Make Belonging Real in the Workplace

Dumi Senda is a global specialist on workplace diversity, equity and inclusion and a highly inspirational keynote speaker, ICF-certified coach, and trainer. He is currently the Diversity and Inclusion Lead for BBC England, with a remit across 6 regions of over 3000 staff and millions of audiences across TV, radio, and online platforms. Affectionately known as “The Rags to Impact Coach”, Dumi went from a life of low prospects in his home country Zimbabwe and working as a labourer for ten years in the UK to becoming an Oxford university MSc graduate. Dumi has helped organisations across multiple sectors and 5 continents to transform their practices and cultures to foster better belonging for all their people. He has worked with top global brands such as the UN, Goldman Sachs, and Google among several others. He was headhunted to be a Course Instructor for LinkedIn and contributes impactful courses on workplace diversity and inclusion for the LinkedIn Learning library. He was also admitted to the NASA Astrophysics database of IDEA practitioners to sit alongside other leading experts on “Inclusion Planning Panels”. His personal motto is “Never let your Background keep you in the background”, which reflects Dumi’s passion for helping others to connect more deeply with their sense of purpose. He has been invited to the UK Prime Minister's official residence No. 10 Downing Street in recognition of his impact on workplace inclusion. He was recently elected president of the Oxford Black Alumni Network (OxBAN), which works to broaden access and success for people of Black heritage at the university of Oxford and beyond. Dumi is also an extensively published poet and author with two poetry collections and several anthology contributions such as "Sun and Snow" which brought together poets of Canadian and African descent to raise funds for hospitals in poor parts of Ghana. His debut children’s book titled “The Day the Sun Promised to Smile FOREVER!” was published in Geneva by Ariel Foundation International, with all proceeds going to Innocence in Danger, an international children’s foundation which was founded at the behest of UNICEF. Dumi was headhunted by Penguin to contribute a story to a book titled “Everyday Ubuntu”, which was foreworded by global Human Rights icon the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu.