Celebrating Black History Month 2019

Over the month of October, events took place across our UK offices in celebration of Black History Month - raising awareness of the history, achievements and contributions of African and Caribbean heritage in the UK. This year’s theme was Making an Impact and Pushing the Dial.

Highlights throughout the month included:

• The Inclusion, Diversity and Social Equality (IDSE) team, in conjunction with the African and Caribbean Network (ACN), welcomed TV host and Radio presenter Reggie Yates to our London HQ where he shared insights into his upbringing and its influence on his life decisions and career journey.
• The Art of the Side Hustle: colleagues shared their experiences and perspectives on their pursuits outside of KPMG, such as turning writing novels into a side venture, launching a company to encourage diversity in the luxury gifting industry, and delivering high impact entrepreneurship labs in pursuit of a fairer tech industry.
• In our Aberdeen office a panel of cross-industry leaders of Black Heritage shared their career stories and the lessons they learned as they progressed. The audience included local university students and professionals from inside and outside of KPMG.
• In Manchester the ACN, in collaboration with the Black Female Professionals Network, hosted a motivational speaker evening where community leaders and local entrepreneurs shared insights into their innovative business ventures.
• The final event of the month saw former elite athletes, now working in professional roles, share their highs, lows and the all-important elements to their prosperous transition from sport to business careers.

KPMG Partner John McCalla-Leacy said, “Understanding Black History and celebrating people of Black Heritage is fundamental to encouraging an inclusive culture at KPMG. Our clients expect us to reflect their customer base and society more broadly, and that’s why we are focussed on efforts to improve Black Heritage representation at KPMG, across all levels.”