The Scottish Black Talent Summit, set to take place at the end of October, is returning to Edinburgh with the backing of national tech programme, Techscaler. 

The second inaugural summit will span across the two final days of October, taking place in the Scottish capital, offering insights and networking opportunities to the Scottish black talent pool. 

Featuring a networking and hiring fair showcasing some of the major players across different industries, panel discussions highlighting important topics for young people entering their careers lead by experienced mentors, and workshops enabling collaboration between community members, the summit is set to be a hallmark event for increasing diversity and inclusion across Scottish vocations.

Featured speakers include Abe Aboh, the data management lead at the Bank of England,  Manira Ahmad, chief officer at Public Health Scotland, and Viana Maya FRSA, founder of pRESPECT & pRESPECT Hub CIC. 

Behind the two-day event is Datakirk, a not-for-profit organisation, dedicated to address the data divide, with initiatives to produce more diversity in Scotland’s talent pool. To them, this means increasing the representation of disadvantaged groups in the data economy by improving data literacy, data science skills, machine learning expertise, and overall self-development of Scotland’s most disadvantaged. 

The two day event will offer CV workshops and networking opportunities on its first day, which features a hiring fair, connecting the Scottish black talent pool directly to industry. 

Panel discussions on the second day are set to benefit industry leaders as well as talented  newcomers looking to enter the data workforce, featuring topics ranging from accessing untapped talent to the importance of collaboration in Diversity Equality and Inclusion (DEI) strategies. 

Since its last event in 2022, Datakirk has seen its community membership more than double, from 1,200 members to now over 3,000. The company has focused on expanding its network outside of Edinburgh, and added several partners across Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee, as well as in the Scottish capital. 

Besides the Scottish Black Talent Summit, Datakirk has hosted 44 webinars in the past year, focused on supporting black talent in Scotland and fostering a diverse and inclusive ecosystem in Scotland. 

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In January this year, Datakirk launched three new projects aiming to propel Scottish black talent in the ecosystem. AccelerateBLK is focused on helping black talents start their career, and TalentPoint is an organisation centred on supporting and nurturing the black community. 

Datakirk went even further with DaYii (Datakirk Tough Internship Initiative), providing young learners internship and work experience opportunities with partner organisations. 

These initiatives show just how pervasive the issue of inequality is in the Scottish data ecosystem and wider society – every facet of the hiring and work process needs more support for disadvantaged groups in Scotland. Datakirk’s event, taking place on 30 and 31 October, is a prime example of the importance of purpose-lead organisations in driving inclusion initiatives. 

“Inclusion isn’t a goal; it’s a journey we must all embark on. The 2nd Scottish Black Talent Summit & Hiring Fair is your opportunity to take that first step,” the team at Datakirk told DIGIT. 

The Scottish Black Talent Summit will take place on 30 and 31 October at The Gorgie Suite in Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh. More information on the event, including tickets, can be found here.