Forbes: Why diversity is too important for CEOs to ignore

Launched in October 2018, Green Park’s Top 100 BAME Leaders in Business index, showcased the talent of the UK’s ethnic minority leaders who have not only achieved professional success but have affected positive change throughout their career.

Among those profiled were Dr Kamel Hothi OBE, Non-Executive Director, The Lions Club (TLC), Nneka Abulokwe, founder and Chief Executive of MicroMax Consulting and Daniel Taylor, founder and Managing Director of MDC Group. In a conversation with Forbes, they discuss their careers and how they believe barriers can be broken down to encourage more diversity in the top echelons of the private, public and third sectors.

Dr Kamel Hothi OBE has been breaking glass ceilings in the banking world for over four decades from cashier to director, strategist and architect of numerous programmes and initiatives that have changed the shape of the banking industry.

She led programmes such as the Lloyds Bank 250th anniversary, Asian Markets, skills volunteering across 85,000 colleagues. She now acts as Trustee & Advisor to Alzheimer’s Society, Teenage Cancer Trust and the Queens Commonwealth Trust. As well as a Non-Exec Director for two businesses including TLC Lions, Kamel is passionate about welcoming a new style of kind and inclusive leadership in organisations and having this impact nationally and internationally.

Dr Kamel Hothi OBE talks with Forbes about why networks and role models are important to her and why business leaders should be emotionally engaged.

Daniel Taylor is an award-winning interior design specialist with many prestigious projects to his name. As founding member of the Creative Apprenticeships Task Force, he works with businesses to identify successful apprenticeship practice and opportunities for young people. He is also a founding Trustee for the Creative & Cultural Skills Council.

His belief is that, as a business leader, it is his duty to use his position of advantage to create a fairer world for others.

Dr. Nneka Abulokwe is one of the first black women to sit on the board of a top European digital transformation organisation. Her career spans twenty-five years, over which she has progressed to becoming an Executive Director in a €3.7 billion organisation. She has delivered large-scale, high profile projects in the Public and Private sectors in the UK, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and America.

Having held top roles in traditionally male-dominated sectors, such as technology, Dr. Nneka Abulokwe discusses her journey and how she believes a change in organisational structures can contribute toward better minority representation.

This article was published in Forbes on the 30th of November 2018. For the full Forbes article, click here. 

For more information on Green Park’s Top 100 BAME Leaders inBusiness index, click here.