In this latest podcast for DIFF, Victoria Thurstan, head of events at AE3 Media sat down with recently-joined members about their experiences and the impact the initiative has had on them and their businesses.
Hazvi Chimbetete, partner at John Charcol, who became a member through the HSBC bursary and has been named a DIFF Changemaker, and said that in the short time it has been “really impactful and a big influence in my journey as a broker”.
“It’s connected me to some world class experiences, such as HSBC opening up their doors and things like that, as well as connecting with industry leaders and giving me a better insight into how the financial services is trying to be more inclusive,” she said.
Hazvi said that as a self-employed broker “you can get carried away sitting in your chair…everything is actually a desk but it’s a much wider network out there, and that’s what DIFF has brought to me”.
She continued that she had also become part of the Black Mortgage Professionals Network, which she learnt about through DIFF.
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Hazvi said that it is a “very huge and valuable space for me, because it speaks to who I am and what I’m passionate about, empowering people of my own background into the business and also into financial services as a sector”.
She noted that DIFF has also inspired her and she had a “lot of plans on the table” for the business.
“As a company, as a business, we are very passionate about ensuring there is inclusivity and all the things that DIFF stand for,” she noted.
One example includes having sanitary products in bathrooms to support women’s health, as well as encouraging more openness, transparency and communication between employees.
Jennifer Nursiah, partner at Coreco Group, said that DIFF had fed into and informed its shorter and long-term strategies around diversity and inclusion.
“I think in a sales environment where people are really heavily focused on business objectives, discussing concepts such as diversity, equality, [and] inclusion has encouraged the team to think slightly more openly, more consciously and in a more considered way.
“That’s really important in the advice space, where there’s so much emphasis on vulnerability and the empathy that you need to display with your clients in order to support them,” she noted.
An example she mentioned included neurodiversity, with notes from a DIFF session leading to Louise Stevens, a lifetime adviser at Coreco, feeding into guidance for the Equity Release Council on how to support neurodiversity.
Younger generation needs to continue DIFF ‘momentum’
Hazvi said it was great to see the current engagement with DIFF, but it was vital that the “younger generation needs to carry that momentum and be able to carry on what we’re leaving behind and pick up that mantle”.
She said that as part of her work at a youth club, she has been sending small groups of London boys and girls to financial services firms that DIFF members work at.
“It’s really good that DIFF members are not just speaking DIFF, they are showing death through their action. I’d like to see more of that across the industry, those that are within DIFF or even outside of DIFF because I think the picture right now is you have to go through certain career paths to be a financial services employee or a member or just personally engaged in it and I don’t think that’s quite accurate.
“There’s many ways to come into financial services, whether you’ve got a degree, an apprenticeship, and giving those opportunities for work shadowing and just opening the doors for young people means a lot to me,” she added.
Nursiah said that her passions in the DIFF space were around “empowering women, women of colour, neurodiversity, and championing those who are self-employed”, and she hoped that all that work would “still continue”.
“I want to encourage other people to get involved within the initiatives, by spreading the word, being an ally to existing initiatives, and there are new initiatives that are happening as well to help foster community and collaboration,” she noted
Nursiah praised companies like HSBC, which offered the bursary as “without sponsorship, these opportunities would not be possible”.
“It will be really great to see other people benefiting from similar opportunities moving forward as well,” she noted.
Listen to and watch the full episode here [19:13], hosted by Victoria Thurstan, head of events at AE3 Media, with guests Hazvi Chimbetete, partner at John Charcol and Jennifer Nursiah, partner at Coreco Group.
