diff --git a/common/board_r.c b/common/board_r.c
index 98653de055..828ad44866 100644
--- a/common/board_r.c
+++ b/common/board_r.c
@@ -579,6 +579,9 @@ static int run_main_loop(void)
 #ifdef CONFIG_SANDBOX
 	sandbox_main_loop_init();
 #endif
+
+	event_notify_null(EVT_MAIN_LOOP);
+
 	/* main_loop() can return to retry autoboot, if so just run it again */
 	for (;;)
 		main_loop();
diff --git a/common/event.c b/common/event.c
index 3e34550978..231b9e6ffd 100644
--- a/common/event.c
+++ b/common/event.c
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ const char *const type_name[] = {
 
 	/* fdt hooks */
 	"ft_fixup",
+
+	/* main loop events */
+	"main_loop",
 };
 
 _Static_assert(ARRAY_SIZE(type_name) == EVT_COUNT, "event type_name size");
diff --git a/include/event.h b/include/event.h
index 3e6dcbc3dd..e4580b6835 100644
--- a/include/event.h
+++ b/include/event.h
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@ enum event_t {
 	/* Device tree fixups before booting */
 	EVT_FT_FIXUP,
 
+	/* To be called once, before calling main_loop() */
+	EVT_MAIN_LOOP,
+
 	EVT_COUNT
 };