UK Launches Digital Hub to Support LGBTQ+ Entrepreneurs

The UK’s Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has launched a new digital hub to support LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and promote inclusivity in workplaces. Backed by leading MPs like Equalities Minister Mike Freer and LGBTQ+ business campaigner Iain Anderson, the new Let's Grow Business Together hub aims to brings together advice and resources for LGBTQ+ businesses and entrepreneurs.

Some of the entrepreneurs and small businesses in the hub started their own businesses to avoid the risk of discrimination or subconscious bias in a corporate corporate setting. Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), for example, found that 40% of LGB workers and more than half (55%) of trans workers have experienced workplace conflict and harassment, compared to 29% of heterosexual, cisgender employees.

Meanwhile a study by the Government Equalities Office found nearly a fifth (19%) of LGBTQ+ employees had not been open about their sexual orientation or gender identity with any of their colleagues at the same or lower level, rising to 30% with any senior colleagues and 57% with any customers or clients.

The online hub features first-hand insights and experience from LGBTQ+ small business owners, some of whom decided to start their own business in order to feel more comfortable being themselves and avoid the risk of discrimination or subconscious bias in a corporate workplace. It also highlights FSB’s campaign to end barriers faced by some LGBTQ+-focused businesses in finding appropriate business insurance, as well as downloadable resources for small firms to communicate that they are an LGBTQ+-friendly business.

Inclusion specialist and FSB member Ellie Lowther, who is among the LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs featured on the hub, shared that “unconscious bias is something I see in many more areas than you may imagine”.

“It is a sad reality that barriers, discrimination and subconscious bias are still faced by many in the LGBT+ community,” commented FSB’s Chief of External Affairs, Craig Beaumont, also featured in OUTstanding’s list of the UK’s Top 100 LGBT+ Executives. “The intention of FSB’s ‘Let’s Grow Business Together’ digital hub and our new national LGBT+ business networking events is to support, celebrate and encourage LGBT+ entrepreneurship, as well as providing guidance for small firms more generally on ensuring they are and remain inclusive businesses.”

The digital hub “will bring businesses together to share resources and expertise, celebrate LGBTQ+ entrepreneurship, and ensure real positive change for LGBTQ+ people in the workplace," highlighted The Minister for Equalities, Mike Freer MP. "People that are able to feel themselves at work are free to realize their full potential. We've seen fantastic examples of businesses fostering inclusive environments where LGBTQ+ people can flourish.”

The FSB has played a leading role in aiding the government’s efforts to engage with the LGBTQ+ small business community, and was instrumental in the creation of the role of LGBT+ Business Champion.

“I think it’s just fantastic that FSB is creating a hub around LGBTQ+ issues so that businesses can show best practice, so that they can buddy up,” stated Iain Anderson, Executive Chairman of Cicero/AMO. “And frankly, like any business owner, you want to do more business, so if this is a way of, at the same time, allowing faster progress on LGBTQ+ at work for the small business sector, I think that’s fantastic.”

Click here to access the Let's Grow Business Together hub.