I didn’t know the word entrepreneur growing up — now I help Black-owned businesses thrive

London-Born entrepreneur Darren Miller is the CEO and founder of Black British Initiative (BBI), a charitable organisation set up in 2023 with the goal of eradicating racial injustice.

At the heart of BBI is MBA 30, an initiative that provides business training for Black entrepreneurs.

Darren set up his first business aged 20 before moving into property development and luxury Italian interiors, subsequently working with the Saatchi Gallery and Design Museum among others.

Here, he talks about his childhood in Nunhead, how he became an entrepreneur and his aim to elevate Black business through executive education.

Where did it all begin for you?

My parents came to the UK at the tail-end of the Windrush generation. I grew up in Nunhead, south-east London, in a close-knit Jamaican community.

You say education is the key to unlocking equality. Tell us about yours…

My school was awful. Most of the students were Afro-Caribbean and 90% of the teachers were white. Expectations were very low. Most boys left at 16 and went off to get a job – not a career – and only one or two got even one A-level. University wasn’t mentioned.

When I said I wanted to be a pilot, the teachers laughed. ‘Miller, think about being a painter and decorator. Electrician if you’re lucky.’

Was there a pivotal moment that inspired you to be an entrepreneur?

I didn’t even know the word entrepreneur back then. But in my first job at United Technologies, I started to get recognised and promoted. My manager said to me one day, ‘Darren, you are able to just pick up the ball and run with it.’ It was the first time I’d thought I might be able to run my own business.

We all have dreams, how did you turn yours into reality?

A chance conversation in a Chinese takeaway gave me the idea and I decided to pursue it. I was 20, my brother was 18. I was young and impetuous and thought I could conquer the world. To my mum’s horror, I dragged my brother out of his safe job at NatWest, and we started our first business.

It wasn’t sexy, it was linen hire, providing napkins and tablecloths to restaurants: a tough industry, but we had a lucky break and got established. We ran it for four or five years then sold it for a great profit.

Why sell when it was just taking off?

We were in a position to really scale the business and went to one of the big four high-street banks to borrow some money, but got turned down. We thought we had a rock-solid case but the bank wouldn’t back it.

How did that inspire your idea for an MBA 30 executive education programme?

Difficulty getting funding, even when I had a solid business proposition, has been a constant. I believe race is a factor. There are systemic structural and institutional barriers.

The people I was speaking to often had benefitted from a private education and had amazing networks. They knew about investment and had been to business school and would look at my balance sheet and see things even I didn’t know. That put me at a massive disadvantage. I realised that executive education is important.

Tell us how BBI is providing that?

We have found a way to democratise MBAs. An MBA is super-powerful, but can cost up to £100k, and can take a year or more full-time.

The only mini MBA solely focused on Black entrepreneurs, it is accredited by SOAS University of London and costs just £3,250.

We cherry-picked the nine most important modules and now run them for nine days over the course of a month. What makes ours even more exceptional is that we bring in at least two industry contributors per day – from the Bank Of England, Vodafone, Sky, Condé Nast, Mastercard and JP Morgan among others.

What’s the biggest misconception about Black business in the UK?

That wealth disparity doesn’t exist. Runnymede Trust statistics show Black and African households have nine times less wealth than white British ones, yet their businesses could contribute up to £75billion to the country’s GDP. By failing to support Black entrepreneurs, we are overlooking financial growth that the country needs.

You now talk a lot about visibility. Why is that vital?

If you can see someone like you, it acts as a beacon. It’s like a light shining on the pathway – when you have moments when you want to stop, it helps you think, ‘You know what? If they did it, I can do it too.’

Metro and BBI are forming a 12-month partnership. Why is this important?

For us, a dynamic, small but exciting charity, this partnership is transformative. It shows that even though we live in a time when
DEI [diversity, equity, inclusion] and social equality don’t get the limelight they deserve, there are organisations out there who understand the importance of driving social mobility and what it means for the UK at large.
Metro is an exemplar and my hope is others follow its lead.

Finally, what’s your mission with BBI and MBA 30?

To educate 5,000 entrepreneurs by 2030. Perfectly aligning with this are our exciting MBA 30 Emerging Entrepreneur Awards 2025.

Working with Metro, these awards will give cash-strapped entrepreneurs marketing opportunities that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive, as well as potential access to up to £1.5million of funding. Change has to come.