HEALTHY meals challenger, The Gym Kitchen has landed a six-figure national TV campaign after being selected as a beneficiary of Channel 4’s Black in Business Initiative.
The Gym Kitchen is one of five companies to be selected for the programme, which aims to grow black-owned business in the UK.
These exceptional businesses will receive £100,000 worth of Channel 4 airtime, bespoke TV advert creative, crafted in line with their brand vision, as well as six months of specialised business guidance from experts at Channel 4, Lloyds Bank Business and social enterprise, Does.
Since hitting Asda shelves in 2020, The Gym Kitchen has blazed a trail across retail, smashing through more than its fair share of hurdles along the way, as a black-owned brand, facing discrimination across the industry.
Despite the challenges, The Gym Kitchen has secured listings of its macro-counted, high protein chilled meals across Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, Ocado, Coop and Dunnes. The brand has also stretched from its core offer into frozen ready meals, pizzas and ambient pulse and grain pouches, with an ambitious innovation pipeline on the horizon.
The award is a proud moment for Founder, Segun Akinwoleola, who has worked for more than a decade in commercial roles with top FMCG brands, such as Percol and Up&Go, before spotting a gap in the healthy meals space with The Gym Kitchen. Segun now works with retailers and suppliers to promote much-needed diversity and inclusion in the industry and beyond.
“I’m super excited to be selected as a winner of the Black in Business Initiative. We officially launched four years ago with many obstacles along the way, and I didn’t envisage us being on TV so soon in our journey. For me, as a black founder, initiatives like this are invaluable as they level the playing field giving us a real opportunity to shine. There are only a handful of black owned FMCG brands in mainstream retail and my hope is that many more will be given opportunities like this. A massive thank you to everyone involved. We are really looking forward to working with the team at Channel 4 and partners.”
