Europe’s biggest career fair for Black professionals holds in Frankfurt

The ADAN Career Day 2023 will take place for the 4th time in a row on 2 June at the IHK in Frankfurt am Main. This year, the Afro-German initiative, in partnership with Linkedin, pursues an important goal by aiming to consolidate its status as the largest hybrid career fair for BPoC (Black and people of colour) in Europe. More than 1,000 participants took part in the fair last year.

Both on-site and virtually via the platform “MEETYOO”, interested participants have the opportunity to network with various renowned companies at their respective booths at the ADAN Career Day 2023.

Open communication

The exhibiting companies such as Zalando, Lufthansa, Siemens, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, European Central Bank and Google to name a few, assign particular importance to communication with the participating BPoC visitors on equal footing. They set an example by focusing their recruiting efforts on BPoC, enabling a safe, non-discriminatory space for career seekers. In addition to meaningful introductions and job interviews, visitors will gain informative insights into the corporate world in Africa. Furthermore, valuable first-hand experience of “start-up” companies will be shared with them.

Exciting panel discussions

Moreover, the career fair offers a platform for networking with other members of the diaspora. In particular, exciting panel discussions such as “Social Mobility and Black Career Paths in Europe – How to support Black Talents?” or “Black Success Stories in Europe” will provide topics for stimulating dialogues among the guests afterwards.

Among this year’s Black panelists are Lunia Hara Director, Project Management Diconium and LinkedIn Top Voice; Gaby Wasensteiner, Senior Brand Manager at LinkedIn; Mary Reinhardt, Senior Associate Digital Transformation at PwC Deutschland; and Deborah Crentsil, Project Lead at Allianz Business System. Other panellists are Cassandra Pope, Head of Portfolio Management at Zalando SE & Founder of Zalando’s Black Employee Connection; and Yanick Mbitse, Senior Consultant at McKinsey & Company.

How did the ADAN Career Day come about?

The classic story about the insecure Black boy wanting to network with companies as the only Black person of colour at a career fair is a familiar one. Alhaji Allie Bangura also found himself in this situation as a young student. Influenced by these experiences, he decided to found the Afro-German network “ADAN” together with other students such as Jonas Tesfai in 2014.

Five years later, the idea for a career fair that focuses on people of colour emerged for the first time out of the association’s work. “The career fair offers young Black talents the opportunity to come in direct contact with companies that are very interested in recruiting them. This likewise offers the chance to see what opportunities exist in their professional future.

In addition, exciting panel discussions give them the opportunity to be inspired by successful Black role models,” says Alhaji Allie Bangura, founder of ADAN and initiator of the Career Fair.

Interested individuals can visit the following website to register for the ADAN Career Day: https://adan.careers/adan-career-day

—–

About ADAN. e.V.
The Afro-German Academic Network (ADAN e.V.) was founded in 2014 by an initiative of young, ambitious students with African roots in Frankfurt am Main. They pursued the goal of making diversity visible and promoting it in German society. Meanwhile, the network has almost 450 members and continues to grow. ADAN is an inclusive network of Afro-German and Africa-interested students, professionals, trainees and academics that wants to convey a nuanced image of the African continent, Africans and Afro-Germans. @adan.careers