NEWS & INSIGHT
NEW PROGRAMME SEEKS TO SUPPORT AND ADVANCE THE BLACK BUSINESS COMMUNITY SCHOOL : The Open University Business School COUNTRY : UK
The Open University (OU) Business School has launched a new programme aimed at supporting the Black business community, entitled the Black Leadership Empowerment Programme (BLEP). Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, BLEP is designed to allow participants to develop skills in leadership, communication, influence and problem-solving, as well as in building and maintaining coalitions for change. “The programme will explore how we can be more effective in calling for and fighting for change. Black employees hold just 1.5 per cent of top management roles in the UK private sector, while the number of Black executives working at the leadership level of the UK’s top 100 companies fell to zero in 2021,” said OU Business School lecturer and programme lead Fidèle Mutwarasibo, citing recent research from Business in the Community and Green Park. “The programme aligns with the OU’s social mission and addresses two of our key success indicators – the under-representation of Black students at the OU and Black students’ degree-awarding gap,” Mutwarasibo continued. The programme also seeks to build on research into the leadership of racialised
minority voluntary sector organisations that has been carried out by OU Business School’s Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership (CVSL), of which Mutwarasibo is the director. The programme will blend online and in-person learning, with a hub in Manchester providing the venue for its initial two-year pilot. Participants gain access to 150 hours of free learning available on the OU’s OpenLearn platform, including two leadership courses developed exclusively for BLEP. Introducing Black leadership considers the community’s challenges and possibilities in relation to leading and managing others, while Advancing Black leadership looks at ways in which its members can gain traction with people and organisations holding power. The concept and content revolve around meeting a desire within the school’s locality, as Mutwarasibo alluded to: “BLEP emerged from discussions between community partners concerned with racial inequity and the OU.” It has already garnered support from the youth charity Prince’s Trust and cross-industry network Inclusive Companies, as well as businesses that include AutoTrader and Manchester Airport Group (MAG). EB
Ambition | JUNE 2024 | 9
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