Race Matters

StartUp Croydon recently signed up to Croydon Council’s George Floyd Race Matters Pledge to show our commitment to equality and inclusion, and we are proud to be working with Croydon’s diverse population to develop opportunities, raise aspirations and create positive community events.

Our commitment to supporting entrepreneurs from all walks of life to start and develop their businesses in Croydon is perfectly demonstrated by the success of Fredicia Davis and her Krowndd Kids company, and we continue to do all we can to help promote initiatives such as this.

Race Matters and Fredicia’s recount of her son’s insecurity regarding pink or black skin is a real story of the confusion caused by the lack of inclusive products like black dolls.

Fredicia Davis, from Krowndd Kids, explains;
I think I’ve always been aware of this gap in the market, but it became important to me when my oldest son began questioning his identity.

He was in a private school and very much felt like the odd one out. He had many questions around his identity, such as, “Why do I have brown skin?” and “Why can’t I have pink skin like everyone else?”

Until that point, my workaround was to get books and toys of animals and personalised items with just his name or initials; so as to avoid those very questions.

And so, when I began the search, I realised that though it was hard to find toys for black girls; it was even harder to find toys for black boys, so I set out on a journey to provide my son and other black children with more choice of toys and learning materials that reflect their image.

We have been developing our concept since 2016 and we are now focusing on encouraging black children into STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and promoting current black role models in those fields.

We kicked off our launch with these new offerings from 4th June and you can get updates through our newsletter and details for our social media on our website.