3 March 2023. WBI Director Dr Bonny Ling speaks to her alma meter, the Fletcher School at Tufts University on what promoting an inclusive economic growth means to her and WBI Co-Founder Anita David, and how to work on an inclusive economy from the ground up.
The wide-ranging conversation covered how WBI started and the business project we recently completed in Q4 2022 to raise awareness amongst small-and-medium enterprises in Taiwan on forced labour risks. Bonny also spoke of her time at Fletcher and what guides her in her work with different stakeholders.
At the onset of COVID in 2020, Anita reached out to Bonny to ask if she could host weekly English conversation hours for local migrant women over Zoom, aware of the impact the pandemic could have on isolated migrant communities.
“Bonny and I had numerous discussions about creating opportunities to empower and upskill migrants. We both believed that in order to create a cohesive community and a sustainable economy, the new immigrants in the city need support to form connections within their communities and to explore the UK job market.”
– Anita David, WBI Director of Community Engagement
These weekly meetings for a cuppa and a chat over Zoom fostered a feeling of trust and friendship. Over time, participants were able to open up about more difficult topics, such as loneliness or the lack of services in the community. Hearing first-hand about the ongoing struggle experienced by these wonderful and bright women made it impossible to ignore.
This is when Bonny realised that she could align her expertise as an independent business and human rights consultant, alongside Anita’s experience as a committed community development worker to create a social enterprise, where the private ESG consulting work feeds back into the needs of the local community:
“The vision that we have has to be one where our words and commitments meet the reality we want on the ground”
– Dr Bonny Ling, WBI Executive Director
Since the beginning, the projects organised by WBI’s community outreach wing have been focused on improving work opportunities for migrant groups and reducing inequalities, noted to be at their highest levels in 30 years and further rising due to the COVID-19 crisis. Receiving the 2022 Community Innovation Award at the Portsmouth Innovation Awards was humbling. While there is still so much work ahead to close the inequality gap, we were encouraged by the recognition of “innovatively making a change in the community”.
[Students from an employment training session led by WEA tutor, Bahar Mould]
[Councillor Chris Attwell sits down for a chat at our January edition of Food with Friends]
With our gratitude to the Fletcher School for spotlighting our work. To learn more about WBI’s ongoing projects, Employment Support for Migrants (with City of Portsmouth College and Workers’ Educational Association) and Food with Friends (co-sponsored by Portsmouth City Council’s Community Inclusion Grant), please read the full interview here or click on the image below.
