Building community across organizations

Business leaders and employees alike need access to a supportive community to thrive.

Surrounded by like-minded thinkers, we are more likely to exchange ideas, engage in collective learning and feel comfortable to be our authentic selves. However, this kind of supportive environment does not emerge overnight. As any successful group effort, it requires dedication, time and relevant resources.

Black Employee Networking Night, the second in our series of events supporting Black Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), was designed with this idea in mind.

On 28 March we gathered Black ERGs leaders, members and sponsors in the beautiful premises of Felix Meritis in Amsterdam for what turned out to be an evening of inspiration, honest conversations and building friendships. It was full house with 70+ ERG members & community leaders and representatives from 10+ brands. Among this great crowd were professionals working at brands such as Booking.com, Foot Locker, Nike, and Google among others as well as independent business owners. 

To set the stage for the conversation, the event started with a spoken word performance by BLESZ . and a quick welcome from Omek’s CEO and founder Kemo Camara. 

Next, we hosted a panel discussion with community thought leaders Maurina Leito, a strategic marketing executive at Foot Locker, Shenin Lebrun, a career mentor and founder of Hustle & Heart Consultancy and Amhar Ford, a Technical Consultant at Google with a track record in advertising, marketing, operations and research. Having achieved successful careers and a variety of milestones in the DEI space, they inspired us with food for thought on ERG leadership, drawing on their own experiences.

Having served some food for thought (and tasty meals prepared by Callaloo Hoek, Trinidad and Tobago catering company run by Omek member Stephan Duncan) it was time for the audience to join in with their views.

Our roundtables focused on two main themes: the role of leadership in ERGs success and ways to increase engagement within the ERGs and with external communities. The discussions were lively and honest, providing space to reflect and bounce off ideas in a non-judgemental space. See some of the insights below.

Limited ERG members 

Change in the leadership culture

Budget constraints

Limited time to work on ERG goals 

Little change in circumstances over time

Lack of awareness of ERGs

Wellbeing of ERG members not taken into account (mental health support)

Define your purpose in your mission statement

Work closely with company onboarding and engagement teams 

Collect and share testimonials

Run a variety of activities for different groups (age or personality type, online and in person spaces)

Share a clear intention and agenda for each meeting

Provide both the educational with ‘magical’ experiences (music, food, storytelling)

Dedicate space to celebrate members’ wins (promotions, etc.)

We closed the evening with a short session with Vivian Acquah CDE® on transformation with Amplify DEI.

The turnout and level of participation exceeded our expectations and we were delighted to hear ‘this is what I needed’ from several attendees. They appreciated a sense of camaraderie and community spirit that are not commonplace when it comes to DEI events.

The words of our guest Coco Olakunle particularly resonated and perfectly summed up what Omek stands for, “A business mind with a family heart”.

As we are working on the next part of our Black ERG event series we shall keep them in mind. Watch this space for the upcoming learning opportunities!