Black History Month begins, October 1 2021

Black History Month at the BCCJ

This year, for the first time, the BCCJ is very pleased to mark Black History Month.

Led by members of the BCCJ’s DEI (Diversity Equality Inclusion) taskforce, the chamber is launching a campaign that celebrates black Brits currently doing business in Japan (and / or have a UK-Japan connection), and showcases learnings from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) networks across BCCJ member organisations.

You will see related content on the BCCJ website.

BCCJ x University of Oxford

Later in the month the Chamber is pleased to be running a Black History Month event in association with the University of Oxford. Please stay tuned for more details.

Black History Month, UK ORG

We also look forward to sharing stories from the UK’s Black History Month organisation, including views from business and government.

The Rt Hon The Lord Paul Boateng of Akyem and Wembley PC DL says:

“Black History Month is a good opportunity to reflect on what more needs to be done in order to ensure that our education system is fit for purpose.”

He continues, “The challenge is to prepare by a policy of inclusion rather than exclusion all young people to thrive in a diverse and multi polar world in which no region or race holds sway over all others.”

Parker Review

In 2016, the Parker Review Committee, led by Sir John Parker, published its Final Report urging business leaders to improve the ethnic and cultural diversity of UK Boards to better reflect their employee base and the communities they serve.

The report set out achievable objectives and timescales to encourage greater diversity, and provides practical tools to support Board members of UK companies to address the issue. The Review’s recommendations noted the following three areas:

• Increase the ethnic diversity of UK Boards by proposing each FTSE 100 Board to have at least one director from an ethnic minority background by 2021 and for each FTSE 250 Board to do the same by 2024
• Develop a pipeline of candidates and plan for succession through mentoring and sponsoring
• Enhance transparency and disclosure to record and track progress against the objectives

The work is ongoing.

Interested in getting involved?

Does your company have a BIPOC network and / or specific leader or employee that we could highlight in the BCCJ’s first ever Black History Month? Let us know. [email protected]

———-

Further reading

Black History Month UK HERE

BCCJ Black History Month – coming up HERE

Black History Month: What is it and why does it matter? HERE

What is Black History Month UK? (Japanese) HERE