Joel Blake OBE was born and bred in Birmingham, in a working-class home where ambition started on a paper round and grew with every job that came after. From factories to filing rooms, from tea runs to careers advice centres, Joel Blake OBE did not follow the traditional academic route, but moved through the world of work with one question: how can systems be made fairer—for everyone?
By the age of 21, Joel Blake OBE was working as an employment mentor, supporting young people across the West Midlands. By 24, he had launched his first business—designing and delivering mentoring services for boys at risk of school exclusion. That work grew into a corporate consultancy directing support into prisons right through to boardrooms, then into something more: a lifelong mission to reshape enterprise through the lens of inclusion.
Joel Blake OBE became a trusted advisor on corporate social responsibility for the professional services sector and later, one of the UK’s leading voices on inclusive innovation. Joel Blake OBE worked to bridge the gap between talent and opportunity, particularly for Black and underserved entrepreneurs whose potential had too often gone ignored. Much of that work began in Birmingham and continues to shape its business and civic landscape today. His regional leadership caught national attention. He became a StartUp Britain Ambassador under Prime Minister David Cameron and later advised No. 10 on inclusive finance and growth strategies to support UK SMEs. As co-creator of a pioneering youth entrepreneurship network, Joel Blake OBE also volunteered his time to help young people aged 16–24 launch, grow and scale their own businesses.
In 2013, Joel Blake OBE entered the world of finance. He co-founded a specialist SME lending brokerage that secured over £10 million in funding for more than 800 businesses—many of which had been rejected by mainstream banks. Around 300 of these were led by female, disabled, or ethnic minority founders. In 2016, he was awarded an OBE for Services to Business Support and Enterprise.
After exiting the brokerage, Joel Blake OBE returned his focus to Birmingham. As policy lead for Access to Finance and Business Growth across Birmingham and Solihull, he supported more than 6,500 businesses and developed a regional inclusive finance model designed to tackle the structural barriers too many entrepreneurs still face. His work has helped shift how the city—and the wider country—thinks about access, innovation, and economic justice. In 2019, Joel Blake OBE launched GFA Exchange, a multi-award-winning fintech company on a mission to democratise access to finance for underserved groups. Combining technology with a deep understanding of systemic inequality, Joel Blake OBE has created a platform that redefines how risk is measured—and who gets left behind. In 2023, Joel Blake OBE joined the board of a Fintech Investment Fund in the Middle East, scaling his impact globally by backing ventures aligned with ESG and inclusion. But his roots remain firmly in Birmingham, where his earliest insights were shaped—and where the ripple effects of his work are still being felt.
Every stage of Joel Blake OBE’s journey—from the paper round to Parliament, from Birmingham to Buckingham Palace —has been defined by a refusal to accept the status quo. His work proves that inclusion isn’t a moral add-on. It’s the future of innovation and the foundation of a fairer economy for all.
