Black interns fill Emirates to mark charity milestone
Thousands of black professionals packed out the Emirates Stadium on Thursday to celebrate the 10,000 Interns Foundation achieving its mission just five years on from being established in 2020.
The non-profit organisation, which works with major employers to improve opportunities for underrepresented talent Britain, managed to fill the Arsenal ground with 10,000 current interns, alumni of the programme, and its network of supporters to to mark Black History Month.
For the last half-decade, the foundation has delivered thousands of internships at some of Britain’s most prestigious firms for young people from low socioeconomic backgrounds. And its flagship programme, 10,000 Black Interns, now spans more than 35 industries, providing paid internships in sectors as diverse as banking, media, tech, healthcare and arts.
“We firmly believe – know – that talent is equally distributed and are committed to unlocking the opportunities and reshaping access to industries that have felt out of reach to you black candidates,” said Rebecca Ajulu Bushell, chief executive of the 10,000 Black Interns Foundation.
“That we can convene the largest ever gathering of interns in UK history is a testament to this talent pool’s hard work, to the commitment to talent development within our partner organisations and to a business community proud to assure the leaders of tomorrow that they belong.”
Celebrating black interns
The foundation has managed to sign up some of the most recognisable names in business to its ranks, offering their prospective interns opportunities at the likes of Bloomberg, Linkedin, Christie’s and IBM.
In just five years it has engaged over 1,000 organisations, secured 50 university partners and – most recently – secured its 10,000th internship – all the with aim of furthering opportunities for underprivileged young people.
“Underrepresentation is not inevitable, it is engineered. We firmly believe – know – that talent is equally distributed and are committed to unlocking opportunities and reshaping access to industries that have felt out of reach to young black candidates,” said Nana Cambpell, the foundation’s chief impact officer.