“I was told to approach VCs that invested in black businesses”. Cubic Lease’s CEO on being a black proptech founder and how the industry must change
On this week’s Tech Talk Radio, tech and global reporter Lucy Alderson is joined by Cubic Lease chief executive James Owusu to talk about how the online property viewings booking company, founded last year, has navigated its way through the pandemic and what opportunities this has presented for the start-up. Owusu also talks about a subject that has also dominated global headlines – the Black Lives Matter movement – and how it relates to the property industry. Being one of very few black British proptech founders, Owusu talks about the challenges that he faces where white founders don’t, and how to make property a more inclusive place. What property is doing to tackle its lack of diversity is “quite frankly, not enough”, Owusu says. He outlines strategies VCs can put in place to increase investment into non-white businesses and how to talk about race-related issues if you are a white senior leader.