LCCI’s Asian Business Association and Black Business Association (BBA) issued the Ethnic Diversity in Business report in May 2022. The paper focused on ethnic diversity in business and what is needed to remove the barriers impeding minority-led business success.

The report looks at the correlation between demographics of individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds and subsequent success in business and highlights the problems that ethnic minorities face accessing finance and procurement opportunities. Since this report was published, there has been a campaign for the recommendations of this report to be implemented.

The Greater London Authority has since invited the BBA and ABA to be involved in the following work:

• A review of current standard Terms and Conditions (and production of short form version) to support SMEs in entering the GLA group supply chain
• A pilot to build a ‘database’ of Micro/SMEs and diverse owned businesses across London
• Planned market engagement events next year with SMEs, particularly around relevant training opportunities and content
• Specific procurement opportunities where we seek to increase SME involvement, as per the recent GLA Event Management Framework.

These steps should lead, in 2023, to more SMEs and micro businesses having direct access to procurement opportunities which were previously difficult to access for a range of reasons. This is a significant step forward for widening procurement opportunities for SMEs.

Download the report here.