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Powering the Just Transition: Celebrating UK Black Energy Founders & Building the Future of Clean Tech

October 27, 2026 · Energyz Black

The global race toward Net Zero represents the greatest economic, industrial, and social transformation of our era. Across the UK, clean-tech innovations from smart residential microgrids, EVs, battery storage to policy advocacy and green fintech are reshaping how energy is generated, distributed, and consumed.

Yet, a clean transition is only meaningful if it is a just transition.

This Black History Month, Energyz Black is spotlighting the trailblazing Black founders, innovators, and leaders driving the UK’s energy revolution forward. We examine what it takes to build at the clean energy frontier, the structural roadblocks holding back diverse talent, and the steps investors, policymakers, and industry allies must take to power an inclusive green economy.

The Frontier: Black Pioneers Shaping the UK Energy Landscape

These founders and operators are designing the systems, infrastructure, and community networks powering Britain and the world forward:

1. Deborah (Yetunde) Fadeyi — Founder & CEO, Vectar Energy

  • Focus: Distributed Solar, Climate Tech Financing, Energy Access
  • The Mission: Bridging renewable access and economic empowerment, Deborah Fadeyi created Vectar Energy to accelerate decentralised clean energy solutions and unlock sustainable climate finance. Fadeyi previously founded REES Africa, demonstrating how community-led clean energy projects can alleviate energy poverty.

2. Farouk Alhassan Co-Founder & CEO Tomato Energy/Senapt

  • Focus: Connecting meters, data and customers through one intelligent ecosystem.
  • The Mission: Farouk Founded Tomato Energy which has now ceased to trade. Tomato built a loyal user base of about 23,000 customers by introducing highly competitive green solutions, including renewable electricity packages, smart tariffs, and solar export incentives (under their “Tomatopia” ecosystem) to empower customers who generated their own power.

Senapt’s Energy-as-a-Service platform is a DCC-Native, Cloud-Native and Energy-Native platform purpose built for Energy suppliers in the UK to sell advanced energy services. It supports anything from complex Time-Of-Use tariffs and flexible payment methods to embedded DCC Connectivity 

3. Mohamed Gaafar — Co-Founder & CEO, Gryd Energy

  • Focus: Domestic Battery Storage, Residential Solar, Decarbonising New Builds
  • The Mission: Decarbonising residential real estate often stalls on high upfront capital. Gaafar, an experienced infrastructure engineer, co-founded Gryd Energy to partner with property developers and housebuilders, delivering fully funded solar PV and battery storage systems that future-proof modern housing without placing capital hurdles on builders or buyers.

4. Ifeanyi Ukwuoma — Founder & CEO, Powerfull

  • Focus: Clean Tech Fintech, Distributed Asset Financing, Commercial Solar
  • The Mission: Deploying renewable energy technology requires de-risked financial rails. With Powerfull, Ifeanyi Ukwuoma built a fintech and software platform that automates payment collections and asset operations for clean-energy providers, unlocking debt and equity capital for businesses deploying commercial solar.

5. Emmanuel Igbinovia — Founder & CEO, Moonlight Energy

  • Focus: Clean-Tech Venture Design, Microgrid Innovation, Decentralised Systems
  • The Mission: Operating at the intersection of systems engineering and startup venture creation, Igbinovia launched Moonlight Energy as an innovation lab building modular, resilient clean energy solutions. He is also a venture builder and mentor with Startup Gurus, scaling next-gen technical products.

6. Fatima Ibrahim — Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director, Green New Deal UK

  • Focus: Systemic Energy Policy, Green Jobs, Just Transition
  • The Mission: A transformative campaigner and winner of the Global Citizen Prize: UK Hero Award, Fatima Ibrahim has led the national charge to embed social and racial justice directly into UK climate strategy. Green New Deal UK campaigns to guarantee that the multi-billion-pound shift to renewables creates high-quality local jobs and revitalises communities rather than leaving them behind.

7. Sulaiman Ilyas-Jarrett — Host, The Energy Revolution Podcast

  • Focus: Grid Modernisation, AI in Energy, Clean Market Design
  • The Mission: A former energy policy strategist at the UK Department for Energy and Cambridge CSaP Policy Fellow, Ilyas-Jarrett hosts The Energy Revolution Podcast. He convenes leaders across energy trading, BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems), infrastructure funds, and tech to dissect the realities of rewiring the grid.

8. Jesusoorefunmi Olaoye & Edwin Ehiorobo — Co-Founders, Energyz Black

  • Focus: Green Skills Acceleration, Mentorship, Black Clean-Tech Pipeline
  • The Mission: Recognising that diverse talent was excluded from Britain’s green boom, our founders Soore & Edwin established Energyz Black to support black talent to start, grow and thrive in the energy sector. Today, Energyz Black is a community of over 1,000 members and has directly impacted more than 2,500 people through our programmes, mentorship initiatives, events, and partnerships across the energy sector

9. Dr. Ollie Folayan MBE, FREng — Co-Founder, AFBE-UK & President, IChemE

  • Focus: Process Engineering, Industrial Decarbonisation, Diversity in STEM
  • The Mission: A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, Dr. Folayan has spent decades championing minority ethnic engineering talent while working at the core of heavy industrial decarbonisation.

10. Julian Mensah — Co-Founder, Voltric

  • Focus: All Inclusive, Flexible Electric Car Subscription.
  • The Mission: Electric vehicles are not accessible to everyone. Their solutions are designed to address the high cost of purchasing an EV, the abundance of harmful CO2 and NO2 in our air, and the growing demand for mobility to be practical, sustainable and efficient.

11. Nile Henry – Co-Founder, Verciti & The Blair Project

  • Focus: Developing the next generation of innovators, technicians and engineers to fuel the green industrial revolution.
  • The Mission: Verciti helps infrastructure projects deliver on time and within budget by connecting ecosystem design, mobile immersive skills training and TRACE.

12. Terence Franka Co Founder, Aera

  • Focus: Building grid-secured, AI-ready data centre campuses across London and the South East, with power efficiency and environmental responsibility at the core. 
  • The Mission:To deliver the next generation of UK data centres, where sustainability meets digital infrastructure.
Co-Founders of Energyz Black; Jesusoorefunmi Olaoye and Edwin Ehiorobo in London

The Reality Check: Where Are the Black Energy Founders?

While these leaders demonstrate what is possible, they remain the exception rather than the rule.

Historically, less than 0.25% of all UK venture capital funding has gone to Black led startups, and across the climate, energy, and infrastructure sectors, this gap widens even further. The barriers are structural and systemic:

  1. The “Hardware & Pilot” Capital Valley of Death: Unlike software, energy businesses frequently require physical prototypes, supply chain commitments, regulatory clearances (such as Ofgem and DNO grid connection approvals), and asset capital. Without access to deep friends and family seed rounds, underrepresented founders are locked out before reaching MVP.
  2. The “Warm Introduction” Syndicate Culture: Early stage climate tech and infrastructure syndicates are heavily concentrated within homogenous legacy networks. Founders outside Oxbridge, elite legacy energy consultancies, or traditional venture networks struggle to get pitch deck visibility.
  3. The Green Skills & Boardroom Deficit: Black professionals make up a disproportionately low percentage of executive leadership and technical strategy roles across UK energy utilities and grid operators. When the boardroom lacks diversity, innovation strategies overlook underserved communities.

If you are building in the energy, climate, or tech sectors, these programs offer dedicated capital, non-dilutive grants, and accelerator ecosystems:

  • Black Equity Organisation (BEO) – Future 100 Growth Fund: Offers equity-free grant funding (up to £15,000), mentoring, and supply-chain access tailored specifically for early-stage Black British founders scaling tech-enabled businesses.
  • Black Seed Ventures: A seed-stage venture fund dedicated exclusively to backing Black British founders, providing capital alongside direct access to operator-led advisory.
  • Cornerstone VC: A diversity-led venture fund investing at pre-seed and seed stages in UK tech businesses, with a targeted mandate to back underrepresented and minority founding teams.
  • Impact X: is a Black-owned venture capital company founded to support underrepresented European entrepreneurs within the entertainment, media, tech, health, and digital industries.
  • Black Valley Accelerator: An 8-week structured venture accelerator connecting Black founders with mentors, investor networks, and pitch readiness support.

Clean-Tech & Green Transition Funds

  • Clean Growth Fund: A dedicated £101M UK venture capital fund investing between £500k and £3M in early-stage clean-tech and decarbonisation startups at Seed and Series A.
  • Innovate UK (Energy Catalyst & Net Zero Grants): Regular public grant competitions offering substantial non-dilutive capital to derisk clean energy pilots, distributed infrastructure, and energy efficiency technologies.
  • Bethnal Green Ventures (BGV): Europe’s leading early-stage tech-for-good VC, offering £60,000 for 7% equity alongside intensive accelerator support for ventures solving climate and societal challenges.
  • Amazon Sustainability Accelerator / Climate-KIC: Industry accelerator partnerships providing non-dilutive cash grants, AWS credits, and pilot deployment opportunities for residential, energy, and circular economy startups.

Power the Revolution

The UK energy revolution cannot succeed if it relies on old patterns of exclusion. The solutions to our planet’s greatest crisis will come from everywhere, from the laboratory bench to the community housing estate.

At Energyz Black, we are committed to opening doors, unlocking capital, and building the network that ensures Black leaders do not merely participate in the energy transition, but drive it.

Are you building a clean energy venture or looking to transition your career into renewables? Connect with the Energyz Black community, join our mentorship and skills cohorts, and let’s shape the future of clean energy together.