engage magazine issue 004 \\\'07 | Page 6

Letters to the Editor
6 UPFRONT

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor , Stay Engaged with “ Engage ”. I send my deep appreciation and congratulations to you and the rest of the Engage team for creating and organising an amazing business that allows BAME ’ s , SME ’ s and Corporates to come together to promote and network our businesses , products and services to each others ’ professional networks and social circles . I ’ m a Stress Manager with a Corporate Financial background . From my 3 years of networking and business development , I ’ ve had more quality based , fruitful contacts from attending your past 3 events than at other networking events . To summarise :
Dear Editor
I have read engage magazine since issue one and had to write to congratulate you on a ground breaking product . I have kept each issue because for the most part , the content does not date . It particularly pleases me that you feature a wide variety of business in various sectors and that the focus is not on one minority ethnic group – but all of us . I have also attended many of your networking events and , stemming form this , made useful contacts not only with large organisations , but also identified partnership opportunities with other BAME businesses . Engage is clearly a magazine which supports business diversity in its broadest sense and this is what sets your product apart from anything
called ‘ meet the buyer ’ it too much would expect the core activity to be just that , rather than lunch .
I ’ d be interested to not only hear the views of others , but also a view from engage on the above points . Perhaps you could offer some sort of quality mark to help us sort out the sheep from the goats …
Once again congratulations on a fantastic product , when ’ s the next networking event ?
Geofrey Gordon
Editor ’ s Response to letter
Dear Geofrey
else on offer .

etters ...

1 . In March 2007 , you had a speaker from the National Training Awards ( NTA ). After attending their workshop in early April 2007 and with the guidance of an appointed Mentor , I submitted my individual category entry .
2 . From networking with other attendees , I ’ ve formed an association with Audrey Linton of P41 re : collaborative Procurement submissions .
3 . I have seen guests attend one event and at the next , you ’ ve given them an opportunity to promote their business and convey strong messages to the
Now here ’ s the but … Why some organisations are allowed significant amounts of space in your magazine when they are clearly operating on a principle of ‘ do as I say , not as I do ’. I will give you a concrete example . If as an organisation , your raison d ’ être is to champion and promote supplier diversity and challenge other organisations to do the same , why do you have few or no diverse suppliers yourself ? This is common knowledge among those who have tried and
Many thanks for your continuing support . In response to the questions you ask ; I assume the ‘ do as I say , not as I do ’ refers to the large organisations we have featured . To be fair , I think we should remember that supplier diversity is relatively new to the UK and probably quite low on the agenda of many of the big corporates . However , what they are clearly saying is that they are going to seriously look at the diversity in their supplier chain and start a process of gathering data on the ethnicity of their suppliers . This should include race equality considerations in their procurement
attendees .
4 . The locations and venues used for each meeting has been impressive , especially the EDF Energy building – Victoria , Lehman Brothers – Canary Wharf . I could go on , however with my parting words I ’ d just like to say – please continue with the fantastic work . The word about Engage is spreading , the attendee numbers are increasing and your forums are greatly needed . Bless you ! Best Regards , Valerie Lothian Financial Stress Manager Tel : 0800 195 1864 www . Focusivity . successuniversity . com www . Focusivity . co . uk
failed to get on preferred supplier lists ?
My second question is this …
If you purport to be an organisation that promotes and supports ethnic minority business and you are well funded from the public purse to do so , why do you not provide some serious , relevant business support ? I really feel that funded organisations should tailor what they offer to what the business might need ( rather than only being driven by gathering statistics for the funders )
Why not ask BAME businesses what we want , instead of providing hit and miss interventions . For example , if your event is
strategies and policies and taking steps to ensure there is a level playing field for all potential contractors , regardless of size or ethnicity of ownership , which has to be a good starting point . On the other subjects you raised regarding organisations funded by the public purse and hollow ‘ meet the buyer ’ events . I agree there are a lot of ‘ tick box ’ initiatives out there and not enough measuring of impact . We , at engage will be constantly surveying our extensive BAME and minority-owned business database to establish and understand the needs of today ’ s BAME enterprises . We will share and hopefully resolve many of the issues raised via our networking events .
engage | uk ISSUE FOUR 2007