Diversity & inclusion

Funke Abimbola’s Portfolio Career – the sequel part 2

February 13, 2017 By // by Rachel Brushfield

This is a 2 part guest blog for Energise by Funke Abimbola about her portfolio career. This is part 2.

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.

To read part 1 of this guest blog, please click on this link.

https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/funke-abimbolas-portfolio-career-sequel-part-1/

How did any change come about?

I made a conscious decision to say “yes” to as many opportunities as possible in 2016, especially where I was taken outside my comfort zone. Although I was unbelievably busy in 2016, the year led to unparalleled opportunities not only for me but for countless others within my sphere of influence.

What is the significance of this change for you?

By saying “yes” to everything, I am in a much better place to recognise my boundaries and to know what I need to prioritise during 2017. Importantly, I now know what to say “no” to going forwards without feeling guilty in saying “no”! Last year was another year of development and key learnings for me and my team.

What next for you in 2017?

I started 2017 with another promotion – from 1^st January, my role at Roche expanded to include heading up our financial compliance function. As General Counsel & Head of Financial Compliance, I continue to lead on legal and corporate compliance for the Roche UK pharmaceutical business, sitting on several senior leadership teams and providing legal support in the UK, Ireland, Malta and Gibraltar. In addition, I have also gained responsibility for all financial compliance matters for the UK pharmaceutical business including overseeing and leading on internal financial audits, internal financial testing (ICFR) and other financial controls that maintain the integrity of the organisation’s financial systems. This is a first within our organisation so a key priority for me is to embed my expanded team and to ensure that we all continue to develop together.

In terms of my external, voluntary diversity work, 2017 has started on a very promising note. I was listed in the law section of Debretts 500 (together with Supreme Court President, Lord Neuberger, Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale, and others) as being one of the most influential people in Britain because of the impact of my diversity work within the legal profession. In January, I took part in my first panel discussion event as Patron of UCLU’s Leadership and Management Society. The discussion was called “How to embrace your diversity and lead’ and I was joined on the panel by a number of colleagues and friends in senior leadership roles. Collectively, we shared our wisdom and experience with the students and other attendees. The event was a huge success and I continue to receive inspirational messages from those who attended, thanking us for our contributions and the impact we made.

I have been interviewed for a book being published by Harper Collins in Spring 2018. Called ‘Slay in your lane’, the book will be a guide to life for black British women. It was a real honour to be approached as one of the black women being interviewed for this ground-breaking publication. Others being interviewed include actress Thandie Newton, GQ publisher Vanessa Kingori MBE and Karen Blackett OBE, Chairwoman of MediaCom.

International Women’s Month (March) is always really busy for me and this year is no different. I have a range of engagements in my diary including delivering a keynote speech at my alma mater, Newcastle Law School, as part of the Inspirational Women in Law project and the 2017 Freedom of the City celebrations marking 50 years since Martin Luther King was given an honourary degree by Newcastle University. I am also partnering with Speakers4Schools and INTO University and will be speaking to a group of school students about my career journey, providing mentoring and work experience opportunities to them. I will be interviewing a high profile speaker to mark International Women’s Day itself in my capacity as an advisory board member of Women in Law London, a large network supporting the progression of women lawyers in the UK. I am speaking at the Solid Woman conference at the British Council as part of an initiative to empower and upskill women from a minority ethnic background. Another highlight in March will be speaking to a large group of school children from a BAME background at the House of Commons, providing guidance and advice about their future career options.

In May, I will be part of a panel of senior leaders at WeAreTheCity’s first ever leadership conference in May called WeAreFutureLeaders. Founded in 2008 by Vanessa Vallely, WeAreTheCity is a free, centralised hub for professional women who want to progress in their careers, enhance their skills and build their networks. WeAreTheCity has 42,000 members, 80% of whom are professional women. WeAreFutureLeaders will be held at Simmons and Simmons, a leading international law firm. The aim of the conference is to equip its female attendees with the skills they need to progress to leadership positions. I am looking forward to being part of the panel, including providing speed mentoring to attendees.

Later on this year, I will be judging the Inclusive Network Awards and This Is Me Awesome 100 nominations, recognising inspiring individuals who have given back and made their mark in our community. I am also one of the judges for the third We are the City Rising Star awards, a unique awards programme that recognises the pipeline of female talent across a range of industries.

Throughout 2017, I will continue to appear on BBC 1 as part of the world news review team, providing expert commentary on topical news items. In addition, I am being considered for another TEDx talk taking place this summer.

Yet to be scheduled is an important meeting at number 10 Downing Street. Suffice to say that the Prime Minister and I are struggling to align our diaries at present but we will get there!

Anything else you would like to add?

Whilst 2016 was, undoubtedly, a year of tremendous successes for me, it is also important to add that I made my fair share of mistakes last year too. Learning from mistakes is an essential part of being a leader and there were some key learnings for me throughout the year. I feel empowered to improve even more during 2017 and remain committed to increasing my influence and impact in the process.

The final thing to mention is that my teenaged son signed up to UN Women’s HeforShe campaign in 2016. He had noticed that the girls in his class were very capable but lacked confidence and did not always put their hands up in lessons, even when they knew the answer. He has committed to empowering the girls and supporting their confidence, quite remarkable for a teenager. I really hope that more male gender champions are encouraged and inspired to follow his example!

Funke’s LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/funkeabimbola

Follow Funke on Twitter @diversitychamp1

https://twitter.com/DiversityChamp1

Interested in a portfolio career? Download your free report Discover Portfolio Careers:

https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/who-has-portfolio-careers/

https://twitter.com/talentliberator

Funke Abimbola’s Portfolio Career – the sequel part 1

February 13, 2017 By // by Rachel Brushfield

This is a 2 part guest blog for Energise by Funke Abimbola about her portfolio career. This is part 1.

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

Interested in a portfolio career? Download your free report Discover Portfolio Careers:

https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/who-has-portfolio-careers/

https://twitter.com/talentliberator

Funke Abimbola Guest blog – the sequel part 2

January 28, 2016 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This is a 2 part sequel guest blog, an update to the guest blogs Funke did for us in 2015. In part 1 Funke shared what has changed and how the change came about and in this post, part 2, she shares the significance of the change and what next for 2016.

Funke is a practising solicitor and multi award-winning lawyer and diversity campaigner. She joined Roche as Managing Counsel in January 2012, leading the legal team supporting Roche’s pharmaceutical operations in the UK, Ireland, Malta and Gibraltar and was also appointed as Data Protection Officer for the UK. She was promoted to General Counsel & Company Secretary in December 2015. Her career began in private practice before moving in-house. Outside of her role at Roche, Funke undertakes a lot of work to support diversity & inclusion in society as a whole and within the legal profession in particular, initiating and driving through a range of ground-breaking diversity initiatives. She has received national and European recognition for her diversity work, all of which is carried out in her spare time on voluntary basis.

Part 1 of this guest blog in case you missed it:

Sequel guest blog part 1

What is the significance of this change for you?

The changes were all significant to me as they showed once again that there is no substitute for hard work, determination and maintaining your focus, whatever the challenges. Tenacity always pays off in the end. I feel incredibly privileged to be making such an impact across all roles within my portfolio career.

What next for you in 2016?

I am focusing on developing my leadership even further and have an exceptional executive coach who is helping both me and my team to exceed our goals. Various members of my team have been promoted to new roles and I look forward to supporting the whole team’s development as we make our 2016 vision a reality.

Outside of work, I will continue to build upon last year’s diversity work across several diversity strands, including gender, and to broaden my influence into broader CSR initiatives. I already have 15 speaking engagements booked for 2016, including another engagement at the BBC and speaking at the House of Lords.

I was recently appointed as a Patron for Asian Voice’s Charity Awards (more details can be found at http://asianvoicecharityawards.com/) and look forward to supporting this new awards programme designed to reward those charities with a big vision, seeking to solve the most pressing social issues of our time (both in Britain and globally).

I am hoping to speak to over 2,000 school children this year, impacting positively on their lives by showing them what is possible with hard work and determination. As the mother of a teenage son, I find working with school children incredibly rewarding and absolutely fundamental: children really are the future and should be given every opportunity to maximise their potential. For example, I am speaking at an event in March called “The Art of Diversity”, a nationwide competition for children aged 4-19 to create a piece of art showing what diversity means to them (see https://theartofdiversity.communisis.com/). My son has entered the competition and I look forward to being inspired by the children’s vision of what diversity means.

The list of what I hope to achieve during 2016 is endless but above all, I want to be able to look back on this year and feel proud of what my team and I have achieved, both within and outside work.

Read Funke’s original guest blogs from 2015:

Part 1
Original guest blog part 1

Part 2
Original guest blog part 2

What transferable skills do you possess that you could leverage in new and different ways? Download your FREE report now:
Changing careers report

Funke Abimbola Guest blog – the sequel part 1

January 28, 2016 By // by DigitalJenIPC

In this 2 part guest blog, in part 1 Funke shares what has changed and how the change came about and the part 2, she shares the significance of the change and what next for 2016. This is part 1.

What has changed?

2015 was a ground-breaking year for me both in terms of my legal work at Roche and in terms of building upon the reach and impact of my voluntary diversity work.

With regards diversity, I started the year focusing on gender diversity – by the end of the year, as well as gender, I was also doing significant amounts of work around social mobility issues and in relation to ethnicity. Together with award winning journalist, Jon Robins, and Byfield Consultancy (a leading legal PR firm), I published a report on social mobility issues across the whole legal profession called “Opening up or shutting out” (http://www.byfieldconsultancy.com/wp-content/uploads/Opening-up-or-shutting-out_Social-mobility-in-the-legal-profession.pdf).

The report was very well received, resulting in an exclusive for “The Times” and several opportunities to write further articles for “The Times” and other leading publications. The visibility and success of this report has led to many other opportunities for me – for example, a roundtable discussion on social mobility for “The Law Society Gazette” http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/people/roundtable-social-mobility/5052584.fullarticle and me being a panellist at the 2015 PRIME conference, together with Sir Terry Leahy (former CEO of Tesco), the BBC’s Mishal Husain, Louise Ashley (the author of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s June 2015 report, “Non-educational barriers to the elite professions evaluation”, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-educational-barriers-to-the-elite-professions-evaluation) and ITV’s Barry Matthews. Approximately 200 law firm attendees were present. The visibility and impact of this event has, in turn, lead to additional opportunities for me to extend my diversity work even further in 2016.

Throughout 2015, I received an unprecedented number of speaking requests. In terms of sheer numbers, I spoke to audiences approaching 1,500 solicitors and other professionals including speaking at the BBC, the Law Society 3 times and at the 30% Club. Speaking engagements to school children was also very active last year – I spoke to almost 1,200 school children in 2015.

In terms of my legal career, I started 2015 as Managing Counsel for the UK & Ireland, leading the legal team supporting Roche’s pharmaceutical business in the UK, Ireland, Malta and Gibraltar. By the end of 2015, I had been promoted to General Counsel & Company Secretary. I now lead a mixture of both lawyers and corporate compliance professionals and, as UK Corporate Compliance Officer, I have additional responsibilities in driving the site-wide corporate compliance agenda for the Roche UK pharmaceutical business. I lead the UK Corporate Compliance senior leadership team and am also a member of the UK Governance senior leadership team. So 2015 was an eventful year to say the least!

How did any change come about?

The changes came about due to my increased visibility, impact, hard work, determination and commitment to developing myself and my team. Despite a number of set-backs and challenges throughout the year, I continued to focus on my goals and remained tenacious and determined throughout. I networked extensively, both within Roche and outside Roche. I was constantly on the lookout for opportunities both for myself and for my team and encouraged my team members to make the most of every opportunity and to see challenges as opportunities for growth and development.

My work was recognised through a series of awards programmes last year and I was deeply honoured to win 4 awards last year – Career Woman of the Year (Women4Africa Awards), Positive Role Model Award for Gender (National Diversity Awards), Outstanding Woman in Professional Services (Precious Awards) and Inspiring Member of the Year (Inclusive Networks Awards). I was also recognised by Brummells’ magazine as being one of the UK’s top 30 women champions of diversity impacting on the City of London. By the end of 2015, I had been appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Royal Society of Arts for enriching society through ideas and action!

Read Funke’s original guest blogs from 2015:

Part 1
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/funke-abimbola-guest-blog-1/

Part 2
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/guest-blog-funke-abimbola-2/

What transferable skills do you possess that you could leverage in new and different ways? Download your FREE report now:
Changing careers report

Guest blog – Funke Abimbola #2

August 27, 2015 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This is part 2 of a 2 part guest blog by Funke Abimbola, Managing Counsel, Roche Products Ltd. UK & Ireland.

Funke is a practising solicitor and currently Managing Counsel at Roche UK, leading the legal team supporting Roche’s pharmaceutical operations in the UK, Ireland, Malta and Gibraltar. She is also Data Protection Officer for the UK. Her career began in private practice before moving in-house. Funke undertakes a lot of work to support diversity & inclusion in society as a whole and within the legal profession in particular. An award winning lawyer and diversity champion, she was most recently a finalist for ‘Diversity Champion of the Year’ at the inaugural 2015 Excellence in Diversity Awards and won the ‘Career Woman of the Year’ award at the 2015 Women4Africa awards.

Funke Abimbola guest blog #1

May 29, 2015 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This is part 1 of a 2 part guest blog by Funke Abimbola, Managing Counsel, Roche Products Ltd. UK & Ireland.

What are the components of your portfolio career e.g. study, paid freelance work, part time job, volunteering etc.)?

I have a full time job as a lawyer leading the UK & Ireland legal team for a large pharmaceutical company. In addition, I hold a number of voluntary roles within diversity and education. I am also a regular speaker at various conferences and to students both at school and at University.

How did your portfolio career come about?

My portfolio career came about out of a genuine desire to make a positive difference within the legal community and my local community. I was particularly frustrated by the ongoing diversity issues in the legal profession and once I realised that I was in a position to make a positive impact in this area, I decided to devote more and more of my spare time to diversity initiatives.

How has your portfolio career changed over time?

Because of the limitations on my spare time (I am a working mother), I have had to re-prioritise this year. For example, this meant resigning as a school governor simply because I did not have enough time to do that together with other schools-related work and my diversity work and speaking engagements.

When people ask you ‘what do you do?’ – what do you reply?

I tell them that I wear many hats! I often reply by saying I am a lawyer, leader, diversity champion, mentor and very proud mother.

To what extent did your portfolio career happen by chance/luck and to what extent was it planned?

It certainly was not planned but came about by chance as various opportunities to make impactful changes came up. I was approached about specific diversity initiatives, for example, and things have snowballed from there. Also, the school governor role came about due to a genuine need to get involved in the school’s development at the time.

What do you most love about having a portfolio career?

The ability to meet people that I would not have met otherwise; also the chance to broaden my experiences and change my perspective. I have been able to apply some of the new skills learnt from my voluntary work into my work as a lawyer/leader and this has made the experience all the more rewarding.

This was the first part of a two part guest blog by Funke Abimbola for Energise LLClub.

Follow Funke Abimbola on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/diversitychamp1

Are you a woman lawyer interested in a portfolio career? Download your free LLClub report ‘Discover Portfolio Careers’:
http://www.llclub.org/discover-portfolio-careers/

To book your place at the Law Society Women Lawyers Division Portfolio Careers event on 12 June, click on this link:
https://events.lawsociety.org.uk/ClientApps/Silverbear.Web.EDMS/public/default.aspx?tabid=37&id=1077&orgId=1&guid=45fb5b5b-61ae-421d-84e4-3ccb65a5c20b

Funke moved from private practice to an in-house role. Did you know that The Law Society (all divisions) are having a Changing career direction event on 20 October (evening)? Save the date. See link for details:
https://events.lawsociety.org.uk/ClientApps/Silverbear.Web.EDMS/public/default.aspx?tabId=37&id=1092&orgId=1&guid=f18e5ce0-e39c-4e5d-9f6a-4915fa3c27fc