Raphael Sofoluke

Raphael Sofoluke is a serial entrepreneur, author, visionary & Founder and CEO behind UK Black Business Show, UK Black Business Week, Birmingham Black Business Show & Black Tech Achievement Awards.

UK Black Business Show was founded in 2017, it is an annual conference and exhibition show which takes place during Black History Month to highlight and promote the amazing businesses founded by people from the black community. The show has been endorsed by Sadiq Khan the Mayor of London and David Lammy MP for Tottenham.

The show highlights the achievements and contributions black businesses have made to the economy and attendees can hear insights and advice in entrepreneurship, leadership, and business from some of the UK’s leading black business professionals.

2022 marked the show’s sixth year and was a resounding success. Now a whole week of event it attracted over 10,000 across the week with the flagship UK Black Business Show attracting up to 5,000 attendees on one day and up to 200 Exhibitors.

In 2020 the awards were featured on BBC and in 2022 Raphael appeared on Sky News talking about the event. In 2020 Raphael was also listed as one of Forbes 25 Leading Black British Business people to follow.

Raphael is also the Co-Author of Twice as Hard book alongside his wife. The book was released in the UK and the US in June 2021, and it is published by DK (Penguin Random House). Twice as Hard will share valuable lessons from 40 Black trailblazers from across the UK and US.


In 2022, Raphael has featured in a nationwide campaign with Axa and Evening Standard as one of Three Axa Start up Angels who will give £25,000 to two business people.

Today, the UK Black Business Week & Show has sponsors and partners including HSBC, JP Morgan, American Express, Moody’s, Ralph Lauren, PWC, Barclays, The Times, TalkSport, Tesco, Dentsu, EY, Moneysupermarket, Morgan Stanley, British Business Bank, McDonalds, Capital One, Mastercard and more. All of his shows are considered as the number one event for Black entrepreneurs, professionals, and allies of the Black community not only in the UK but also Europe too.