Alfa Joins the Black British Network
Cephas Williams, the founder of the Black British Network
Alongside O2, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and EY among many others, Alfa has joined the Black British Network, founded by Cephas Williams.
Alfa, provider of systems and consultancy services to the global asset finance industry since 1990, has joined the Black British Network, founded by Cephas Williams.
Alfa joins alongside O2, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and EY among many others. By joining, Alfa will be a part of a vocal collective of changemakers, aiming to make racial equity a reality.
The Black British Network aims to enable roundtable conversations with members of the Black community and industry leaders to build better frameworks within organizations and society. Following these discussions, the Black British Network will compose The Black Paper, a manifesto for improving organizations’ approach to inclusion and diversity. Next, the video series Black British Stories will highlight Black people’s experiences in order to educate viewers and support change, and a portrait series titled Portrait of Black Britain - photographed by Cephas Williams - will make visible and amplify the contributions and identity of Black people in British society.
Andrew Denton, Alfa’s CEO, said: "The Black British Network represents an important step forward in the journey towards racial equity. Recently, alongside many other industry leaders, I signed Cephas’s Letter to Zion, joining forces to help dismantle systemic racism and create an equal playing field for the economic advancement of the Black community in the UK."
Cephas Williams said: "Andrew is a friend and someone I have got to know personally over the past few years. The importance of friendship in this context is that being an ally is not just about thinking of ways to help people; being an ally is to build authentic relationships with others and through those relationships grow closer, firmly in the understanding of how you can support one another.
"It is true that many hang up the ‘garment of inclusion’ as soon as they leave the office, and approach any conversation outside of selling their product or service as a tick-box exercise. This often leads to initiative fatigue, with many well meaning activities but no real systemic change. And so it is evident that to be a true ally, you must first be a friend, and to be a friend you must have a relationship. This speaks to real change beyond notions of charity, and real empowerment beyond feelings of empathy. From conversations I’ve had with Andrew and the leadership at Alfa, and from tangible steps the organization has now taken, I strongly believe they will be an instrumental part of the systemic change we are pushing to see."
In his Letter to Zion, Williams said: "I will build an alliance in the UK, an alliance of Black people and our non-Black allies, everyone who is brave enough and forward-thinking enough to stand with us, shoulder to shoulder to help create the change we need to see."
Alfa is committed to its Environmental, Social, and Governance objectives. It has adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are designed to address the global challenges we face, including those related to inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. Alfa has chosen four goals in particular to help shape and develop its organization: the commitment to quality education, gender equality, climate action and partnering, of which its partnership with the Black British Network is a key example.
Alfa has undertaken a number of initiatives in the past year to help address these goals. These include joining an external mentoring and coaching program for its female senior leaders, with CEO Andrew Denton taking part in The Executive Challenge, a program designed to give girls aged 12-16 access to industry leaders for mentorship and learning. As members of the Women’s Association, Alfa women took part in the photographic campaign For the Woman, designed to make women visible across industries and job functions.
Alfa maintains a highly active and wide-ranging Social Impact program, with June 2021 designated "volunteering month", during which people are encouraged to make use of their volunteering allowance, and spotlighting those colleagues who already volunteer.
Read more about Social Impact and inclusion and diversity at Alfa.
About Cephas Williams
Cephas is the founder of the Black British Network and previously 56 Black Men. He launched '56 Black Men' as a campaign in the UK focusing on changing the narrative of Black men in the media as an introduction to a much wider conversation. Since launching the campaign on the 23rd of December 2018, it has had both a local and global impact.
Over the years, he has been successful in galvanizing support for his businesses from key partners and senior contacts including companies such as Accenture, O2 Telefonica, Clear Channel, Tesco, and people such as Paul Polman (Ex CEO of Unilever), Simon Pegg, and others. For more information about our organization, please visit cephaswilliams.com.
At this time Cephas is looking at a new message towards a wider Black British conversation through The Black British Network. In his recent public letter to his son titled ‘Letter to Zion’, Cephas explores a heart-felt message and his thoughts around the much-needed change we need to see in the world, with specific reference to the Black community and the need for us to come together as a society for us to see long-lasting change.