This is a 2 part guest blog for Energise by Funke Abimbola about her portfolio career. This is part 1.
Funke Abimbola is a multi-award winning Lawyer/TEDx Speaker/TV contributor/Diversity Leader/Patron/Board member and proud mother. She is currently General Counsel and Head of Financial Compliance at Roche UK.
What headline summed up last year, 2016 for you?
The year I said “yes” to (almost) everything.
What has changed in the last 12 months?
Within my career as a senior lawyer and leader for Roche, I was promoted to General Counsel & Company Secretary in December 2015. My key priority during 2016 was to develop into my new role. Two other members of my team were also promoted at the end of 2015. As a team, we have been involved in a number of core initiatives across the UK & Ireland pharmaceutical business and have developed together, making best use of our strengths as a team and learning from our mistakes and other areas for improvement. I am so proud to have seen my team receive recognition through a range of awards programmes including the Legal Business Awards, the Lawyer Awards, the British Legal Awards, the Law Society Excellence Awards and the Global Equality & Diversity Awards. In addition, 2 members of my team have won individual awards for their outstanding work, a source of tremendous pride for me. I thrive on seeing my team members flourishing and maximising their potential.
Also within Roche, I was filmed for our employee pride video called ‘Everybody In’, sharing my perspective on why I am so proud to work for Roche. The diversity within our UK organisation is very proudly showcased throughout the video. I was part of a small team of colleagues working on producing a report highlighting the overall impact of our organisation in the UK, including the impact of our diverse talent pool. The report was successfully launched earlier this year.
My voluntary diversity work went from strength to strength in 2016 as my influence broadened and became more widely recognised. Roche recognised me as a ‘Volunteer Superhero’ early in 2016, commending me for the impact of all my voluntary diversity and inclusion work. I now partner with the organisation’s global head of diversity and inclusion, providing my insights and guidance on our global D&I strategy.
I successfully launched the Akindolie Medical Scholarship in April in memory of my father, Dr. Frank Akindolie, a gifted, German-trained doctor who died over 4 years ago. The scholarship is privately funded and is aimed at supporting UK BAME medical students, comprising both a bursary award and leadership mentoring. My family and I were able to award the inaugural scholarship to an exceptional medical student at the British Medical Association in September.
I have continued to support the Law Society’s diversity agenda by providing keynote speeches at several Women Lawyers Division and Ethnic Minority Lawyers Division events, together with providing mentoring and networking support. I have partnered with the current Law Society president to further the race agenda amongst all practising solicitors in England and Wales.
I have been appointed as Patron of BAME and other philanthropic initiatives this year – Power Up, an initiative focused on upskilling and empowering BAME professionals, the Interlaw Diversity BAME Forum, with a focus on BAME lawyers and the Asian Voice Charity Awards. I was appointed as the first ever patron of UCLU’s Leadership and Management Society, the fastest growing society at UCLU and the only one devoted to leadership development. In August, I agreed to become Ambassador for the Precious Awards, supporting and recognising women of colour.
Throughout 2016, I spoke to and inspired over 2,000 school children, sharing my personal leadership journey with them and encouraging them to overcome challenges to maximise their potential. Following each talk, I followed up with those students who were interested in work experience and tapped into my network to secure opportunities for them. I also spoke in Parliament, at the Open University, within a number of corporates and at several law firms, all with the same consistent message that embracing diversity and inclusion is not only the right thing to do but makes good business sense and helps organisations to maintain their competitive edge. I was privileged to be one of the keynote speakers at the National Diversity Awards reunion event in February, having won the Gender Role Model award in 2015.
In June, I spoke at my first TEDx event sharing my personal story of overcoming various challenges. I was an expert contributor to David Lammy MP’s review into the criminal justice system and have also provided expert advice to the Ministry of Justice on a number of issues.
I became a Senior Advisory Board Member of Aspiring Solicitors, the UK’s largest diversity platform and resource within the legal profession and will be mentoring female BAME future lawyers going forwards. I was appointed as an advisory board member of Women in Law London, the largest network for pre-partnership women solicitors working in private practice and in-house. By providing strategic input and vision to the network, I am contributing towards extending the network’s influence and impact.
I held the first leadership conference for my own women’s network, Women Leaders in Life Sciences Law, in September 2016. The theme of the conference was ‘Letting down ladders’ and the conference was a huge success with many delegates flying in from overseas and demand already high for our 2017 conference.
I was privileged to have judged a number of award programmes in 2016 and was recognised through a range of award programmes myself including Divas of Colour, Women4Africa, We are the City, Women of the Future, European Diversity Awards, Lift Effects and CA Awards. It was a real highlight of the year to be awarded ‘Point of Light’ status by Prime Minister, Theresa May, recognising the impact of my voluntary diversity work in improving workplace diversity across the UK and in inspiring thousands of school children. Incredibly, I am now on the Prime Minister’s Christmas card list too!
My leadership and legal expertise were also recognised on 3 powerlists in 2016 – the UPStanding powerlist (ranked as being a top 20 BAME leader globally), Powerful Media’s Powerlist (top 100 leader of African/Afro-Caribbean descent in the UK) and Legal Business magazine’s GC Powerlist 2016 (top general counsel within the life sciences/healthcare sector).
I have been interviewed by several magazines and media outlets including the Law Society Gazette, The Guardian and the International Bar Association. Following an interview with BBC journalist Sally Bundock, I was invited to be a part of the BBC’s team of volunteer expert news reviewers and now regularly appear on BBC 1 discussing a range of world news topics.
I also took part in the Law Society’s ‘Solicitor Brand’ media campaign and was filmed for this campaign, sharing my personal story about how and why I became a solicitor and what being a solicitor means to me.
Funke’s LinkedIn profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/funkeabimbola
Follow Funke on Twitter @DiversityChamp1
https://twitter.com/diversitychamp1
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