KEVIN OSBORNE
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR
Racial equality shouldn’t be an aspiration. It needs to be a practical ambition, underpinned by tangible action.
Kevin Osborne is a social entrepreneur, who has spent the last 30 years as a leader, producer and developer in the arts and creative industries supporting BAME talent. His work is focused on finding better ways to cultivate untapped potential within Black, Asian and Minority ethnic communities.
In 2012, Kevin founded MeWe360, a not-for-profit that champions Black and Asian leadership and entrepreneurial talent in the arts and creative industries.
In 2020, he founded Create Equity, whose social mission is to make investment in the arts, social enterprise and commercial industries racially equitable.
He now sits as Executive Chair for KO Group, an umbrella group bringing together Create Equity and MeWe360 to form a strategic partnership. Kevin provides creative and strategic direction for the group.
Alongside current projects, Kevin consults for organisations wanting to develop effective ways to provide racially equitable funding or finance to Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
social enterprises founded
artists and entrepreneurs supported
million (£) wealth generated by supported artists
hours of salsa danced (last 15 years)
CURRENT PROJECTS
Create Equity
Create Equity’s social mission is to make investment in the arts, social enterprise and commercial industries racially equitable.
The organisation devises, designs and delivers projects and carries out research to address the market failures in grant funding, impact capital and venture capital.
These activities include:
Funding – We create funding opportunities to support diverse founders, leaders and talent, harnessing their creative and entrepreneurial energy for a fairer and more cohesive society.
Campaigns – advocacy and knowledge sharing to make funders and investors aware of the causes of the racial funding disparities and to get their buy-in to fund equitably in the future.
Consultancy – We provide advice on how to achieve and deliver racially equitable funding programmes. We also facilitate talks and write articles on the causes, extent and solutions to racially inequitable funding.
Create Equity wants to reframe the cultural conversation, make change visible and level-up the funding landscape. Whoever you are – a government body, local authority, private foundation, commercial business or an individual – if you’re committed to social justice and a fairer arts funding system we’d love you to get involved.
Kevin regularly contributes to Create Equity campaigns with thought leadership via articles and discussions on LinkedIn.
Read more via the blog section.
MeWe360
MeWe360 is a not-for-profit, black-led creative hub that champions Black, Asian and minority ethnic entrepreneurs in the arts and creative industries.
Through the Incubator programme, MeWe360 helps to develop entrepreneurial talent in the arts and creative industries. The programme includes mentoring, bespoke industry and peer networking, entrepreneur retreats and peer learning.
MeWe360 is committed to investing in the success of its members in the long term and beyond one single venture. We want members to have the tools to realise their full potential as leaders and entrepreneurs.
Thought Leadership MeWe360 provides a virtual space to hold a constructive dialogue about issues of BAME representation in the arts and creative industries as well as action plans for promoting the change we want to see.
PAST PROJECT
Tribal Tree
Tribal Tree (2000-07) was an award-winning not-for-profit agency that gave professional training and mentoring to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. It focused on people who displayed exceptional musical potential. As well as artist development, Tribal Tree ran an outreach programme that organised music workshops in community centres, youth clubs, young offender institutions and truancy and behavioural support units.
The Tribal Tree team of mentors were voluntary staff from a mix of sectors: music education and youth work.
The project was funded by Arts Council England, The National Lottery, local authorities, the PRS Foundation, National Foundation for Youth Music and the Camden Arts and Business Consortium amongst others.
Tribal Tree supported over 9,000 participants in its seven years. It was also credited with helping to launch urban music stars including Plan B, Rudimental and N-Dubz, as well as Anita Blay, the songwriter.
“We need to invest in future-facing enterprises that will create new sustainable jobs, and rebuild our economy while at the same time creating a fairer and more inclusive society“
– Kevin Osborne