10 Steps to Building An Inclusive Business From TheGround Up

When we talk about inclusion in business, it’s often framed as something you think about
later, once you’ve scaled, hired, or hit revenue milestones. I fundamentally disagree.
Inclusion is not a department. It’s not a diversity initiative you layer on once you’re “big
enough.” It’s a design choice. And if you’re building a business from the ground up, you have
the rare advantage of designing it well from the start. Here’s what I’ve learned, both from leading culture and inclusion at executive level, and from
building my own consultancy.

1. Start with the client in mind
   Inclusion begins long before your first hire. It starts at ideation.
   When you’re planning your business, ask yourself: who are all the different client groups I could serve? What are their unique challenges? Whose needs are traditionally overlooked? And how will I demonstrate that my brand is for them too?
   Inclusive businesses expand markets. They don’t narrow them.
2. Go out and speak to diverse audiences
   Early-stage founders often validate ideas within their immediate networks. The problem?
   Most networks are homogenous.
   If you want to build something inclusive, you need to test your business proposition and your products with people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, ages and lived experiences. Listen carefully to what resonates and what doesn’t.
3. https://uk.entrepreneur.com/entrepreneurs/beyond-budgets/496463Your first hires set the cultural DNA
   As a new business, your first few hires are critical. They will shape your culture more than
   any strategy document ever will. You are never too small to ask candidates about their thoughts on inclusion and culture.
   Probe their principles. Explore how they handle differences. Inclusion isn’t about political correctness; it’s about how people treat those who are not like them.
   If inclusion isn’t embedded in your earliest hiring decisions, you will spend years trying to correct what could have been prevented.
4. Become an inclusive leader
   Culture mirrors leadership. If you interrupt, dismiss or surround yourself with people who
   think like you, your team will replicate that behaviour. Inclusive leadership is about curiosity, humility and accountability. It means asking whose voice hasn’t been heard. It means recognising your own blind spots. It means being willing to
   change your mind when new information is presented. You cannot outsource this responsibility. You need to own it and people need to see you live it every day.
5. Design inclusive processes from day one
   Bias hides in process. In your job descriptions. In your promotion criteria. In how you define “high potential.” In the language you use on your website. Review everything through a simple lens: is this accessible? Is it clear? Is it welcoming? Could this unintentionally exclude someone? Inclusive systems reduce friction. They make it easier for diverse talent and clients to
   engage with you.
6. Anchor your vision in purpose Inclusion should not feel like an add-on to your strategy, it should be part of your “why.” What do you stand for? What impact do you want to create? Who benefits from your success? Make that purpose explicit. And ensure everyone who joins your business signs up to it. Culture is strongest when it is shared and understood, not implied.
7. Invest in early training and cultural alignment
   Founders often underestimate how quickly culture fragments as teams grow.
   Even at a small scale, create a baseline understanding of your values, your expectations
   and what inclusive behaviour looks like in practice. Make it clear that inclusion is not optional it is how you do business.
8. Lead from the front
   You cannot preach inclusion and then behave inconsistently.

Model the behaviours you want your culture to be known for. Admit mistakes. Credit others
publicly. Invite challenge. Be transparent in decision-making. People watch what leaders do
far more than they listen to what they say.
Consistency builds trust.

9. Seek out diverse perspectives intentionally
   Diverse thinking does not happen by accident. It requires deliberate effort.
   Build advisory circles that challenge you. Collaborate across industries. Hire for cognitive
   diversity, not just technical skill. Create feedback loops with clients and employees that allow dissenting views to surface safely. Innovation thrives when difference is welcomed, not managed.
10. Understand inclusion as a commercial advantage
    There is a persistent myth that inclusion is about morality alone. It isn’t.
    Inclusive businesses make better decisions. They attract wider talent pools. They access
    broader markets. They build reputations rooted in credibility and trust. When people feel seen and valued, performance improves. When clients feel understood, loyalty increases. Inclusion, done well, drives growth.

Building an inclusive business from the ground up is not about perfection. It is about
intention. As a founder, you have a choice: replicate the systems you experienced, or redesign them. The businesses that will thrive in the next decade are those that recognise inclusion not as a trend, but as infrastructure. When inclusion is embedded early, it becomes part of your
operating system, shaping how you hire, lead, sell and grow. What I’m increasingly seeing is that founders and SME leaders want to get this right, but they don’t always know how to translate intention into systems. They don’t know how to embed inclusion into hiring frameworks, leadership development, performance processes or governance in a way that is commercially robust and sustainable. That is exactly the work we focus on through Illume Executive Consulting and The Inclusive Foundations Programme. We partner with growth-stage businesses to move beyond aspiration and build inclusion into the architecture of their organisations, equipping leaders, upskilling HR, and embedding the structures that make inclusive cultures durable rather than dependent on goodwill.

Inclusion is not something you bolt on once you’ve scaled. It is something you design while
you are building. And when you do, it becomes one of your strongest competitive
advantages.