MK Ethnic Business Community was founded to bring together
people from ethnic backgrounds and provide a networking experience where they feel comfortable. Supporting and educating members and embarking on joint ventures with the likes of Women Leaders and Collaborate MK, does much to bring the community together and allow those from ethnically diverse backgrounds to begin to feel more at ease at other networking groups and events. “One thing I think I can do with my MBE is to use it to open
more doors, to accelerate the work that we do in terms of raising awareness and going beyond that,” said Gamiel. “When I look back over the past 25 years I think how I have
benefi ted from the support of people, from the sponsorship and allyship from others, and how many people have given me a leg up when I needed it. T ere have been so many situations where I have been stuck and there is always someone around that will give me a helping hand, real true allies and most of them haven’t got a clue about how what they did is going to change the life of someone else down the line. “We have masses of work to do to be more inclusive as a city, but
“So, we advise you start with where you are as an organisation,
if a business doesn’t know where its starting point is, it will never get to its end point. T e maturity matrix we use takes into account 15 different areas including business leadership behaviour, communications, HR and marketing. From there, it is possible to come up with an action plan to get that organisation to where it wants to be.” Despite its global reach, including advising clients in Japan,
Dubai and Iceland, and an increasing focus on sector-specifi c clients in the likes of rail, horticulture and retail, Diversity Marketplace refuses to loosen its local ties and a great deal of its work in Milton Keynes is within the voluntary sector and often pro bono. His own experience of dealing with dyslexia and being from an
ethnic background has helped Gamiel learn to navigate his way round systems. After having spent time in his father’s native Yemen, he knows what it looks like to live and operate within two diff erent cultures and how to adapt in order to work with any business or organisation. “One of the best things about MK is the people, and how those
people support one other. T e volunteer sector is so strong, and a lot of the work that goes on is preventative, helping people who would otherwise be struggling and costing the council or NHS so much more if that help wasn’t in place. “But are we diverse and inclusive? We are certainly one of the
most diverse cities in the UK in terms of race, gender and sexual orientation, and disabilities, but I think we are still not inclusive enough and could do more.”
15
I think in terms of everyone having a battery pack and when good things happen, or you do good things, it recharges your battery pack. I’m fortunate that I almost always feel that my battery pack is full.”
Find out more about Diversity Marketplace and its work at
www.diversitymarketplace.co.uk
ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
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