Frances Trought is the founder of Everything D&I (EDI) Ltd, Creators of Opportunities for Diverse Talent with a focus on race, gender and social mobility. Talent is everywhere and EDI aims to ensure opportunity is too! EDI has worked with industry leaders including Amazon, Microsoft, Rolls-Royce, Accenture to develop innovative initiatives to create a sense of belonging and awareness of career opportunities.
Frances is the author of Brilliant Employability Skills and has 18 years’ experience in Higher Education. Our flagship programme The I Accelerator, a work experience initiative, was launched with Microsoft Embrace Employee Resource Group in 2019, and has now been delivered with Rolls-Royce, Deloitte, Ford UK and new schemes are in the pipeline.
I started Everything D&I Ltd/ I Accelerator CIC 6 years ago, when I continued to hear students complaining that they were unable to access work experience due to having no professional network. This was the same story when I grew up. My mum was part of the Windrush generation and was a seamstress. She knew education was the key to my sisters and I having a better life, but she had no “network” to open doors for us. It was disheartening to know that 30 years on this was still the case for students from lower socio economic groups.
I decided to create work experience entitled the I Accelerator. It’s a 5 day work experience programme giving students the opportunity to:
• Work on a project developed by the sponsoring company
• Attend workshops giving an insight to current technologies and skills
Build a professional network for advice and guidance
• Learn from role models about their experiences
• Develop practical skills; Team work, presentation skills, problem solving skills and how to use data to evidence your solution
To date 1000+ students have secured work experience
1000+ students now have a professional network to seek advice and guidance
300+ of students have secured internships, placements and graduate roles
100+ students have secured degree apprenticeships in engineering, technology and business
As a result of this programme we recognised the need to expand the number of opportunities we were able to provide both sixth form and undergraduate students. The following programmes were launched with our network of employers
Additional programmes that EDI has launched
Microsoft Mentoring 3000+ participants
PwC Future Leaders programme for Black Heritage Females 300+ participants
EY Black Heritage Audit and Assurance Future Leaders 100+ participants
Amazon Insight Day 500+ participants
Adobe insight Events 150+ participants
EDI will continue to open doors for students from diverse backgrounds in order to ensure that they are able to continue to learn, grow and excel.
