A FORMER police chief who was once one of the most senior Asian officers in the UK, is to host a two-day careers initiative aimed at encouraging more youngsters from a black, Asian and mixed ethnicity background to join the military and emergency services.
Kul Mahay, who spent more than 30 years working for Derbyshire Constabulary before setting up leadership organisation Ignite Your Inner Potential, will be joined by Minister for Education, Gavin Williamson, John Crabtree – the Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands – plus experts in the military and emergency services at The DRIVE (Diversity, Race, Inclusion, Versatility and Equality) event at Birmingham City University next month.
Kul Mahay is a former police chief who is now hosting a careers initiative course designed to encourage youngsters from black, Asian and mixed ethnicity backgrounds to join the military and emergency services.
Also on the bill will be Army veteran-turned-businessman Samuel T. Reddy, who co-founded TriPotential – a not-for-profit organisation which supports military personnel – with Kul in 2020.
The pair have been working with Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands, Professor Martin Levermore, on developing the initiative for younger people aged 15-25 for several months now and the DRIVE event has the full support of the three blue light services and the military organisations, alongside educators and the West Midlands combined authority.
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Kul said: “It is a joint passion of Sam and I to increase black, Asian and mixed ethnicity representation in our most vital uniformed services both at frontline and leadership level. We see this as the only way we can increase the cognitive diversity within these organisations and better serve the public.
“It is an honour to be hosting this unique event. This is an opportunity for young people to engage with members of military and blue light services in a wholly different way.
“There will be exercises which will test and build leadership capability and a conference for educators and community influencers to understand the values and diverse opportunities within the uniformed services.
“We want to develop confidence, demonstrate practical use of STEM and highlight diversity and inclusion opportunities.
“We have a fantastic line-up of speakers across the two days, including Gavin Williamson CME, John Crabtree OBE; Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands and my good friend, Samuel T Reddy who has an inspirational story to share about his time as a Commonwealth serviceman serving the British Army and his ambition to create more senior leaders from the black and minority ethnic community through our TriPotential initiative.”
Kul said: “It is an honour to be hosting this unique event. This is an opportunity for young people between the ages of 15 and 25 to engage with members of military and blue light services, such as West Midlands Police and West Midlands Fire Service.
“There will be exercises which will test and build leadership capability and a conference for educators and community influencers to understand the values and diverse opportunities within the uniformed services.
“We want to develop confidence, demonstrate practical use of STEM and highlight diversity and inclusion opportunities.
“We have a fantastic line-up of speakers across the two days, including Gavin Williamson CME, John Crabtree OBE; Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands and my good friend, Samuel T Reddy who has an inspirational story to share about his time as a Commonwealth serviceman serving the British Army and his ambition to create more senior leaders from the black and minority ethnic community through our TriPotential initiative.”
The event will run from September 17-18 at The Pavilion, Birmingham University and places are free. There is, however, a limit of 20 places per school/college on each day.
ENDS
This press release was issued by Penguin PR. For more information or to arrange interviews please contact Kerry Ganly on 07734 723951 or by emailing [email protected]
