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Diversity, equity & inclusion

Time to Change report – our progress so far

One year on since the launch of Aston University’s Time to Change report, we take a look at how we’re helping to advance the growth potential of the UK’s Ethnic Minority businesses (EMBs).

When the Time to Change report launched, we committed to playing an integral role in the change that is required. I’m proud to say that we have been doing just that.

Julie Baker
Head of Enterprise and Climate Engagement

It’s been a year since Aston University’s Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) launched the Time to Change report in partnership with NatWest. The report identified that tackling the multiple barriers faced by EMBs could increase their GVA contribution from the current £25 billion a year to £100 billion, highlighting the significant potential of EMBs to the UK economy.

The report also set out ten evidence-based recommendations for finance, business and policy leaders, with the aim of promoting greater success and inclusion of Ethnic Minority businesses in finance and business support in the UK.

Our strategy to support

Since the launch of the report we’ve formed a strategy focused on the recommendations we can make the most impact on: 

  • Redress perceived and actual barriers to finance
  • Build long-term trust-based relationships with businesses
  • Foster local networks of support to boost business survival and growth

Read the full report to see its 10 recommendations.  

 

How we’re supporting

Take a look progress so far on our strategic focus areas:

 

Redress perceived and actual barriers to finance – progress so far:

  • Reaching those we don’t traditionally reach - working with Business in the Community (BiTC), we’re supporting Ethnic Minority customers and communities in Bradford, Coventry and Rochdale, including support like networking, upskilling and giving confidence to those who don’t traditionally access banking support, presenting new market opportunities to businesses, and more.
  • Upskilling and connecting colleagues - we’re training and supporting colleagues to be able to better support their EMB customers and be allies to Ethnic Minority customers and communities, including delivering Cultural Literacy programmes across the UK. These programmes consider how cultural, religious, socioeconomic and other factors might influence customers’ perceptions of their interactions with the bank, and explores how we may be able to address these perceived and actual barriers for our customers. We’ve also launched an internal network for enterprise colleagues to share best practise and collaborate on their regional EMB support activity.
  • Demystifying - we’ll be hosting a series of insight sessions to EMB communities to help speak through and demystify the processes of starting up and scaling up a business.

 

Build long-term trust-based relationships with businesses – progress so far:

  • Listening - we’ve created an Entrepreneur Forum including entrepreneurs from different backgrounds, locations and industries, to gain feedback and learn about their experiences. We’ve also hosted roundtable/customer forum sessions focussed on EMB support when our executives visit different regions across the UK, so our leaders can hear views and feedback directly from Ethnic Minority communities.
  • Support through our programmes - we’re aiming to support at least 7,000 entrepreneurs from Ethnic Minority backgrounds through our enterprise programmes in 2023 (this is 20% of our overall target of supporting 35,000 entrepreneurs).
  • Leadership - we’ve also appointed an Enterprise Community Strategy Director who will continue to work closely with Aston University to implement the Time to Change report recommendations working with both internal and external stakeholders to increase our support for EMBs nationally.
  • Celebrating our Ethnic Minority customers and communities – we’ll be marking key events such as South Asian Heritage Month, Black History Month and National Inclusion Week, to ensure we’re engaging with the breadth of our Ethnic Minority customers and communities.

 

Foster local networks of support to boost business survival and growth – progress so far:

  • Regional launch events - since the Time to Change report’s launch, we’ve hosted a series of regional launch events to engage with regional stakeholders. This has included Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Bristol, Edinburgh and Peterborough, with the most recent event taking place in Leeds where we were joined by Tracy Brabin, Mayor for West Yorkshire. The events brought together business leaders and entrepreneurs and provided an opportunity to connect, grow their network and learn more about how NatWest can support them and their business.
  • Partnerships - through our Regional Boards we have maintained and onboarded a Regional Partnership per region to support Ethnic Minority communities in that region.
  • ‘Start-up weekends’ - we’re working with Black Seed to support entrepreneurs across the UK to seek funding and gain skills through the ‘start-up weekend’. With workshops focused on integral entrepreneurial skills including pitching, digital, PR and resilience, the first weekend which we supported involved a pitch event where winners walked away with £10,000 prize funding. The next start-up weekend is planned for June 3-4 in Manchester – find out more about the event. 
Black Seed event featuring the pitch winner

Our Head of Enterprise and Climate Engagement, Julie Baker, commented on the progress we’ve made to better-support EMBs in the last year:

“When the Time to Change report launched, we committed to playing an integral role in the change that is required. I’m proud to say that we have been doing just that, and we’ll continue to work with our customers, partners and stakeholders to help champion the UK’s Ethnic Minority Businesses and help to advance their growth potential.”

Time to Change report launch event in London.

Find out more

Read more about the Time to Change report and access the report in full here.

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