SSE is to partner with not-for-profit organisation the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE-UK) Scotland which encourages diversity and inclusion.

Aberdeen-based AFBE-UK Scotland supports all young people, particularly those from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds, with career aspirations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

SSE is the latest company to join AFBE-UK, a platform for sharing ideas and supporting diversity and inclusion strategies.
Other partners to sign up recently include the Mercedes F1 team, Wood and Leonardo.

AFBE-UK Scotland chair Dr Ollie Folayan (pictured) said: “SSE is dedicated to providing greater diversity and inclusion throughout its workforce, and we look forward to working with them to develop this.”

SSE HR director John Steward added: “Inclusion and diversity is a key consideration for SSE as we seek to build and develop the workforce of the future that will tackle the challenges of climate change and net zero.

“We are delighted to partner with AFBE who will help us attract a wide range of diverse talent into STEM-related roles.”

AFBE-UK Scotland has supported thousands of young people since it first launched in 2011.

The organisation is part of AFBE-UK, which is based in London.

AFBE-UK Scotland provides mentoring programmes to support young people with their STEM careers.

This includes its schools programme NextGen, where industry leaders and professionals give advice to pupils through entertaining events; Transition, where industry leaders help aspiring engineering professionals to enter the job market; and Real Projects, where industry professionals share their knowledge and expertise.

These programmes were usually carried out in person, however, they are currently taking place online due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.