Budget reaction: your views wanted

BLACK OWNED BUSINESSES FIGHT BACK

Leading the fight back, Natasha Vigille, founder of 'Black Wall Street London' (BWSL), an Afrocentric exhibition, marketplace and business development hub for Black entrepreneurs, hosts a second, unique 24-hour live collaboration event on Saturday 6th March 2021, (12am – 12am) showcasing over 100 Black owned businesses supported by Black Wall Street London.

After a successful solo launch of the first 24-hour live event on our last Black Pound Day and dictated by public demand, the second 24-hour live event is a three-way collaboration between 'BWSL,' the Afrocentric business development hub for Black entrepreneurs, 'Black Business Recommendation,' a transitioning Facebook group with a 10k+ following and comedian and public speaker 'Rudi Lickwood.'

Three powerhouse entities uniting as one in the true spirit of collaboration.

‘BWSL’ founder Natasha Vigille quotes: 

“The impact of the pandemic on Black owned businesses has been devastating.
The current climate has been tough but it's important to remain fluid and pivot in business where possible and that’s exactly what ‘BWSL’ has done, shining a light on Black owned businesses (BOB's) whilst highlighting our own campaign for ‘The Black Million,’ a crowdfunding effort to raise money to purchase premises and reinvest in Black owned business.

Our message is this: Collaboration is key to our success… UNITED WE RISE!"

There's been tal in the media about the Budget looking to hit online retailers whgich seems wholly unfair in certain circumstances. If I take my business as an example, yes the pandemic has helped it grow but we've constantly had to adapt to alternative ways of working and different offerings. It's not just a case of sitting back and 'counting the cash' knowing the high street shops are shut

A pivotal budget for business, especially the 3m excluded from support to date. Wwithout addressing this flaw - which has persisted for 11 months despite being advised "no one would be left behind" - the Chancellor can hardly expect them to be able to contribute towards the rebuilding of the economy. Small businesses are our lifeblood and backbone of the UK economy, we must pull together and finally address this long forgotten and misinformed travesty - else we shall see more businesses close, never to recover.

The increase in Corporation Tax to 25% over just 2 years is extremely disappointing. Yet another slap in the face to small business owners who form the bedrock of the UK economy. Small business owners who have struggled for the last 12 months to keep their businesses going and their people employed. It's a retrograde step.

• Paula Gardner of https://redundancyrecoveryhub.com says that it's really promising unemployment is expected to peak at 6.5% next year, lower than the 11.9% previously predicted, but that still means that there is a massive amount of people who will be looking for a new job. These will be accompanied by the many freelancers we are now seeing who are experiencing their work drying up through no fault of their own. While the government is extending the universal credit increase, and the self-employment scheme, there are many people who will fall through the cracks and will need to get back to work as quickly as possible. This is exactly why we have created the Redundancy Recovery Hub - to give people like this access to advice, support and ideas around getting back into work or even changing direction if going back to what you previously did is not an option. All our content is free.