History & Background

The Ethnic Minority Business Advocacy Network (EMBAN) started as an advocacy initiative that provided an infrastructure to enable the interests of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) enterprise to be promoted. The initiative aimed to increase the participation in and recognise the contribution of BAME businesses to national economic growth.

The EMBAN initiative was established following work by the Government’s Ethnic Minority Business Task Force, which identified several compelling reasons why national and regional policy-makers must actively support BAME enterprise to deliver economic inclusion and growth. Four RDAs, emda, North West Development Agency (NWDA), Advantage West Midlands (AWM) and Yorkshire Forward contributed to the initiative's development.

At the very successful “Establishing a National Voice for BAME Enterprise event” on the 23rd November 2010 held in Nottingham, the various ethnic minority representatives gave a clear mandate and a strong desire for EMBAN to continue as a national policy lead in this area of work. Delegates agreed that EMBAN should continue to influence national, sub-national and local policy on the BAME business agenda and to disseminate knowledge in this area. The role would be both proactive – generating evidence to inform policy, and reactive – identifying gaps in provision and working with established providers to better target services.

The proposed position of EMBAN will be the network of networks, so as not to duplicate effort and work that already takes place in the sector. Delegates at the meeting felt strongly that this was the preferred position and they gave clear indications that they were in support of this view. The RDA EMBAN Steering Group agreed with this position and felt that this would add value and strength in the policy debate. It was agreed that ethnic minority business networks would become members of EMBAN, and membership would also be extended to ethnic minority intermediaries. The organisation would be set up as an independent not for profit organisation.