Envirowise is a government-funded programme which offers UK businesses free, independent and confidential advice on practical ways to increase profits, minimise waste and reduce environmental impact. Envirowise wanted to ensure that ethnic minority-owned and managed businesses would not miss out on their advice and guidance. They commissioned ETHNOS to help develop a strategy to reach the minority ethnic business community.

We profiled the ethnic minority business sector in the UK, identified relevant business support organisations and explored the factors that explain the low uptake of environmental advice and support services by ethnic minority businesses. The study found that the disproportionate location of ethnic minority businesses in the micro and small size enterprises and in the service industries, lack of familiarity with agencies providing environmental advice and support, some distrust of outside agencies, lack of capacity (time and skills) to deal with environmental issues, limited awareness and understanding of environmental issues at work, perceptions that they produced very little waste, acceptance of waste as a necessary part of business activity, and a view that environmental issues are not a business priority and that environmentally sound practices could jeopardise business interests all contributed to explain the low uptake of environmental advice amongst minority ethnic businesses.

ETHNOS and Envirowise jointly ran workshops with business support organisations to help devise a targeted outreach and communications strategy for ethnic minority businesses. This included, amongst others, a media campaign for selected ethnic, trade and professional journals; publications and tool kits for people with identified waste problems; free site visits and environmental audits of larger businesses; and the use of ethnic minority business “case studies” and “champions” to promote Envirowise.