New member appointed to Black Business Advisory Committee at Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group’s Black Business Advisory Committee has appointed its first new member since it was founded in 2020.

Midlands-based Mac Alonge will join the committee from 11 October 2022.

In December 2020, Lloyds Banking Group formed the Black Business Advisory Committee chaired by leading businesswoman and former Cabinet Office advisor, Claudine Reid MBE. Claudine and the Group recruited the full committee of outstanding figures in the Black business community. 

The Black Business Advisory Committee was established to provide guidance on Lloyds Banking Group’s mission to understand and overcome barriers to success for Black entrepreneurs and business owners in Britain. All 12 members of the Committee bring with them a diverse set of experiences and expertise; helping to create and drive the right programme of support and recommendations underpinned by research and their lived experiences within the communities they are connected to.      

The Midlands is the largest Black business population outside of London and Mac’s appointment to the committee will ensure that the Group continues to build strong connections and trust with Black owned businesses and community leaders in the region. 

Mac is the CEO and Founder of the Equal Group, a consultancy service based in the Midlands which provides businesses with the tools and support to optimise their equality, diversity and inclusive efforts. Equal Group currently work alongside 50 organisations delivering data driven transformational initiatives across many sectors, with clients including Thames Water, Macmillan Cancer Support and the Greater London Authority. 

Mac is also heavily involved in Birmingham Race Impact Group (BRIG) and serves as Chair of the BRIG Race Inequality Metrics Group - tasked with coordinating efforts to improve data collection, analysis and interpretation of race impact metrics, to facilitate sustainable progress on race relations across the West Midlands. 

Mac’s connection to the West Midlands will complement the support that Lloyds Banking Group has already delivered in the region, including sponsoring the Black Business Show in Birmingham, the Jamii pop up shop to showcase Black British brands, and providing Black business owners with mentoring support in partnership with Mentor Black Business. 

Mac’s appointment will deepen the Group’s understanding of the challenges faced by local Black-owned businesses in the Midlands and he will also work closely with Rebekah Taitt, the Regional Development Director, responsible for building stronger and more sustainable regional economies through targeted, place-based impact investment.

Claudine Reid MBE, Black Business Advisory Committee Chair, said: “The aim of the committee is to provide tangible recommendations for Lloyds Banking Group to implement and others to learn from about how the world of business can transform to become fully inclusive of Black communities. 

“With his wealth of experience and close connections in the Midlands, Mac Alonge will be a huge asset to the committee and I look forward to welcoming him to the group.” 
 

Black Business Advisory Committee in detail 

• Antonia Burrell: Owner of Antonia Burrell Holistic Skincare and selected as a top 100 industry influencer by Professional Beauty UK. A regular public speaker on topics relating to women in business.
• Cecil Adjalo: Director at award-winning social enterprise, Foundervine, and oversees the Business Intelligence department at rapidly growing Danish Tech Scale-Up, Dixa. Listed by the Financial Times as one of the 100 most influential BAME Leaders in UK Tech. 
• Claudine Reid MBE (Chair): Award-winning Business Psychologist and Social Entrepreneur. Voted one of Britain’s top 100 women entrepreneurs by Real Business Magazine (2008) and listed by Keep the Faith magazine as one of Britain’s most influential Black women (2017 and 2019) as well as being listed as one of Britain’s top 100 most entrepreneurial women. 
• Evadney Campbell MBE: Award-winning lecturer, broadcast journalist, trainer and public relations consultant with over thirty years of experience in education, consultancy and media. Awarded an MBE by the Queen in 1995 for her dedication to charity work.
• Imelda Fossu: Visionary entrepreneur, innovator and public speaker who, at just 25, is inspiring a new generation of change-makers to overcome their self-doubt and adopt a limitless mindset. Leads the The Fossu Group, an innovation factory turning concepts into reality today, while building the most impactful and inclusive companies of tomorrow.
• Izzy Obeng: Founder and Managing Director of Foundervine, a social enterprise specialising in start-up and scale-up acceleration programmes. In 2019 was named by Tech Nation as one of the 50 most influential black voices in UK tech.
• Mac Alonge: Former regulatory consultant within the energy and utilities sectors with 15 years strategic consulting experience. Now Founder and CEO of The Equal Group, which focuses on providing forward-thinking organisations with the tools and support that they need to make positive transformational change related to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Margaret Ochieng:< Organisational psychologist and founder of The Inclusive Village, an evidence-based consultancy that specialises in people, talent and culture solutions. Co-authored Fair to Refer (2019), a piece of UK-wide research for the General Medical Council investigating the disproportionate representation of minority ethnic doctors in fitness to practice processes and The Black Vanguard (2019) which investigated the experiences of the most senior Black leaders in UK organisations.
• Michelle Raymond: HR Consultant, Visibility Strategist and award-winning International TEDx Speaker. Michelle and her team at The People’s Partner help businesses grow exponentially by transforming the skills of their people, developing peak performance and raising their visibility through consultation, coaching and training.
• Nathaniel Peat: Multi-award winning entrepreneur. Listed on the 2017 Black Power List, EMPower Financial Times list (2017 and 2018) and 2016 Financial Times Upstanding 100 BME Executive List. Co-founder of Gennex Solar which provides innovative renewable energy products in Africa. Founder of The Safety Box, a company whose training and development programmes assist with reducing youth violence and helping young people develop important skills. Former Trustee and co-founder of EY Foundation since 2014 and now Patron to the charity. 
• Rodney Appiah: Former investment banker, NED and VC investor with nearly 15 years of financial services experience across UK and Europe. He is currently the Chairman of Cornerstone Partners, a leading UK angel network focused on seed stage investments to support black and diverse founders.
• Shari Leigh: Founder of Black Business Network, a corporate event and media company, designed to strengthen business connections and knowledge in the Black community.