Do It Before Someone Else Does | From 500 to 16,000 with Dr. Raphael Sofoluke

0:00Alex Chisnall:What stops founders from building something meaningful isn't the lack of ideas, it's the fear of getting started. I'm Alex Chisnall and this is Screw It Just Do It, the podcast for people who are ready to stop waiting, take action and make things happen.

0:14Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:Every new idea with every business, there's always that doubt, do it anyway. We want to be able to tell some of the amazing stories of black entrepreneurs and business owners everywhere. where Legacy Black is for Black founders who refuse to play small. One thing that really, really kind of shook me was when my brother said to me, I wanted to do it next year. And he said, no, you've got to do it now before someone else does it. I was like, oh, I need to do this. It was something that I needed as well. I wanted to go to an event where I could network with Black-minded, Black entrepreneurs and professionals.

0:48Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:You know, the fear actually of, you know, this is a great idea. I know it can be incredible, even though I know it's not going to be perfect. There was nothing like this, which is one of the reasons where...

1:25Alex Chisnall:actions completely fee-free for 60 days. Head to worldfirst.com forward slash screw it to create a free account and claim now. Now let's jump into the main conversation. So Raphael, I wanted to dive straight in and ask you, when you were setting up the UK Black Business Show, when you had that germ of idea, was there a moment before you started that made you think, maybe I shouldn't do this, but you kind of leaned in and you did it anyway?

1:52Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:Yeah, absolutely. I think with every new idea with every business there's always that doubt when you start but you know the entrepreneurs that do make it entrepreneurs who are successful are the people who you know do it anyway and for me that moment was probably time frame so I thought of the idea and within six months exactly to that date I had the first event and you know the first event it wasn't incredible it wasn't amazing um but it was what I could do in 2017 with the resources that I had so for me it was you know actually just pushing through it and and saying actually I'm going to do this quick and you know I remember you know messaging my wife for validation um she was like it was a great idea you know I phoned my brother um and he said it was a great idea as well and sometimes I feel sometimes we're looking for people to be like no it's not a good idea for us to be like you know um but actually you know I got validation from you know two people who are very important to me and the one thing that really really kind of shook me was when my brother said to me um I wanted to do it next year and he said no you've got to do it now before someone else does it and now when I speak to founders and uh you know mentor a lot of founders as well um I always let them know do you think you're the only one in the world with that idea right now um so it was that it was built you know the fear actually of you know this is a great idea you know I want to be the first to do it um I know it can be incredible even though I know it's not going to be perfect I I want to be the first and you know sometimes it's the people who are the quickest to market who are the ones that succeed because you know once they're already on their third or fourth iteration before someone you know gets into their first then of course it's about execution as well not just kind of speed but you know speed is very important so yeah I think for me that was the moment where I was like yeah I'm just going to go for it and six months to the day as well

4:02Alex Chisnall:that's crazy and that's it that's a short period of time uh in anyone's book six months to do something like that and where did you where was the first event um how many people what did it kind of look like and I know any of us with anything we look back and we kind of critique it But to actually get something off the ground, anything off the ground in six months is a hell of an achievement, right? Anything that brings people together, especially, I think.

4:26Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:Yeah, no, absolutely. I think if you look at pictures from my first show and our most recent, almost unrecognisable. So I did it at the, I held it at the QE2 Centre, the second centre in Westminster. It's a beautiful venue opposite the House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. And the whole reasoning behind that was because actually I went to an event while I was working at a company I was selling on the event, big show, and I couldn't see black representation when I went, you know, whether that was the audience, the sponsors, the speakers on the stage, and there was thousands of people there.

5:04Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:I was super fascinated about, you know, how powerful events are, that there are thousands of people in this room learning, making business deals. And I just thought, why isn't there something like this for the black community? Or why is there no black professionals here or black entrepreneurs? I thought actually the whole demographic is missing out on something extremely, you know, powerful. um so yeah held it in the QE2 center um exactly the same venue that I visited which for me was a very powerful statement as well um of course I didn't take out the same space very very small um so that first show had 25 stands and 500 attendees and um yeah 25 stands and 500 attendees and yeah took six months to put on but you know yeah really glad that I took that leap and yeah decided to go for it.

6:02Alex Chisnall:I was going to ask you've been thinking about it for a while actually was there nothing like this in the UK at all I'm assuming there must have been you may have seen stuff in the US being the kind of obvious example but maybe not again and we're talking 2017 to coming up to it to a decade ago nothing like that in the UK at all yeah nothing

6:23Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:nothing nothing at all um yeah it's one of those ones where you you know when you're starting up a business you're looking for things you know similar also to grab to grab inspiration as well I I always say that you know even every single business has taken inspiration from something else even if it is completely new and fresh you've been inspired by something so um no there was nothing like this which is one of the reasons where it i was like oh i need to do this um it was something that i needed as well i wanted to go to an event where i could network with like-minded black entrepreneurs and professionals so like you were the demographic as well that you

7:05Alex Chisnall:were targeting yeah yeah absolutely so essentially i was i was creating something uh for myself and

7:10Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:There's something that I always say about great businesses kind of turning frustration into inspiration. And when we think of some of the kind of greatest entrepreneurs or some really, really cool ones. So, for example, I think Yang Coombe, who created WhatsApp, he was like frustrated about kind of not updating people during his day. So he created WhatsApp and Topit Awatona, who's the he's a unicorn, he's the founder of Calendly. which you which the scheduling tool that was his frustration about not being able to kind of schedule so um it's so great when people turn their own frustrations into inspiration those are some of the best businesses so for me that was what i was doing um i was doing that but also when you do that is it's great because you actually realize you're not the only person frustrated so there were so many people who resonated and wanted to be in a space where other black entrepreneurs or professionals all just see more representation on the stage when they see speakers so there was yeah there was nothing like it there was of course events that I wanted to replicate but a lot of the big events kind of supporting black entrepreneurs and professionals were running in the US.

8:28So yeah, it was quite, I would say it was, yeah, really unique when I announced it and

8:34Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:started it.

8:35Alex Chisnall:And it's often, I find like, again, like when you're saying like with the validation aspect as well, it's like when you have the idea, there is that like first mover advantage and you kind of question yourself. And there's also, there's always that worry that someone else is going to do it, but you kind of, when you've done it and you look back and you realize how much bloody hard work it was to do it you think would anyone actually go through they might have the idea but would they actually jump through the hoops that i've jumped through to actually do that thing you know so there's always i think like that that kind of balancing act in your mind when you kind of start something up right um and i remember like the first first event i did with virgin startup again you kind of look back and i think we had 27 people turn up you know um but you don't know if anyone's going to turn up until you open those doors right and then fast forward to you know last october when we had the festival entrepreneurs made over two and a half thousand people turn up and it's like you know is that steve jobs quote when you it's only when you look back you can you can join the dots right um do you have that kind of similar feeling yourself or have you had the time to actually reflect and kind of look back because next year i guess it

9:39Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:will be a decade yeah yeah absolutely so you spoke about kind of people actually you know many people can have ideas but you know who's willing to go through the the stress and the the juggling because I was juggling my full-time job when I started it um and it got bigger and bigger while I was um you know running my events um while I was working my job so I was going to work um also had a family have a family it was coming back home um and then working till like 2 or 3 a.m etc and And remember, this was a time where we were still doing five days in the office. So sleeping at that time, but then getting up at 6am to get myself ready for another office day.

10:26Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:I was speaking to clients on my lunch break to try and, you know, close them for the UK Black Business Show. So, you know, yes, absolutely. You know, to answer part of your question as well, you never know who's going to turn up. But that's the part of being an entrepreneur, isn't it? you know um it's those people who are willing to take the risk who are willing to be embarrassed as well um and it's those people that you see um you know kind of success and my favorite words um and I spoke about it this recently on a another kind of podcast was is audacity and just being audacious and for me I always say like where would the world be without audacious people you know nothing would have been created you know who would have you know going to the moon you wouldn't go to the moon it's like it's audacious it's crazy it doesn't make sense so many things that we have um the person must have been you know audacious um and I love when people say you know the audacity because it's a phrase where you say and you're like, how could they really do that?

11:42Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:You know, how could they really? But when you think of it, that's what entrepreneurs are. They're audacious. They have the audacity to believe they are going to be the ones who are going to build something to fly to the moon or build something to change people's connections throughout the world in terms of phones and all of those things. So, yeah, I also love doing things that no one else has ever done. And, you know, some people are like, I remember there was one person who, when I was starting off the show, they said to me, oh, but maybe there's a reason that it hasn't been done because I was trying to get a partner.

12:25Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:And I was just like, okay, I just think, yeah, no one has wanted to execute it to the standard that I wanted to execute it to. and no one's done it in this way so for me I get excited when it hasn't been done before not because because I don't some people believe oh it hasn't been done before because it can't be done I believe it hasn't been done before because maybe no one's executed it the right way um and it had and because they haven't executed it the right way they haven't been able to have the longevity to be able to build on it so yeah yeah I completely agree with that you know you've got to be willing to you know go through the juggling um are you willing to have two or three years where actually it's not making any profit you know are you willing to bootstrap the business i bootstrap my business um i didn't get any investment for it so there's there's so many things at play when you're kind of building a business um and yeah you have to be willing to

13:28Alex Chisnall:to go through those things yeah and it's like we all know people who you come up with ideas right but you're right it's the execution how many people are actually prepared to execute and and I know like a huge part of the audience for the show will be able to relate because I can relate to you know your struggle like that doing something part-time whilst you're still holding down a job you know my kids were young you know my kids were like toddlers when I when I started my first business etc um trying to trying to hold a marriage you know together at the same time trying to have some tiny bit of a social life where you're still in contact with your friends, you know, it's super tough.

14:05Alex Chisnall:But as you say, it's whether you're prepared to put in, you know, a couple of years where, again, you're bootstrapping it. It's your sweat equity. It's your money equity. It's all of those things as well. And can you kind of tell us what was, you know, going on internally, like emotions wise? So, you know, people can kind of relate to that as well was going through your head were you thinking is anyone going to turn up you knew people were going to turn up I guess because you'd sold stands right so you knew some people were going to come yeah yeah absolutely um in in regards to the first one I would say is that

14:40Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:is that what you're kind of referring to yeah I think again you know you you could sell 500 tickets but are the 500 people going to turn up um so of course that was my main thing we had um probably 25 stands um but at that point when i was saying stands it was a banner and a table um so it was a banner and a table it was kind of really cheap to purchase then and yeah we sold tickets as well um some events do free tickets as well which is you know another level of you know fear some events and organizers go through because you know there's always even a natural drop off maybe I think it's like 20 % anyway when when people are buying tickets so you know free events there's even more risk but potentially even more reward in terms of footfall that you could potentially get so yes what was going on I was a bit of both really excited because I was like okay if this goes well um this could be something really really big and really huge um although i could never have imagined the growth that is now now it's a whole week as well uk black business uk black business show is at the end of a whole week of exciting events i didn't know that okay that's amazing wow so it's um so it's the big show at the end so 16 000 attendees across the week and then the big show at the end got around eight and a half thousand people on one day at the excel

16:15Alex Chisnall:that's tremendous man congratulations i just want to stop there that that's yeah carry on telling the story but that's phenomenal i didn't know it was a week long so 16 000 people and then 8 000

16:24Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:like a one day for the one event yes 16 000 across the week within a week we put on 16 events before we get to that last show big show covering multiple industries tech finance media culture and sports property um yes so i mean sometimes that's the entrepreneur's journey you know it's about starting um but you don't know where that journey is going to take you um and it is it's such an exciting journey because you know i i could i couldn't have predicted the growth or where it's taken me you know i've got two books as well um one published with dk with um part of penguin Random House, second one was with Penguin Business as well which published in 2023, we've also got Birmingham Black Business Show which is a one-day show at the NEC in June, we also run the Black Tech Achievement Awards, it takes place at the Grosvenor Marriott in London, it's around expecting around 800 people for an awards sit-down meal so you know all of these things are yeah for me things that I wouldn't have expected from starting that first show.

17:38Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:But if you don't start, you'll never know.

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18:17Alex Chisnall:Plus, signing up for an account is completely free and there are no ongoing monthly fees. You've got 60 days from sign up to use them. Head to worldfirst.com forward slash screw it and get your 50 fee-free business transactions. Now back to the podcast. and what was what was the the the vision then Raphael versus what is the vision now because I'm sure maybe I'm wrong but when you when you started out with that first event again was part of the plan to become an author to to run you know you've got that kind of hub spoke model where you've got all these other things coming coming out of it and I guess under underpinning it all is community right so you put on that first event 500 people turn up boom you've got a community but what was the vision then versus the vision now you know the vision

19:03Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:then was just to you know create something that i wanted um and to bring as much people together as possible um so yeah but you know i i remember my dad came to the show i think maybe it's the first year and he he was saying oh one day you'll be at the excel and i looked at him i was just laughing because looking at this event it's a small event and that's something now you know we run our whole week of events at the excel we we have three halls which attracts 8 000 people in one day um so it's it's so interesting some of the things that we we laugh about um and it sounds crazy we could we can achieve that we can achieve that if we keep pushing through um sometimes it's the people who are just in the game longer are the ones that succeed as well.

20:02Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:There's so many different elements to it, like longevity. I always talk about excellence, execution, and longevity. Those are like the three things for me, which keeps a business thriving. It's not just about executing. It's not just about excellence. It's about executing with excellence, but you have to do that over a long period of time. You can't do it for two years. you know um you have to do it for a period of time so and and interesting to to ask because

20:30Alex Chisnall:i was chatting to um good friend of mine now piers linney um who's been on this podcast about seven or eight times over the years now and the last one we did you know we're talking about his new business implement ai and um talking about like career choices for our kids because our daughters are the same ages and stuff and i was he was like i think you're doing the right thing you know going back to the events business you know post post covid you know with ai everywhere is there anything where you're connecting people, you're bringing people together, is going to be the thing in the future. It's going to come back round, away from everybody connecting digitally and everything through artificial intelligence.

21:07Alex Chisnall:Do you feel that way, Attil? Do you feel that from the last events that you've done that you can really feel that people want this connection again? As you say, people are doing business deals off the back and coming to the show. They're meeting people they never would have come across online before.

21:22Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:yeah absolutely i think um and again when you talk about you know audacity which i mentioned so i created the week after covid um so when people were saying actually oh no one's going back to events i came back and created a whole week of events so you doubled down i doubled down so you know um for me i always knew the importance of in-person events a lot of people are trying you know virtual events as well true but for me i i didn't believe you could replicate that in-person connection um online so yeah we came back we came back with a bigger event um a whole week of events and i think it's you know absolutely the future you can build communities online but at some point they want to meet in person which shows you that you know there's a level of you know authenticity authenticity that you can only get from real life connection and speaking with people you know we speak to people online all the time but then you know as that relationship builds it's like oh let's meet up there's a there's a reason for that um because it's like okay let me just it's almost like let's see if this is a genuine um friendship or connection and that's where it kind of it almost kind of rubber stamps that you know so and then as well you can get the opposite people are like oh yeah i met him in person and it's you know completely different different um and you hear those stories when people are also dating as well like they're dating online oh no i met him in person and you know so so it's it's that in person is so so important and funny enough you mentioned um peers peers um so we've got our permanent black business show that we run in june we've rebranded that to black business forum and he's going to be speaking this year actually um so yeah interesting you you mentioned him who just finalized him to speak at our new event in in june um and being now as well yeah yes yes yes so um yeah that that in-person events are they're critical they're they're the future um i don't think it can it's been around for such a long time it's growing it also it's such a lucrative industry as well um you know for people who are thinking about getting into the events industry um especially like b2b it's b2c

23:49Alex Chisnall:etc and when you you did double down on that um rafael was there was there anything that nearly broke that like leading up to that by taking that like it's a it's a big risk but it's why we're entrepreneurs right because we as you say you were being audacious you were you were taking that leap of faith that people would want to meet in person rather than meet online. Was there anything, yeah, that nearly kind of broke that during that period? Are we able to kind of scale that seamlessly? It's not going to be seamlessly. I know that. We know what it's like. But, yeah, tell us about that. That's interesting.

24:25Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:Yeah, what nearly broke it is because it's just a crazy idea, really, when you think of it. I didn't have a full-time team as well at that point. um but you know I created something which I knew and saw the gaps um of what I was I had started to build already so I knew there was certain elements that my sponsors were missing with just the show and I wanted to be able to give that to them throughout the week as well so um yeah for But yeah, for me, it was that risk was coming with a whole week of events. I didn't have the people or the resources. People were helping me out kind of part time as friends, et cetera.

25:11Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:But it was me saying, listen, I'm going to do this. That allowed me to get some sponsor revenue to be able to hire full time, et cetera. So a lot of the time as well, entrepreneurs, our dreams are probably big. they're bigger than our resources they're bigger than our resources and sometimes you have to just push on with that dream because when you do you know you get people who will buy into that dream um and it will help you to be able to get the right resources to fund that dream or the right people you know when I started the show as well someone reached out to me and said I want to help um who had been running exhibition events companies in a full-time job and so I just want to support this so it's about use you know no one's going to help anyone that they can't see is not doing anything as well so you have to start if you want to be helped in in my opinion sometimes a lot of people they come to you i'm sure you get many business owners entrepreneurs get people come to them with like ideas etc i want to do this but what's more impressive is the person who started already um because i feel like i can offer you more advice now um i can tell you you know how you can improve yeah yeah um so yeah i would say that the field was kind of the resource the dream was bigger than my resources completely but and it's also being you'll know this you know

26:35Alex Chisnall:being the figurehead of something like that and and you you you bring people on the journey with you right and if people can can see it and again i think it's different right you can see somebody's website or you can see their you know linkedin or instagram but if you can physically go somewhere and see what somebody's actually created like that. And as you say, you can see people who are the same ethnicity as you, the same background as you, doing the stuff that you want to do. That's super powerful, right?

27:04Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:Yeah, yeah, yes. I think representation creates role models. And that is, in essence, one of the reasons for the show. So the slogan for the UK Black Business Show was inspire and connect. It is inspire and connect. So it was to connect people, but it was also for inspiration. A lot of the role models that I saw when I was growing up, they didn't look like myself. There were people like Alan Sugar, Richard Branson. Those were the ones that you saw on the TV. And then you started to see someone like Levi Roots, who's like one of the first black entrepreneurs who started to become visible. And it's absolutely not a problem to have role models from a different race.

27:52Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:And, you know, many of my mentors are not black as well at the same time. And even with the UK Black Business Week and the show, everyone is welcome. So we have thousands of people. We have black people, white people, Asian people. Everyone is welcome. So for me, yes, it's important to it's important to have role models who look like you as well. and they've come from a similar journey. That's where you can get inspiration as well about, you know, actually I can push through this or, you know, I can speak to them. They can talk to me about some of the challenges that they faced. My first book, Twice as Hard, which I've published with my wife, is all about the challenges Black entrepreneurs and professionals go through in the working world, but also most importantly, how they have overcome those challenges.

28:40Dr. Raphael Sofoluke:So we've got interviews with people like Matthew Knowles, Beyonce's dad, to Trevor Nelson, DJ, to Charlene White, to loads of entrepreneurs from the UK and US. And they tell you about the struggles that they've gone through, but how they've overcome it. And that's the benefit of having, you know, representation and people who look like yourself who can teach you that you're going to go through this, but this is how you overcome it.

29:04Alex Chisnall:So what were some of the first signs for you? I guess, you know, 500 people rocking up is one of them, but kind of fast forward with the doubling down and stuff. What were some of the signs that you thought this could actually work now? Like when did you again, like ditch the day job and go full time into this? Because there must have been signs that you were getting, obviously more revenue and things like that. But just kind of talk us through that so the audience can kind of relate to that, Raphael.