Cashblack x Somerset House
Celebrating 1 year of our launch with our most significant win - £10,000 from the BBR Growth Fund.
Believing that things would get easier post launch is the sort of delusion that startup founders need. All of a sudden, “traction” and “revenues” matter more than the “vibes” on which we sustained ourselves since the project’s conception in 2020. This meant we had to shift our focus from games of technological “chicken” with our developers to customer acquisition so we could fill the life savings-sized crater in our personal bank accounts.
This past year - as well as the 3 years since we registered the business - has been an absolute madness. Corporate collaborations, international expansion, hosting marketplace pop-ups, hiring/firing interns - but all with “real life” happening in the background. Don’t let the first class flight photos and clout chasing partnership posts make you believe it’s been all air miles and handshakes. It’s been the hardest year of the hardest period our family’s had to go through. However, this award win has helped make it very much worthwhile. Not just in a monetary sense but because of the faith instilled in us by this accelerator programme.
My brothers and I couldn’t have done this without the tireless work put into the programme by Adna Ahmed and Jeffrey Oyinlola of the Black Business Residency and our programme mentors Olu Ode and Madina Kalyayeva.
Additionally, Diana Spiegelberg, Penelope Wilmott, Jonathan Reekie and the rest of the team at Somerset House who facilitated the programme.
Moreover, Sanghamitra Karra, Rachel Clarke and the rest of the team from Morgan Stanley who have supported the programme from inception and we hope will continue to do so.
For the award win itself, we’d also like to thank the judges of the competition Dr Yvonne Thompson CBE DL FCL, RSA, RA, SGCW,KCL NED, AARON RAYBE and Conrad Da Cunha for their huge show of faith in our mission through selecting Cashblack as the winners.
Finally, and most importantly, the programme’s founder Akil Benjamin - without whom and with no exaggeration, our first year easily could’ve been our last.
Here’s to year 2.
