We are Edinburgh Innovations, the commercialisation service at the University of Edinburgh. We benefit society and the economy by helping researchers, students and industry drive innovation. We also offer a full entrepreneurial support service for students and recent graduates at the University of Edinburgh. Find out more on our full calendar of events, workshops, competitions, support programmes, 1-2-1 business advice, online resources and more by signing up to our newsletter.
In celebration of Black History Month we are highlighting a selection of black entrepreneurs from history.
Bill Richmond (1763 - 1829)
Earl Percy, General of the British forces was in New York during the American Revolutionary War and witnessed Richmond in a tavern brawl involving British soldiers. Percy subsequently arranged fights with other British soldiers for entertainment of his guests. In 1777 Percy arranged for Richmond’s freedom and transportation to northern, literacy education and an apprenticeship with cabinet maker in Yorkshire.
He twice exhibited his skills for visiting European royalty and was among the most respected and admired of pugilistic trainers and instructors. Richmond was one of the pugilists selected to act as an usher at the coronation of George IV in 1821.
In the 1820s Richmond ran a boxing academy, in which he trained many amateur boxers, including literary figure like William Hazlitt, Lord Byron and American John Neal.
Evelyn Dove (1902 - 1987)
The first ever black singer on BBC radio, Dove was a trail-blazer with an unforgettable voice. She attended the Royal Academy of Music and travelled the world performing at the best and biggest venues.
During the Second World War, the BBC employed her to sing over the airwaves to troops and those they left behind at home. Following her dreams Dove studied piano, voice and elocution at the Royal Academy of Music.
She practised her skills at cabaret and jazz shows in London as a member of the Southern Syncopated Orchestra. Her first break came in the form of the black jazz revenue Chocolate Kiddies, which she joined on a tour of Europe.
The height of her career began in 1939 when she joined folk singer Edric Connor on BBC Radio’s Serenade in Sepia.The series was so popular that it lasted for a decade before becoming a TV show, during which Dove appeared as a singer on other popular radio programmes such as Caribbean Carnival, Mississippi Nights and Calling the West Indies.
After her success on BBC, Dove journeyed to India, Paris and Spain where she worked in cabaret. In 1987 she died of pneumonia aged 84.
Ignatius Sancho (1729 - 1780)
Writer, composer, shopkeeper and abolitionist, Ignatius Sancho was celebrated in the late 18th-century as a man of letters, a social reform and an acute observer of English life.
Born on a slave ship heading for modern-day Colombia, Sancho was later orphaned and brought to Greenwich, London as a toddler where he was given to a family as their slave. Sancho became a butler to John and Mary Montagu, the Duke and Duchess of Montagu in the Montagu House, Blackheath. Here, it is believed he had access (and was potentially encouraged) to read the books in the library and further his education and musical talent.
As well as appearing on stage, Sancho was particularly productive as a composer of music. He published four collections of compositions and a treatise entitled A Theory of Music and two plays.
As a financially independent male householder, Sancho become eligible to vote and did so in 1774 and again in 1780. He is the first known black person of African descent to vote in a British general election.
Sancho wrote letters that passionately argued against the slave trade. In 1766, he wrote to famous writer; Laurence Sterne encouraging him to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade. These were collected into books after his death on 14 December 1780. Two volumes of ‘The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African’ were a big hit, leaving his family with more than £500 in royalties (about £88,000 in today’s value). He is also the first known person of African descent to have an obituary published in British newspapers.
Cesar Picton (1755 – 1836)
Presumably enslaved in Africa by the time he was about six years old. Picton was bought and brought to England by an English army officer who had been in Senegal. In 1761 he was ‘presented’ as a servant to Sir John Philips, who lived at Norbiton Place, near Kingston upon Thames in Surrey.
Following the death of Sir John and his wife, Lady Philipps, Picton used his legacy of £100 (the equivalent of £18,300 today) to set-up as a coal merchant in nearby Kingston. He later received the legacies from the three unmarried Philipps daughters, adding to his wealth.
Originally Picton rented his premises at 52 High Street, Kingston Upon Thames but bought this house in 1795 as well as a wharf onto the Thames for unloading the coal and a malthouse.
In 1807 Picton let his Kingston properties and moved to a rented house in Tolworth, he retired at 52. By this time he was described in deeds as a “gentleman” and by 1816 he bought a house with a large garden in Thames Ditton. He died in 1836 at the age of 81.
Madam C.J. Walker (1867 - 1919)
Recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America (although other women are documented who might have been the first, their wealth is not as well-documented). Walker made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women.
Founder of the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, she became known for her philanthropy and activism. She made financial donations to numerous organisations and was a patron of the arts. Villa Lewaro, Walker’s lavish estate in Irvington, New York, served as a social gathering place for the African-American community.
Born Sarah Breedlove, close to Delta, Louisiana and one of six children. Her older siblings were enslaved by Robert W. Burney on his Madison Parish plantation. Sarah was the first child in her family born free after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
Between 1911 and 1919, during the height of her career, Walker and her company employed several thousand women as sales agents for its products. By 1917, the company claimed to have trained nearly 20,000 women.
In addition to training in sales and grooming, Walker showed other black women how to budget, build their own businesses and encouraged them to become financially independent.
Walker's name became even more widely known by the 1920s, after her death, as her company's business market expanded beyond the United States to Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Panama and Costa Rica. At the time of her death, she was considered the wealthiest African-American businesswoman and wealthiest self-made black women in America.
Edinburgh Innovations
We are Edinburgh Innovations, the commercialisation service at the University of Edinburgh, we benefit society and the economy by helping researchers, students and industry drive innovation. We seek opportunities, we build partnerships, we make the journey easy, and we add value at every stage.
We also offer a full entrepreneurial support service for students and recent graduates at the University of Edinburgh. Find out more on our full calendar of events, workshops, competitions, support programmes, 1-2-1 business advice, online resources and more by signing-up to our newsletter.