Principal at Impact X Capital, a UK-based venture capital fund founded to support companies led by underrepresented entrepreneurs. Over the last five years, Yvonne has invested over £200 million in various startups across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. A board member and passionate leader, Yvonne is a champion for diverse female entrepreneurs. Bajela has invested in much-loved companies such as Wise (previously Transferwise), Flutterwave and Marshmallow. She currently sits on the board of Innovate Finance and is also a member of the London Hub of Global Shapers of the World Economic Forum, a community of young people driving change. As a strong advocate for entrepreneurship and leadership, Yvonne has been featured in many publications, including Forbes, Management Today, and The Financial Times. As well as her spot on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Europe Finance List, she was recognised with a position on Forbes’ 25 Leading Black British People.
Nana Addison – Styleindi
The daughter of a single mother Ghanian immigrant in Germany, Nana Addison says “I was the first to do a lot of things”. In 2023, Nana founded Styleindi, a global cosmetics CPG and tech company crafting inclusive and culturally conscious solutions for hair, skin, and body wellness. Styleindi is the first Black women-founded Cosmetics CPG startup in German history and is backed by a tech venture capital firm. She is also the Founder of CURL Agency, an international culture and diversity-centric brand experience and consulting agency. Her expertise and vision are behind some of the most exciting, innovative, and disruptive projects in the beauty, music, tech, and entertainment industries. Nana is also the founder of CURL CON, the leading hair, beauty, and lifestyle festival for Black people, as well as PoC in the German-speaking region. Addison lives in Berlin (where else would this cool girl creative live), where she directs TEDx Mauerpark/Berlin and teaches as a guest lecturer at SAE Institute in BA for Music Business Management.. Nana was named one of Germany’s Top 100 Women of the Year 2022 by Focus Magazine and announced as one of the Top 10 Emerging Black Tech & Beauty Entrepreneurs in Europe by Europe Startup Magazine. Her work has been recognized and featured in VOGUE, Bloomberg, and Business Insider.
Shaila Sahai – Shaila Sahai
It was during the first Covid lockdown in 2020, that founder of We Take Part, Shaila Sahai, conceived of launching an investment company that would specialise in Greentech. We Take Part is her equity crowdfunding platform, based in Paris, that assists the acceleration of climate tech companies throughout Europe. Having studied financial management and worked for years in financial services at the likes of Visa and BNP Paribas, Sahai has united her financial expertise with her love of the environment. Growing up in the Caribbean, she was taught to love and respect the environment from her childhood. We Take Part officially launched in February 2024, with the memo: “We believe in the power of collective effort. We believe in the power of crowdfunding as an effective tool for business growth. We also believe that something can still be done to manage climate change.” We Take Part’s focus will be exclusively on clean tech and climate solutions. While their competitors focus on renewable energy, Sahai has her eye on the importance of developing other solutions to clean the oceans and the earth for agricultural matters. She says ,“We want to give them access to investments too.”
Laura Medji – Traktor SASA
Although construction is a male-dominated industry, Laura Medji refused to be scared away. She got involved on the ground floor of a startup construction company, and in 2016, Medji, who studied applied mathematics and computer science in college, co-founded Traktor, along with three other engineers, a company that supplies construction equipment. Now, with 46 employees and a recent seed round raising a cool 12 million euros (bringing the fundraising total to 15 million euros), it’s safe to say Traktor has found its feet. Medji stepped down as chief technology officer at the end of 2020, but she remains on the board. Her latest venture, Epoca, where she resides as CTO, is a startup medical tech company that provides home-care medical services to patients who need constant care. The goal is keeping people out of hospitals, and in the comfort of their own homes. Last year she became president of The Gentle Initiative, a think tank that promotes diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. At a TEDx event in Rouen, Medji shared her wisdom, saying, “The key to success is accepting criticism and asking for help. It’s not a sign of weakness but the attitude to adopt so you can progress.”
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