Welcome to the second edition of BLOCK PAPER - your weekly scoop of all things business, tech, and finance. In this edition, we announce our latest podcast episodes and articles, and introduce a great opportunity for our readers at our BAG DROP event happening this Tuesday. We also have an amazing line-up of community events coming up, as well as some well-deserved community shoutouts!

On this week’s BLOCK PAPER

• 📝 Block-Posts: Insights on growing family businesses, championing diversity in tech, and mastering the art of podcasting.

• 💼 EXCLUSIVE Bag Drop Opportunity: An invitation to our newsletter readers.

• 📆 Round the Block: Unmissable events happening soon in and around our community.

• 📣 Block Shoutouts: Our top picks of people making moves to amaze and inspire us all. (Including a cheeky discount 😉)

• 👋 Wrap Up: Saying goodbye until next week, and giving you a taste of what’s to come!

📝 Block-Posts 

We’ve released an article this week all on empowering underrepresented communities in tech and expertise advice on producing a successful podcast. We got an exclusive interview with Michael Berhane; CEO of POCIT and co-host of the Techish podcast. You’ll want to hear his gems. Here’s a sneak peak:

For Employers Seeking Diverse Talent:

1. Expand outreach to universities with diverse populations.

2. Invest in platforms like POCIT to directly connect with diverse talent.

3. Understand the unique value that diversity brings to your team.

For Podcasters:

1. Prioritise visual content and short-form video clips.

2. Ensure crisp audio quality.

3. Focus on professionalisation, monetisation, and sustainability, and don't hesitate to start early.

See the rest of his invaluable advice ⬇️

We sat down with Khalid Elmourei as tell us how he built up his family business and moved from London to Scotland to pursue his entrepreneurship. Some of his top gems:

1. Don’t be short-sighted with your growth: You never know what’ll kick off your journey, so don’t look at menial beginnings as a roadblock. You never know who’s watching you, so if you care about the bag, don’t just prioritise perception.

2. Arbitrage, Arbitrage, Arbitrage: Innovation can come from places that are familiar to you. See how you can create something new from the old.

3. Diversifying your thought process is key: Stagnancy is the easy choice - putting yourself in uncomfortable situations that challenge your thinking is the only way to progress.

Take a closer look and read the full article ⬇️

💼 EXCLUSIVE Bag Drop Opportunity

Our debut BAG DROP event is happening THIS TUESDAY!!! We have selected the investors and founders that will be attending, as well as a sick DJ, open bar, and a delicious spread of snacks. You’ll be glad to know that we have just released some OPERATOR TICKETS for the Blocks2Bags community to join us for the block party element of the night.

Sign up here:

For more information on the event, see our Bag Drop web page here:

We look forward to seeing you all there!

📆 Round the Block

Here are some events coming up that you won’t want to miss!

1. UEFA just launched a climate/energy startup challenge called Champion's Innovate. A startup will get €45,000 for participating in the challenge. and up to €75K if they win!. All you have to do is apply:

2. The first BLACK STRAT event ‘Knowledge Exchange’ is happening on October 25th at the D&AD Centre! Our very own Bejay Mulenga will be speaking at the event. Limited spaces are available so sign up in the link below:

3. Entrepreneurs Therapy Club is hosting an event on the 24th October on relationships. Submit questions anonymously:

📣 Block Shoutouts

Here are some people we think deserve a special spotlight this week:

The To My Sisters Podcast

The wonderful Renee and Courtney of To My Sisters are celebrating their 3 year anniversary of the podcast, and have had amazing success, reaching 5 million downloads. To celebrate, they are doing a live show at the Hackney Empire on the 27th October - sign up for tickets:

The Techish Podcast

Your favourite fusion of tech and culture. Join Michael and Abadesi on the 25th of October for a live show as they celebrate the 5th year of Techish. Get your tickets here, and USE CODE ‘blocks2bags’ FOR A 10% DISCOUNT!!!

👋 Wrap Up

Stay tuned, because next week we have a very exciting episode coming, featuring Izzy Obeng, CEO of Foundervine. She joins us to discuss what it’s like moving to Ghana with a business as a UK-based female entrepreneur.

Before we go, we want to leave you with this quote:

Whilst what is happening in the world can be quite upsetting and demotivating at the moment, this reminds us to keep going at tough times, so we wanted to share that sentiment with you. We look forward to seeing you again next week!