Europe’s premier inclusive tech festival is back for the third year, and it promises to be bigger, better, and bolder than ever before!
Black Tech Fest (BTF) ‘22 arrives in Central London in October and with a leading line-up of world-class industry speakers and over 5,000 diverse professionals, it promises to be an inspiring and empowering festival right from the word go.
Being held in person and at Magazine London, during 11-13 October 2022 to coincide with UK Black History Month, the event is also open to those who wish to attend virtually.
It’s a week-long festival which not only celebrates Black culture but also highlights innovation and helps create unique and inspiring career and professional development opportunities for underrepresented talent from ethnic minority communities.
Founded by Colorintech, the non-profit organisation whose mission is to increase the number of ethnic minorities entering the UK tech workforce, Black Tech Fest is being staged in partnership with brands including, Deliveroo, PlayStation and financial information platform Bloomberg this year.
In partnership with Tidal, the music streaming platform which operates in over 60 countries, providing members with access to 80 million tracks and 350,000 music videos, attendees to BlackTechFest will experience an exclusive playlist on the app, and be immersed in a sensory experience covering Black food, and visuals too.
“Last year, more than 75 high profile speakers took part in Black Tech Fest, which created more than 50 hours of content material and reached a global audience of many thousands,” said Ashleigh Ainsley, who launched Colorintech together with Silicon Valley tech executive, Dion McKenzie.
“This year, we expect participation will be even greater with our livestreaming sessions covering a whole range of topics relevant to entrepreneurship, music, innovation and pursuing a career in technology. We’re delighted to welcome Grammy Award winning Artist Michelle Williams, Top rated podcast star Steven Bartlett and Former Premier League Football Player Anton Ferdinand to talk about topics ranging from Abuse of social media to Growing Black British Businesses”
He added: “By creating opportunities for powerful conversations around technology, inclusion, and innovation we hope to inspire those who are, or who wish, to embark on a career in technology.
Dion comments: “We established Colorintech to help underrepresented talent navigate and accelerate the entrepreneurial journey and with the mission to make Europe the most inclusive tech hub in the world.
“Working to support minority groups in the UK and across Europe for the past five years, we have helped founders accelerate their ideas and learn best practices while gaining access to a community of fellow founders, investors, and experts.
“Through BTF as well as our other programs and courses, we’re putting in place massive building blocks to help turn ideas into start-ups.
“Black workers are so heavily under-represented in the sector that they only account for less than three per cent of the UK tech workforce. We’re on a mission to change that and BTF is a big part of this.”
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