Reclaiming Narratives: Celebrating Black History Month at Sopra Steria

Esther, Chair of our Black Employee Community and Annecia, Deputy Chair of our Race and Culture Network, share how Sopra Steria celebrated Black History Month 

At Sopra Steria, we have five employee-led inclusion networks, one of which is our Race and Culture Network – dedicated to supporting colleagues from different faiths, beliefs and ethnicities.

This year's Black History Month theme, #ReclaimingNarratives, is about amplifying voices that have often been overshadowed or misrepresented. At Sopra Steria, we’re committed to creating an inclusive culture that recognises diversity as a strength and promotes understanding across all areas of our organisation.

As Race and Culture committee members, we planned some engaging events and initiatives to not only commemorate Black History Month, but to also spark meaningful conversations about the past, present, and future.

Kicking off the month, we introduced our Black Heroes initiative, where we’ve been sharing stories of influential Black people, past and present, to give them deserved recognition and a spotlight. It’s been great to see people interacting with these posts.

For our first event of the month, we welcomed The Hustle Crew, a consultancy known for their expertise in Diversity and Inclusion. They explored the theme of Reclaiming Narratives by guiding us through the origins of Black History Month. This shed light on how the stories and contributions of the Black community in the UK have often been overlooked or distorted. It was a chance to learn, reflect, and engage with the importance of accurate representation in history.

Following this, we were keen to get the conversation flowing with a panel discussion, and, seeing as Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the hot topic in the tech industry right now, we felt it was only right to dedicate a session to this. We invited colleagues to join us to examine how racism manifests in the development of AI and what steps can be taken to prevent these biases from perpetuating inequality.

To round off the month, we held a virtual quiz to recap and test what people had learned from the events and activities.

As Network Chairs, we believe that celebrating Black History Month is about more than just remembering the past – it’s about fostering a deeper understanding of the challenges and triumphs of the Black community today. We were pleased to see plenty of engagement and fantastic feedback throughout the month, and we hope these activities inspire lasting change and a commitment to inclusivity across Sopra Steria.

So, what do we do outside of October?

Throughout the year, we regularly host ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions led by members of our Race and Culture Network, to provide a platform for people to talk about their religious and cultural celebrations, practices and beliefs. We’ve also held quizzes, polls, career growth workshops and virtual ‘cook-a-longs’ to bring our community and allies together.

This year, a regular spot in our all-employee monthly newsletter was introduced to raise awareness of our network events. This helps colleagues feel represented, while providing valuable insights that not everyone may have otherwise had. It means we can not only celebrate together, but also have a better understanding of each other’s experiences and how they may impact our work lives, for example, being mindful of religious holidays or periods of fasting when scheduling meetings and events.

As an organisation, we have dedicated mentoring programmes in place – one for women and one for colleagues from under-represented ethnicities. These programmes not only support mentees with their career development, but also encourage mentors to think about what they can be doing in their daily work life to help nurture talent from often marginalised groups.

The importance of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in tech

In our industry, diversity is really advantageous. For technologies and services to be fit-for-purpose for a large audience, you need many different types of people at the design stage, so their perspectives and lived experiences can be represented and reflected. It’s why it’s so important for our organisation to be a welcoming and inclusive place, where all people feel they have a voice, and where there are equitable and fair chances for career development.

We hope our activities this month have encouraged our colleagues to reflect on the importance of Black history and culture, confronting any unconscious biases they might have held. We need to come together to consider how we can contribute to building a more equitable organisation, industry and society. 

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