Sodexo Welcomes 24 Interns Under 10,000 Black Interns Programme

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• Sodexo Welcomes 24 Interns Under 10,000 Black Interns Programme

26 May 2023 | Updated 25 May 2023

FM company Sodexo is welcoming 24 paid interns as part of the 10,000 Black Interns Programme.

The premise of 10,000 Black interns is to offer transformative career opportunities to Black students in the United Kingdom. It builds on the successful launch of the #100black interns, where leading players in the investment management industry came together to address the underrepresentation of Black talent in their sector.

Over a six-week period, the interns will work with teams from HR, technology, and finance, as well as different areas of Sodexo, including its corporate services and schools & universities businesses.

Fifteen of the 24 interns begin the programme in May and June, while the remaining interns will join the organisation throughout the year.

Mercianne Makitata, who has joined the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team at Sodexo said: “So far, my experience at Sodexo has been amazing. I am learning a lot, not just about the company but also about myself. When I first started the internship, I had a lot of doubts about how it would compare to other internships I’ve done before. In the past, I’ve had internships where I felt unwelcomed to the company, but that is not the case with Sodexo. Since I started the internship, I have been building the confidence that I’ve always wanted. What makes me happiest is the encouragement and support I receive from my colleagues. They involve me in most things and my opinion matters to them. I feel important, and I am eager to learn as much as I can during my internship at Sodexo.”

Black Employees Held 1.5% of Management Positions in 2020

Business in the Community (BITC) figures tell us that in 2020 black employees held just 1.5 per cent of top management roles in the UK private sector, a figure that has increased just 0.1 percentage points since 2014. Only one in 16 people at senior levels in the private and public sector are from an ethnic minority background.

An Office for National Statistics (ONS) UK labour market update on the unemployment rate by ethnicity between January 2023 and March 2023 found that the unemployment rate for white people is at 3.2 per cent, the unemployment rate for black, asian, mixed race, and other ethnically diverse people is twice as high, at 7 per cent. The rate is particularly high for Pakistani and Bangladeshi individuals, at 8.5 per cent and 9.2 per cent respectively. 

Picture: a photo of Mercianne Makitata standing next to a wall-mounted Sodexo logo. Image Credit: Sodexo

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 26 May 2023

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