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Aviva Origins

Black History Month: 2023

Flourishing and fabulous, Aviva are celebrating our sistas!

It’s feeling autumnal, pumpkins are on the shelves and Mariah’s warming up her vocal chords – that can only mean one thing – it’s October and Black History Month!

We take great pride in driving inclusion at Aviva, but know there’s always more work to be done. So we’ll be raising awareness of the contributions Black people have made to our society, recognising the female talent we work with and sharing resources for our colleagues to use in team conversations.

Derek Redmond

Keep an eye on our socials for a sneak peek behind the scenes of our Black Professionals Network’s events in collaboration with #AvivaOrigins and Aviva Investors over the next few weeks. From role models to Saluting Our Sisters Black Chat, from Caribbean lunches to a live conversation with World Champion, Derek Redmond – we can’t wait!

Aviva Investors’ Ethnicity Workstream, Aviva Origins and our Black Professional Network.

We had the honour of hosting British Athletics legend Derek Redmond in a powerful event to celebrate Black History Month.

Derek was joined on stage by Aviva Investors CEO Mark Versey and Mimi Otohwo, Aviva Investors Global Head of Crime, where he shared his remarkable story. They also spoke about what this year's BHM theme of 'Saluting our Sisters' means to different people, how female role models influenced Derek's life, why inclusivity is crucial in the workplace and how to be effective allies.

This event was a collaborative effort from Aviva Investors’ Ethnicity Workstream, Aviva Origins and our Black Professional Network.

South Asian Heritage Month 2023

We’re proud to be celebrating South Asian Heritage Month with events organised by Aviva’s South Asian Professional network. This week we're hosting an amazing Indian Folk art exhibition at our London office.

From the ancient cave paintings of Bhimbetka, to the intricate miniature paintings of the Mughal era, to the vibrant Madhubani paintings of Bihar and the exquisite Kalamkari textiles of Andhra Pradesh, Indian folk art forms have survived and thrived for generations. They reflect the history, beliefs, and aspirations of the people who create them.

Take a look at some of the Indian folk-art forms from the exhibition.

ancient cave paintings of Bhimbetka, to the intricate miniature paintings of the Mughal era, to the vibrant Madhubani paintings of Bihar and the exquisite Kalamkari textiles of Andhra Pradesh

And a HUGE thank you to the very talented Sheetal A. for supplying the artwork.

Faith in the Workplace Summit

Aviva Origins was proud to be part of a summit on faith in the workplace held this month at Number 10 Downing Street.

The Summit, chaired by John Glen, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, heard executives from Aviva, Rolls-Royce, NHS, Google, OVO Energy, Salesforce, Baringa, American Express, among others, shared how we are embracing faith in the workplace, seeing a person’s beliefs (including non-theistic beliefs) as an asset with bottom line benefits rather than a problem to be solved or avoided.

Faith in the Workplace Summit

Within Aviva - our My Face My Faith sessions have pulled back the curtain and helped give staff tools to be able to have discussions about faith in the workplace so that people feel that they can bring their whole souls to work.

iCAN: The Insurance Cultural Awareness Network

In June, iCAN: The Insurance Cultural Awareness Network announced their 2023 role models, showcasing the diversity of talent shaping the insurance industry today.

We’re thrilled to see some of our very own change-makers featured: Anna D., Maiko Adachi, Michael Yabantu, Shyam Bhayani, Subashini M and Waseem Malik - all of whom are instrumental in driving the #inclusion agenda at Aviva.

Speaking about this publication, iCAN Co-Chair Kishan Mangat said:

“The role models featured in this book have each contributed significantly to challenging norms and pushing boundaries within the industry. Their shared narratives encapsulate their profound impact and serve as a beacon of inspiration for those looking to carve their own paths in the insurance sector.”

iCAN: The Insurance Cultural Awareness Network Aviva role models

You can read their inspiring stories in the ’60 Role Models’ book here.

INvolve - The Inclusion People's 2023 EMpower Role Model List

We are so proud to see Rahul Gumber and Anna D. featured in INvolve - The Inclusion People's 2023 EMpower Role Model Lists today, supported by YouTube.

INvolve - The Inclusion People's 2023 EMpower Role Model List

These global lists celebrate trailblazers who are driving inclusion for ethnically diverse people in business. It’s brilliant to see Anna as a Top 10 Future Leader and Rahul as a Top 100 Executive, recognising their incredible achievements – well done, we’re very proud of you both!

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue

Aviva - World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue

To mark World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, Aviva Origins had great fun hosting a week of events for our colleagues to learn, share and celebrate this week:

  • We gave our lunch menus an international flavour in our catered offices across Bristol, Norwich, Perth, Sheffield and York and shared sweet treats from Turkish baklava to Italian cannoli
  • We shared the inspiring story of one colleague whose grandfather was a founding member of the first ever Mosque in York
  • We found out how we’re helping our customers who don’t speak English, through the Foreign Language Speakers Forum, made up of 290 volunteers around the business
  • We put Origins co-sponsor Waseem Malik’s cooking skills to the test when he cooked brown stew broccoli and salt fish fritters in a cook-along, streamed live from our HQ kitchen!
  • We delved into our 327-year heritage with the Group Archives team, unearthing fascinating insights into changing social and cultural attitudes and the future of archiving in a digital world
  • Origins co-sponsor Mark Versey took us on a ‘Breakfast Around the World’ with food brought in by our South Asian and East/South-East Asian Professional networks
  • We ran a Song Challenge on our internal social network and the Aviva Voices choir performed songs from around the world
  • We ended the week with the Great Origins Pub Quiz, which saw colleagues singing in different languages and being tested on trivia from the Culture Carnival events, with one lucky person winning an Origins food hamper

Thank you to everyone who joined in – we hope you all learned something new. And if you’d like to hear some of the 60+ languages our colleagues speak, head over to our Instagram page!

Aviva Origins – celebrating cultural difference

Kofi's podcast Me, You & Taboo, is a safe space within our business that normalises subjects that aren't usually discussed. He's made such a difference to the lives of so many of our people.

Kofi's podcast Me, You & Taboo, is a safe space within our business that normalises subjects that aren't usually discussed.

Black History Month 2022

We take great pride in being a diverse organisation, but recognise we need to do more. This year, we want to celebrate the meaning of being Black.

Our amazing colleagues from the Black Professionals Network (a subgroup of our Origins community which aims to celebrate all cultures within Aviva) are organising a bunch of activities for our people to get involved in.

From webinars, world food day, 'Let's Chat' sessions, podcasts and song challenges. We'll be raising awareness and celebrating the great talent we have at Aviva.

Aviva BHM 2022

All Black Everything is a celebration call and is the theme of this year's Black History Month.

This month We've been encouraging our people to bring in and share their Afro-centric dishes for World Food Day as a great way to learn more about Black culture.

Food for thought!

Monique Lang

Here, Anna Dilku, the co-chair of our Aviva Origins Community which celebrates all cultures within Aviva, talks about the various activities going on for Black History Month 2022.

Anna Dilku, the co-chair of our Aviva Origins Community

As we come to the end of this month, let us not forget that one month is not enough to celebrate the achievements of the Black community. Let us all commit to educating ourselves about Black history and engage in deep conversations throughout the rest of the year.

Muya Mahamat, Co-Chair of Black Professional Network

As part of our Black History Month activity, we've had an interesting conversation with Tobi, the founder of Black Ballad, a UK-based lifestyle platform that seeks to tell the human experience through the eyes of Black British women. This is one of the many activities our Black Professionals Network have organised for us.

 Tobi, the founder of Black Ballad, a UK-based lifestyle platform

About Aviva Origins

Fully inclusive of colleagues with origins from anywhere in the world and includes race & ethnicity, faith and belief as well as culture and politics. This group seeks to explore the diversity of our the diversity of our cultures, promote personal and professional development and empower our members at all stages of their career. We recognise the importance of varied experience, backgrounds and generations and help people when they need us most. 

Jennifer - Aviva Origins

Supporting ethnic minorities

We are focused on attracting, promoting and retaining more ethnic minority employees – across all levels of the business. 

We are signatories of the Race at Work charter and have introduced a number of initiatives to support its five focus areas – from enabling career progression to capturing ethnicity data. 

South Asian Heritage Month takes place annually between 18th July - 17th August, with this year's theme (2022) centred around "Journeys of Empire". Aviva have celebrated through a variety of events and blog posts to highlight the diverse experiences and heritage of South Asians. 

We have organised a range of activities from the launch of Aviva's South Asian professionals network A.S.A.P, to injecting a flavour of South Asia into our lunch menus, through to desk yoga.

Tweet See new Tweets Conversation Aviva plc @avivaplc We've been celebrating #SouthAsianHeritageMonth 💛    We organised a range of activities from the launch of Aviva's South Asian professionals network A.S.A.P, to injecting a flavour of South Asia into our lunch menus, through to desk yoga.

Leadership and development programmes

Working with the Diversity Practice, we have developed a bespoke ethnic minority leadership programme in the UK. 

Launched in January 2020, the first 18 employees completed the course. In addition, line managers have received guidance on how to help these employees continue to develop their leadership skills.

Across our London and Leeds offices, we have also set up our Origins intern programme, supporting younger generations from minority backgrounds kick-start their career in financial services.

In 2018, eight of 20 interns successfully went on to secure future roles at Aviva.

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