London (AFP)

"It was harder for me but I held on." A successful entrepreneur, Piers Linney remains an exception in the United Kingdom, where ethnic minorities are discriminated against in the business world.

Getting a place as a person from a minority is an obstacle course, says this member of the board of directors of the public bank British Business Bank, which notably offers a loan program for entrepreneurs from a minority.

"I have applied 68 times for a job in a law firm", tells AFP this 49-year-old former investment banker, made famous by his participation as a judge in the competition show between entrepreneurs Dragons' Den on the BBC.

"When I was in school, nobody explained to me how to be a lawyer or work in finance. They wanted to teach me how to be a plumber. So it all starts really early," he explains.

A sentiment shared by Shanika Amarasekara, 45, one of the leaders of British Business Bank.

As a minority woman, "you know you are going to have battles to fight," she told AFP. "But I decided to be positive, assuming that everything is possible".

Since the murder in the United States of George Floyd, an African-American asphyxiated by a white police officer, who started a worldwide movement of demonstrations to denounce glaring violence and inequalities, many companies have started their examination of conscience and promise more diversity .

However, there is still a long way to go in the United Kingdom, where studies show that there is very little representation of "BAME" minorities (British acronym for black, Asian and other ethnic minorities) in positions of responsibility.

A recent report from the Parker government commission noted that large companies in the FTSE-350 stock market index had only 6.8% minorities among the top executives.

And the Business in the Community association estimates 1.5% the number of black people among leaders of the private sector as a whole, without significant progress since 2014.

According to several studies, the largest companies seem unable to meet the target set in 2017 by the government to appoint at least one BAME member to their boards of directors by 2021.

"Companies need to work harder to identify young talent who don't always have the social capital and contacts to be as visible as they should be," said Linney, whose mother is from Barbados and the father of Manchester (north-west of England).

Even high-end distributor John Lewis, known for his social openness, has been criticized recently for having only six people of color, including its president Sharon White, among its 158 senior officials.

- Change the "system"? -

However, more and more British companies are showing the will to do better, such as the Greene King pub chain and the Lloyd's of London insurance market, which have also recognized their past links with slavery.

"The lack of representation of black and ethnic minorities in the highest echelons of British business must change," asked Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the main British employers' organization, in early June.

Several bosses of big companies, like the supermarket giant Tesco or the audiovisual group ITV, also pledged to change things in an open letter published Sunday in the Sunday Times.

"As business leaders, we need to talk about white privilege. We need to talk about racism. We need to talk about the role we have played in maintaining this system for so long," they write.

Linney believes it is crucial to provide success stories to younger children.

"What happens is that you overcome obstacles and it is only when you reach your goal that you realize that there are not many people like you around you," he says. , concerned that his case would no longer be exceptional.

© 2020 AFP