Accelerate Action. This was the bold theme for International Women's Day 2025, assertively calling for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the structural inequalities that women face globally. Perfectly aligned with this theme, BUD Leaders’ Double Up & Access More event represented an unapologetic, urgent call to action for corporations, investors and industry leaders to double down in empowering Global-Majority women-led businesses through increased mentorship, skill-sharing, sponsorship, investment, and access to global supply chains.

Beyond this, it was also a celebration of how Global Majority women in business uplift each other, redefining what it means to be a leader. Held just a week before International Women’s Day, on 8 March, it seemed fitting that speakers championed the power of sisterhood they witnessed among Global Majority female entrepreneurs.

The event, which brought together over 175 entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate leaders, was hosted on 28th February at the NatWest Conference centre in the bustling area of Bishopsgate in central London.

According to 2024 data from the World Economic Forum, at the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158, which is roughly five generations from now, to reach full gender parity, but Georgina Wilson, the founder of BUD Leaders refuses to wait. Double Up & Access More was yet another stride BUD Leaders has made towards accomplishing ChallengeX2 2030 (CX2), Georgina’s mission to double the revenue of 2030 Global Majority women-led businesses by 2030, bringing a total of £50 million into Black and Global Majority communities by helping women of colour grow and scale their businesses.

A 2023 report by Extend Ventures, a not-for-profit consultancy that provides research on diverse founders in the UK, revealed that women founders received just 14.5% of venture capital investment between 2013 to 2023, while Global Majority women founders collectively raised only 0.76%, with just 0.14% going to Black women-led businesses.

Events like Double Up & Access More were designed to build an ecosystem that cultivates Global Majority-led SMEs through inspirational keynote addresses, riveting panel discussions, informative skill-sharing workshops and networking breaks, leaving attendees feeling motivated, better informed and well-connected.

It takes a village

“It takes a village.” Four words that were imprinted into the minds of attendees, echoing the importance of having a supportive community in the otherwise lonely journey of entrepreneurship. “It takes a village to raise a child,” said Georgina Wilson in her keynote address, before giving a shout out to an array of individuals in the room who have supported her in her journey with BUD. 

She continued: “I work hard. But I wouldn’t be here unless people had created spaces for me to double up and access more. And so, the African proverb ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ is really about us being accountable to each other, recognising that we need each other, that we can create safety for one another.”

By creating safe spaces like Double Up & Access More, she said, attendees could “come together and actually support each other instead of having to fight all the time”. Rather, they could simply “C.H.I.L.L” she said, using an acronym (in typical BUD fashion!) which stands for Curious, Humble, Implement, Leadership and Ladder.

Adding to this, Georgina said: “With leadership comes power. I want to share that power with my community. When we get to certain places, sometimes we pull that ladder up. Let’s make sure that we keep the ladder there so that others can come up with us. That is what this is all about. It’s about creating generational wealth and more equity across this landscape.”

Throwing down the ladder

Justice Williams MBE, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Black Business Magazine, emphasised the importance of throwing down the ladder in her powerful keynote address, saying: “We’re all here today because of the brilliant and brave Georgina Wilson, who saw a gap and built access where there was none. True leadership is not about climbing the ladder alone. It’s about holding it steady so that others can climb up. Global Majority women are redefining leadership, because sometimes, we don’t fight for a seat at their table, we build our own. We don’t hoard knowledge, we create access. We don’t gatekeep, we kick down doors.”

She added: “To investors, sponsors, allies in the room: you have the power to change the landscape for women of the global majority. Invest in us, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s smart business. When rooms are closed, bring our names up into conversations, because equity is not charity, it’s a strategy. If you’re serious about innovation, about real leadership, about changing the world, you cannot afford to ignore the women of the global majority.” 

Use your setbacks to drive your impact

“I could have given up at that point,” Georgina said, recounting an anecdote about reading an eviction notice for the meanwhile space she used for her freelance BUD Leaders work in 2016. “However, I thought, ‘Okay, I’m just going to keep going. I’m going to try and build this organisation. So I shifted it from just being me as a freelancer dipping into different projects, to saying, ‘I want to create more impact. I want to establish BUD Leaders as a stand-alone brand.’”

She continued: “It’s really interesting that sometimes your setbacks are the things that set you up for success. Maybe I could have just kept working in that local area, but [the eviction notice] pushed me to think: ‘Actually, we can do more.’ And so this is where we are now. We’ve worked with over 3,500 leaders in our organisation.”

Ngozi Cadmus, TEDx Speaker and founder of The Black Woman's Rest Revolution, a social enterprise that helps Black women heal from workplace abuse and racial trauma, voiced a similar message during the panel discussion. When asked what she’d say to her younger self, she stated: “All of the pain and trauma that you’ve experienced will turn into your biggest triumphs”.

She added: “If you’d asked me about 10 years ago, ‘Would you make a million pounds in mental health?’, I would say ‘No’. I didn’t know that my depression and feeling that I wanted to end my life would have led me to help thousands of people - particularly those in the Global Majority - get help for their wellbeing as well. I can't leave this space, because this is where I’m called to be. I’ve gone through too much to not speak up for the voiceless.”

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