
UK firms audit shows poor ethnic representation on their boards
A recent audit of the top 100 UK firms conducted by the ethnic marketing forum Think Ethnic, revealed an unacceptable stats which shows that despite the fact that more than 50% of the growth in the population in the UK (according to 2011 census), was attributed to multicultural communities which accounts to some 20% of the population, less than 5% of UK companies have directors on the boards from an ethnic backgrounds.
UK firms have had their fair share of colourful board directors, fraudsters and the recent allegation of Rev Flowers (a Methodist priest, Porn violator, Cocaine addict and much more), is another bizarre scenario of how UK PLC is overlooking the highly successful entrepreneurial multicultural talent with a track record of success and expertise, opting instead for a dwindling supply of incompetent directors who spend more time on the covers of newspapers for the wrong reasons!
If you consider that London and other major cities in the UK have an ethnic majority you can see the inequality and lack of representation by ethnic talent.
In fact there are no police commissioners who is of an ethnic heritage despite the fact some of the areas they cover have upwards of 30% ethnic density, a situation that calls for imposing a quota on inclusion of ethnic people in society.
Think Ethnic director Saad Saraf, stated that “UK PLC is not changing as fast in line with the demographic changes that are taking place on the ground and UK firms are increasingly missing out on an untapped talent that will help corporates to understand and target ethnic customer with disposable income and money to spend”.
Studies conducted by Think Ethnic in the past showed that having a diverse staff in companies can help those companies reach new customers both in the UK and in the growing emerging markets.
Saad Saraf added that while the government keeps telling companies to win business in emerging economies, we see UK companies failing to address the basic issues of representation, which is not acceptable, and it brings back to the table the issue of government legislations and quotas as a solution to this endemic saga.
Ends.
The study was done with 100 UK companies and covered the following industries: Airlines, Cars, Technology, Pharmaceuticals, Banks, Supermarkets, Consultancies, Ad agencies, Telecom, Broadcast, Government, Multinational)