When Patrick Hutchinson carried a far-right protester to safety, it became one of the defining images of the Black Lives Matter protest movement. It was also to change Patrick’s life.
Since his image went round the world the 54-year-old has seen himself suddenly having the profile to be an ambassador for, among others, the Hope Collective, the Rio Ferdinand Foundation, the Open University Black Student Support Fund, and on the board of a community interest company called Music Against Racism.
The former corporate project manager and personal trainer has also co-founded with Khilan and Rahul Shah his own company, pHKind, and become a leading ambassador of the Black British Initiative (BBI).
As part of Metro’s partnership with the BBI, today marks the second in our Down To Business series showcasing Black entrepreneurs.
Here, Patrick reflects on his journey before and after the events of 2020 and explains what he’s learned since going into business…
Were you always keen on running your own business?
I spent 25 years in the corporate world, in project management and change management. Eventually it just wasn’t for me. It was quite taxing on the mental side of things, and in the end, I just wanted to do something that was a lot more purposeful, where I thought I was making a bit of a difference.
I went into personal training, which wasn’t as rewarding financially, but it definitely had me more fulfilled in what I was doing. I felt like I was helping people become the best versions of themselves, and in doing so, I felt good about the fact that I was helping others.
And how did you get from that to running pHKind?
I guess most of it came on the back of what happened to me in 2020.
I’d seen George Floyd being murdered in cold blood. It left me feeling helpless. I thought, ‘What can I do, as an individual? Can I make a difference?’ So as soon as this [the London Black Lives demonstration and counter demonstration] came up I thought, ‘Right, we’re going to go down there and be supportive. We’re going to be older, wiser, more experienced heads and try and talk some of the younger protesters down and try to pacify the situation’.
We got down there, and it was an – excuse the language – absolute s**t show. There’s just confrontation, skirmishes, fighting everywhere.
We were right next to the Royal Festival Hall when a skirmish breaks, a massive fight between some of these far-right guys and the Black Lives Matter supporters.
The far-right guys, they look like they’re outnumbered, and then they ran off, and they leave one guy staggering around. He’s concussed, doesn’t know where he is, and basically you can imagine, what’s going to happen to him next, because he’s all by himself. I knelt down, scooped him up onto my shoulder, I started walking towards the police with him. I managed to get him out of the main melee.
Then the larger crowd could see what happened, see what was happening, started to clap and cheer me, so ultimately, I was able to save him and hand them over to the police.
Tell me what happened after that day and how it led to your current career and voluntary work…
I got thrust into the public spotlight and became a public figure. With that comes lots of opportunities. And so that’s how I’ve ended up where I am now. Those opportunities include my charitable work but also PHKind. I’m one of three co-founders of the business. My partners are more versed in the world of supplementation than I am.
Obviously, I’m seen as quite a healthy figure in terms of my age, I keep myself very fit, and I’m always talking about health and wellness, especially for the 50s. So, I was an ideal ambassador for the supplements range as opposed to just being an ambassador. I wanted to be in it properly. So that’s how I got into running a business.
What has been the biggest challenge since you’ve been running the company?
Funding. We’ve self-funded up to now, and funding is definitely the number-one challenge small businesses have. It’s a massive challenge. When we started, we had six supplements targeting gut health, mind health, immunity and energy, Omega three and male health. They were doing OK, but male health was the flagship. In the end we had to make a decision to drill down and focus on the one supplement, because we don’t have the money to produce all the others at the moment.
When you have to make tough decisions like that, how do you deal with them?
I think you always have to remember why you’re doing it in the first place. That will sometimes keep you in there, chugging along through the difficult times. If you’re in it just for money, and you’re not making money at this moment in time, then you’re going to give up because it’s not working out. But if you’ve got a long-term reason for it, you will persevere, and you will keep going.
Most of the businesses we see today, if you listen to their stories, for the first five years it was a bad struggle. A lot of people thought they would never make it, and then all of a sudden maybe in year six or something, things start to happen. Which is encouraging.
I say that consistency is everything, and I believe it. If you’re consistent at anything in life you become good at it.
You’re involved with the Black Business Initiative (BBI) – How did you get involved in that, and how it has helped you?
Lord Hastings reached out to me after the BLM incident and asked me to get involved in his initiative Men of Purpose, mentoring young men in prison.
He’s been like an uncle to me ever since, which means a lot to me, because I never had a father growing up, and I didn’t have the best role models for uncles either. Anything he asks me to do, I’ll do it. He connected me with Darren Miller at BBI.
Darren saw what I was doing with my supplements, and suggested I went on the MBA 30 programme – a BBI business education programme accredited by SOAS [School of Oriental and African Studies] – and so I did.
It’s been a massive help. The educational piece taught me things I thought I knew, but that I didn’t. I learned about data analytics and marketing strategies. And above all, the networking and the connections that were afforded me by the MBA have been amazing.
Opening your network, your Rolodex, and just getting connected to as many people as possible is really important because you just never know who might end up funding you. It is key for entrepreneurs.
What is the Black British Initiative (BBI)?
BBI was founded in 2023 and at the heart of the organisation is MBA30, an initiative that provides business training for Black entrepreneurs.
They do so to help address the cultural and race-based barriers experienced by aspiring Black businesspeople.
Between 2009-2019, just 0.24% of UK venture capital investment went to Black entrepreneurs, highlighting the systematic barriers Black businesses face when securing financing.
Working with Metro, BBI hopes to train up 3,000 entrepreneurs by 2030, playing a key role in unlocking the £75 billion economic growth opportunity.
Want to join the next MBA30 cohort – and have a chance to enter the MBA30 Emerging Entrepreneur Awards? Register your interest by emailing mba@blackbritishinitiative.com.
You’ve obviously done many things through your career so far – what are you proudest of?
I think my biggest success would be being a father, I can’t see anything that I’m prouder of than my children.
I was raised by a single mother, so my father wasn’t in my life, and that just pushed me to want to be the best father I could be. I guess the template for me is the father that I wish I’d had.
My oldest is 35, my youngest is 13. I think my biggest thing I celebrate about myself is the fact that I’m a father, that most of my children will have good things to say about me. I think all of them would, and also, I am a loved grandfather as well.
In terms of a legacy when I’m no longer here, because of what I did in 2020, I feel like my great-, great-, great-, great-, great-, great-, great- grandchildren, who I’ll never, ever meet, will know who I was.