As
a young, black entrepreneur with few industry contacts, Timothy Armoo, 27 has
more than beaten the odds to raise investment, scale and then sell his
start-up.
He
grew up on a council estate in south London and puts some of his success down
to a "lucky break" as a teenager.
"When
I talk to my girlfriend about it," says Mr Armoo, "she goes, 'you
know that you're not meant to be able do this?'"
Mr
Armoo founded his social media advertising business, Fanbytes, in 2017,
building it up to employ 65 people.
The
London company connects social media influencers with big brands for promotion
work. He has just sold the business to a larger advertising firm called
Brainlabs for an eight-figure sum, he says - both companies are in private
hands so the exact sum has not been disclosed.
It
is still incredibly difficult for black entrepreneurs to access funding for
start-ups.
Less
than one per cent of venture capital investment in the UK went to black
entrepreneurs between 2009 and 2019, according to a recent report by Extend Ventures -
a similar figure to the United States.
And
recent government statistics suggest
black-owned businesses are four times more likely to have their business loan
applications rejected, than white or South Asian business founders.
Timothy
Armoo (middle) started the company with Ambrose Cooke (l) and Mitchell Fasanya
(r)
Mr
Armoo was born in Hackney in London but moved to Ghana to live with his
grandmother when he was 3 months old, remaining there for ten years.
Returning
to London in his early teens, he lived in Mawby House council estate on the Old
Kent Road, in a flat with his father, a first generation immigrant. "I was
a poor kid, we never had a lot of money and it put some steely determination in
me," says Mr Armoo.
But
then he got what he calls "a lucky break", when he won a sixth-form
scholarship to independent school, Christ's Hospital in London, where boarding
fees are more than £12,000 per term.
"It
introduced me to a world I hadn't known before," he says.
"There
was a kid who one day got picked up by helicopter. It opened up my eyes and
gave me a sense of confidence for what is possible, even though there weren't
that many people who looked like me there.
He
says the experience gave him confidence "in how to talk in certain circles,
the subjects you engage in," he then used those skills building Fanbytes
for meeting investors among other things.
Media
caption,
Armoo
explains how business mindset is built on maths - CEO Secrets, 2019
Mr
Armoo has also capitalised on the growing value of social media influencers in
advertising.
Fanbytes
signs up social media stars on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, getting them to
work with big brands to collaborate on their advertising campaigns.
Mr
Armoo created Fanbytes with two other black entrepreneurs and close friends,
Ambrose Cooke and Mitchell Fasanya.
Mr
Cooke developed the company's proprietary algorithm as part of his university
dissertation at Imperial College, London. It scrapes data to search for
up-and-coming social media influencers - meaning Fanbytes can sign them up
before they get popular and expensive.
These
days it works with some of TikTok's biggest stars, like Rhia, from the UK, who
is a toy influencer with more than 14m followers, and vlogger Bella Poarch, who
has 89m followers.
Clients
have included everyone from Deliveroo to the UK government.
Ambrose
Cooke wrote Fanbytes algorithm for finding influencers
Fanbytes
has been bought up by Brainlabs, a digital advertising company set up in 2012
by former Google employee Daniel Gilbert.
"Influencer
marketing has rapidly become an integral part of the digital media mix and
influencers have become the new A-listers," says Mr Gilbert, "so to
be able to offer it alongside our other capabilities under one roof is a huge
advantage to our clients."
TikTok's
advertising revenue is likely to triple to $11bn in 2022, more than the
combined ad revenues of Twitter and Snapchat, according to research firm, Insider
Intelligence.
"Influencer
advertising is growing in importance to brands, as people spend increasing
amounts of time looking at content from social media personalities," says
Rebecca McGrath, Mintel's associate director for Media and Technology.
Nearly
one in five (19%) people who viewed influencer content bought a product or
service after seeing an influencer promote it on social media in the three
months to November 2021, according to a recent Mintel report.
This
means advertising firms that still focus on traditional advertising, like
print, in the future might start buying smaller start-ups dedicated
specifically to influencers, says Ms McGrath.
Timothy
Armoo attended City Academy in Hackney before going to Christ's Hospital school
Mr
Armoo hopes that he can inspire others to follow in his footsteps.
One
of the biggest hindrances for black founders says Mr Armoo, "is that they
don't see other people like them doing it, which would normalise success. The
funding is there, and the opportunities are there."
Mr
Armoo has been sharing his business advice on his social media accounts.
"I've
always seen myself as an entrepreneur first, then a black entrepreneur,"
he says. "Otherwise, you start to put too much emphasis on your race and
you start to think about all the statistics around lower funding rates, or lack
of exits, which results in you mentally playing on the back foot.
"Be
objective, and solve problems. Focus on being so good they can't ignore
you."
Source:BBC