Sky reveals funding to help fight racial injustice

In June 2020, Sky earmarked £30m over the three years to improve Black and minority ethnic representation at all levels within Sky to make a difference in communities impacted by racism and use the power of its voice and platform to highlight racial injustice.

The new allocation of funds will support Black business founders in the UK by identifying the barriers to succeeding faced by Black entrepreneurs in the UK.

It will also deliver practical solutions to help Black entrepreneurs succeed, including a combination of business advice, mentoring and financial support.

In addition, it will create the opportunity to access Sky’s own supply chain.

Sky has identified a lack of Black founders as a key barrier to increased diversity in British business and said economic prosperity is at the heart of equity for the Black community.

Announcing the funding, Sky’s Group CEO, Dana Strong, said: “We believe we have an opportunity to stand against racial injustice, and to tackle the barriers to success faced by Black people in the UK.

"This new fund will help Black entrepreneurs to succeed and to drive economic prosperity, which is at the heart of equity.”

The successful delivery partner and recipient of the enterprise initiative has been identified and will be announced in early 2022.

The delivery partner will work with Sky to address the unique barriers Black entrepreneurs face when starting their business. In addition, the fund aims to create scalable models for supporting Black founders in British business which will be published and shared.

The long-term aim is to incorporate these diversely owned businesses into Sky’s own supply chain.

This will build on Sky’s goals as a signatory to the Business in the Community’s Race At Work 2021 charter, which commits Sky to increasing the number of Black and minority-led enterprise owners in its supply chains.

Sky’s £30m has already funded a three year partnership between Sky and Kick It Out to drive inclusion in football and make it easier for football fans to report discrimination.

In January 2021, Sky set ambitious targets to increase ethnic diversity and representation across its UK workforce.

By 2025, Sky is aiming for 20 per cent of its employees in the UK and Ireland to be from Black, Asian, or ethnically diverse backgrounds, with at least a quarter of these being Black. This target also applies to Sky’s leadership team.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, Gangs of London and Brassic, the firm is doubling its investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios.

Sky said: "Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3bn of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone.

"Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, Sky Arts is the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel making the arts accessible for everyone and Sky Sports, our leading sports broadcasting service, brings customers some of the biggest and best global sporting events from the Premier League to Formula 1 and everything in-between.

"Sky Cinema is the home of Sky Original films with brand new films launching every month alongside an unrivalled range of the latest cinema releases and on demand library."