A Leeds businesswoman has opened a boutique at Chapeltown Enterprise Centre to sell her clothing and jewellery, while supporting other local entrepreneurs to take their products to market.
Fashion designer and creative entrepreneur Karen Williams, founder of SANYAN Collective.
SANYAN Collective is a Leeds-based creative retail and community hub founded by award-winning fashion designer and creative entrepreneur Karen Williams, whose contemporary African-inspired fashion brand, SANYAN, offers elegant women’s clothing shaped by her adaptable fluid-fit philosophy.
After years of selling at events and pop-ups across the UK, Karen recognised how important physical retail space was for independent brands seeking to build credibility and visibility.
After seeing Black-owned pop-up spaces in London close as costs rose, she set out to build a more sustainable model after relocating to Leeds three years ago.
What began as a home for her own fashion brand at Chapeltown Enterprise Centre has evolved into a shared creative hub that supports Black-owned businesses and brands connected to communities across Africa and the Caribbean.
SANYAN Collective is now a base for 10 independent brands, alongside SANYAN itself.
They include 9 Ether Touch, producers of organic skincare, and King Bro Empire, a tailor producing innovative menswear. Also, Lumiere by Marva Kelly, who creates luxury candles and diffuser oils, and Proud 2 Be African Woman which sources African jewellery from Togo, Cameroon and Kenya.
Together with retail, SANYAN Collective hosts community-led events such as a recent Sip & Shop experience, with more events planned throughout the year.
The space is also launching sewing workshops such as “Sew-l Sisters” using excess and recycled leftover materials and dead stock based on requests from customers, while providing opportunities for creatives to use the venue for meetings, photoshoots and customer collection services.
Chapeltown Enterprise Centre is one of three business locations in Leeds managed by Unity Enterprise (UE), the not-for-profit subsidiary of BME housing association Unity Homes and Enterprise. UE currently provides 153 affordable business units for almost 100 diverse businesses in the city, employing more than 1,250 people.
In addition to providing business space and support services, UE hosts regular business masterclasses and workshops including Breaking Barriers, a bespoke programme of events covering mindset, social media marketing, branding, sales and pitching, web design and multimedia.
It was at this course just over two years ago where Karen met vendors Tracy Pinder and Nadeen Strachan, who are now part of SANYAN Collective. Tracy is a jewellery designer producing unique and bespoke handmade jewellery, while Nadeen is a talented seamstress and designer of couture fashion.
Karen Williams said: “Moving into Chapeltown Enterprise Centre was the perfect move at precisely the right time. I am grateful to UE for their support, including delivering the Breaking Barriers course which brought the three of us together.
“I have started gaining local recognition, including being honoured with the Yorkshire Black Business Award for Retailer of the Year 2026.
“The long-term vision for SANYAN Collective is to become a permanent creative and cultural hub within Leeds and a long-term launchpad for emerging independent Black-owned brands — a place where businesses can gain visibility, grow sustainably and eventually move on to make space for the next generation of creatives.”
Cedric Boston, Unity Homes and Enterprise Chief Executive, said: “SANYAN Collective is a fantastic concept and a great way for local entrepreneurs to come together and share a space where they can sell and promote their wares.
“I am particularly pleased that two of the female entrepreneurs are Unity housing tenants, hopefully they will be trailblazers for many others to follow.
“UE’s mission is to identify and offer people in hard-to-reach BME communities, including housing tenants, the chance to change their economic prospects by encouraging them to view business as a sustainable and rewarding career.
“Karen is a role model for what can be achieved with a sharp business idea, a willingness to collaborate, a drive to succeed and the support we can provide.”