Melanie Eusebe is an award winning business strategist, working with clients to identify strategic priorities and initiatives for revenue generation and sustainable growth. In 2014, she launched The Black British Business Awards (#BBBAwards) – the largest awards programme of its kind, endorsed by Prime Minister May, the Mayor of London and esteemed business leaders.
Melanie Eusebe Interview Questions
1. An introduction from you – background, cultural background, overview, education…?
2. Can you tell us about your Education. You studied Philosophy, Political Science and French and the recipient of the Gordon Cressy Leadership Award. She moved to London to complete her Masters Degree in Philosophy from Birkbeck, University of London and is now a professor of Leadership & Management, and Business Strategy.
3. How do you bridge between philosophy, education and the corporate world?
4. You kept a unique career that balances and works between teaching in universities and big corporations and Career highlights?
5. Can you tell us about your views on Leadership and management? Special in the light of your philosophy background?
6. Can you tell us about the Black British Business Awards organisations and focus?
7. What are the biggest challenges when it comes to diversity and management focus on the topics of the awards?
8. What are your views on data, our society, technology and digital transformations special in the light of your work on leadership, management, diversity?
9. You have been working between ideas, education, SMEs and corporations. Can you highlight some case study or experience you feel relevant from your experience?
10. With Covid-19 what ways do you envision to redesign our society with technology and social impact?
Melanie Eusebe Interview Notes
About Melanie Eusebe’s background. I was born in London but raised in Canada. Multiculturalism has always been part of my life. I went to university thinking I was going to become a doctor. I went thinking that I would graduate in something related to science but midway I decided to swap to philosophy. Philosophy has always been important to me because it created a sense of identity and development, it allowed me to look at my past to understand myself better.
I always wanted to help others too, solve problems -that is what actually philosophy is about-, so I became a consultant for companies, especially financial service companies and worked closely with clients as well. Throughout my career I was able to work with big companies, which was a big success for me. I have been a management consultant/strategist for more than 17 years with such global brands as IBM and Ernst & Young.
Management and leadership are at a consistent threat. Especially this year. It’s been a really tough year because of covid-19 but also because of an extremely divided society. We have had leaders that actually fostered inequality and division among citizens. From a leadership perspective there is a lot to learn from last year as we have seen very different bias and profiles of leadership.
About BBBAwards. When I started the awards 8 years ago it was a means to highlight the contributions of black people to the UK. In my heart, the awards were all about economic empowerment. It took off from the relationship that we had at the time and growing ever since to expanding from a ceremony to a whole set of programs and projects. For me, these awards are a collaborative, wholly inclusive set of programmes that highlights inspiring role models, challenges out-dated stereotypes, and most importantly, is a vehicle for economic empowerment, equality and change.
Through the awards we foster collaboration and networks among the participants and our sponsors too. We have created research and published on different media like Bloomberg. Special note to mention is a research we did regarding the role of Black and Asian women today. We are also collaborating with Deloitte, learning and mentorship sessions, talent conquests, etc.
Other research we did is based on the premise: what is preventing black colleagues to climb and progress within a company. So we looked to several companies, their ecosystems, their culture to understand what was happening there. Out of these research we created different programs to help both companies and employees in better inclusivity solutions.
Regarding inclusivity and diversity. Although there are good intentions out there I feel there has been good intentions before but very little has been done. We need to start taking action in terms of inclusion in different areas, from businesses to governments. Data is key for measuring what is going on out there and how well / bad are inclusivity actions performing.
One action that actually made an impact is the fact that how much SMEs rely on supply chains, controlled by large companies. After the death of George Floyd, these supply chain companies declared they were going to promote better inclusivity and diversity in their companies.
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Melanie Eusebe Biography
Melanie Eusebe is an award winning business strategist, working with clients to identify strategic priorities and initiatives for revenue generation and sustainable growth.
Fresh out of university, Melanie worked at Canada’s largest financial service institution, progressing quickly from Business Analyst to Manager of the Internet Channels. She moved to London and became a Big 4 Management Consultant and business advisor to aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as running strategic commercial initiatives and projects for global brands. In 2014, she launched The Black British Business Awards – the largest awards programme of its kind, endorsed by Prime Minister May, the Mayor of London and esteemed business leaders.
Alongside being the Chair of the Black British Business Awards, Melanie was also the Executive Producer for the Women of the World Festival (WoW) a global gender equality festival occurring with over 2 million women in 50 cities over 5 continents. Melanie now has her own strategic consultancy, working with businesses on strategic initiatives and she also runs an online biz school for aspiring leaders.
Eusebe works with various schools as a mentor and is a regular speaker, lecturer and broadcaster for BBC television and radio programmes such as BBC News at Six, What The Papers Say and Radio 4’s Today, as well as hosting a show at Colourful Radio. She has written for such outlets as Huffington Post and Management Today. Eusebe serves on several boards, among them the Creative Industries Federation.
Passionate about equal access and opportunity, Melanie started the Black British Business Awards to reflect the outstanding achievements and contributions of black business people to the UK economy. For her, these awards are a collaborative, wholly inclusive set of programmes that highlights inspiring role models, challenges out-dated stereotypes, and most importantly, is a vehicle for economic empowerment, equality and change.
Sponsors of the BBBAwards include Accenture, Baker & McKenzie, Barclays, BET, Bloomberg, BNP Paribas, BP, Cisco, EDF Energy, EY, Facebook, JP Morgan, KPMG, Mediacom, Microsoft, National Grid, Pearsons, Rolls Royce, RBS, Thomson Reuters, UBS, Virgin Money, and the Evening Standard and the Telegraph as media sponsors.
Melanie graduated from University of Toronto with majors in Philosophy, Political Science and French and the recipient of the Gordon Cressy Leadership Award. She moved to London to complete her Masters Degree in Philosophy from Birkbeck, University of London and is now a professor of Leadership & Management, and Business Strategy.
Melanie has been recognised by several publications for her work across UK industry. She has featured in the lists of 200 women influencers in the creative industry, 100 Black Leaders in Media, and 50 top women speakers in the UK. A champion of business, the creative industries, and diversity, Melanie is a board member of the Creative Industries Federation and has been a member of the judging panel for the Start Up Awards, Red Woman of the Year Awards, The National Inclusion Standard and the We Are the City awards.
Melanie has been featured in The Evening Standard, Management Today, Red Magazine, the Telegraph and she has featured on Sky News, BBC News, CBC News, and many more. Recognised by the Queen for her work, Melanie has been profiled as one of the most influential women in Business and the Creative Industries in the UK.
Melanie Eusebe Links and References
http://sittingbull1845.blogspot.com/2015/08/black-social-history-afro-british_12.html
https://www.melanieeusebe.com/
https://the-dots.com/users/melanie-eusebe-118538
https://www.everywoman.com/sites/default/files/file/everywomansUPDATE_May2015.pdf
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/black-business-awards-given-to-rising-stars-a3362981.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie_Eusebe
https://www.openbusinesscouncil.org/wiki/melanie-eusebe/
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