About – Scottish Ethnic Minority Talent Summit & Festival 2024

About the Scottish Ethnic Minority Talent Summit & Festival (SEMTSF) 2024

The Scottish Ethnic Minority Talent Summit and Festival (SEMTSF) 2024 is first of its kind! SEMTSF is a series of events to support the diversification of Scotland’s workforce and improve outcomes across communities. SEMTSF, building on the Scottish Black Talent Summit’s rising attendance of 174 in 2022 and 268 in 2023. SEMTSF 2024 expands to a 5-day event 28 Oct 24 – 1 Nov 2024 with fresh perspectives for a more inclusive future.

SEMTSF is a talent-driven event that brings together various stakeholders from local employers, corporate organisations, talented individuals, non-profit organisations and government agencies to exchange ideas and best practices on how to find and retain minority ethnic talents in Scotland. Join the conversation on attracting & retaining Scotland’s ethnic minority talent.

Great Speakers

Networking

New People

Have Fun

EARLY BIRD TICKET Learn new things and connect people

£25

At the SEMTSF 24, together we’ll build bridges of understanding between communities, shatter the barriers that hinder opportunity, and ignite a spark of innovation across Scotland.

The goal of SEMTSF 24 is to unlock the full potential of Scotland’s ethnic minority talent pool. Through a series of dynamic events, workshops, and discussions, SEMTSF 24 will empower individuals, foster collaboration, and equip attendees with the tools they need to thrive.

This isn’t just about creating opportunities for talented individuals alone. It’s about building a more prosperous and inclusive Scotland for everyone. By attracting, retaining, and empowering ethnic minority talent, we can unlock a wealth of fresh ideas, diverse perspectives, and a stronger workforce that benefits the entire nation.

Some of our Past Speakers

Neil Gray MSP

Cabinet Secretary

Manira Ahmed

Chief Officer

Abel Aboh

Data Management Lead

Abel Aboh

Data Management Lead

Abel Aboh is a high performing Data Management Leader, who works for the Bank of England the UK Central Bank in the City of London. Abel has over 17 years unique cross functional and sector experience with broad exposure to data management, technology, AI, human resource management, change management, transformation, stakeholders engagement and program delivery in the private and public sectors in the UK.

Abel's working experience cuts across various industries and sectors such as the Bank of England, EasyJet, HSBC, Standard Life Aberdeen, BAE Systems, London 2012 etc. Abel has board, governance and oversight experience. He’s a Governance Board member of the Data Lab Scotland - the leading Scotland’s innovation centre for data and AI, which is part of the prestigious University of Edinburgh. The Lab mission is to help Scotland maximise value from AI and data, and lead the world to an AI and data-powered future.

Abel is a Committee member of the Nominations and Technology Law and Practices committees of the Law Society of Scotland. Abel is a Advisor of DataKirk a social enterprise based in Edinburgh, aimed at closing both the data divide, attainment gap, and increasing the representation of the disadvantaged groups in the data economy in Scotland. Abel is a Board member of West Lothian College - a leading Scottish College as approved by the Scottish Minister of Education. Abel is passionate about data, technology, education, social and global mobility, diversity and inclusion, leadership, democracy, artificial intelligence, youth empowerment, community engagement and development, stakeholders engagement and management, organisational design and culture, schemes development, services design and delivery.

Abel is intentional about transformation, leadership, strategy, human and technology optimisation – as an integrated system. Abel is a sought-after data and technology speaker across the UK. He was nominated as finalist for the British Data Awards – Data Leader of the Year 2021. In June 2023, Abel received a personal congratulatory and recognition message from the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria HE Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) for his contribution as a leading Nigeria diaspora. In July 2023, Abel received the Diaspora of the Moment recognition by the Nigerians In Diaspora Commission (NDiCOM).