Germany is beaming with incredible Black talent and Leadership. Not only are we proud of the leaders we are featuring in this series, but we also want to shine a light on the amazing work they are doing on the ground to make Germany more Diverse, Inclusive, and equal. One of the main selection criteria was the leadership and commitment they have demonstrated through their work whether professional or pro bono. They are all leading the next generation of change-makers and we believe that in a few years the impact of their work will be clearly seen.

Lewamm “Lu” Ghebremariam is Senior Campaign Strategist for the petition platform Change.org Germany.  Since 2018, she has been supporting and advising activists with her marketing and strategy expertise making national and international headlines. Lewamm campaigns and initiatives have a particular focus on elevating “marginalized” voices or “niche” issues to become mainstream. She has worked on the #RKellyStummschalten (#MuteRkelly Germany), #NWortStoppen (#StoptheNword), or the recently passed law against Upskirting. Lewamm is an honorary board member of the Berlin Clubcommission which focuses on raising awareness and creating a low-discriminatory, diverse, and sustainable club culture. Since 2017, Lewamm has been hosting the queer-feminist event series BRENN. For her continuous work on elevating marginalized voices in music and clubcluture, Lewamm was included in the “Alternative Power 100 Music List 2020” by shesaid.so and Native instruments.

Alhaji Allie Bangura is the Founder of ADAN e.V. and an international business and finance professional whose work has focused on emerging economies particularly Asia and Africa. With a Sierra Leonean upbringing in Germany, Allie has always been concerned with the state of the African Diaspora, especially with the aim of changing the African narrative and how Africa is depicted in Europe. Driven by his concerns he founded the Afro-German Academics Network in 2014, one of the leading networks of professionals from the African Diaspora in Germany, with more than 300+ members in seven major cities. The goal of the organization is to provide a platform for interaction, inspiration to the younger generation, and promote Africa as a business destination in Europe to further the exchange and develop Africa’s economy. Alhaji holds a Masters degree in international business and politics from the Queen Mary University of London and is a Member of the Advisory Board for “Promotion of employment in the informal sector in Africa by leveraging diaspora money transfers” (WiDu Advisory Board), chaired by Günther Nooke, Commissioner for Africa, German chancellor’s personal representative for Africa.

With roots from the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa, Kave Bulambo is a Talent Acquisition Specialist, Founder, Creator, and Diversity advocate. After many years of working in the Berlin Tech industry and continuously struggling to find diverse candidates either to connect with or hire, Kave decided to create BlackinTechBerlin a community of support for Black professionals working in the Berlin/Germany Tech industry. Steered by the same mission to connect Black professionals to opportunities, Kave and her team are building TalentDiverse which will be a platform dedicated to further connect Black professionals but most importantly the platform will connect them to jobs that match their skills and values, in relations to that of companies looking to hire diverse talent.

My life journey has inspired and propelled me to always do the right thing even when it is the hardest thing to do.

Kave’s work has been recognized worldwide and has earned her honors with institutions such as the United Nations, The Nelson Mandela Foundation, The Bill Clinton Foundation, and more recently The Impact of Diversity Award under the category of -Most Influential Woman of The Year- in Germany.

Mark Ivan Serunjogi, is a Copenhagen native of Ugandan descent who has worked for Berlin tech startups since 2016. Initially doing product marketing, he got involved in employee representation and advocacy with the main focus on diverse representation and inclusion, or the lack thereof, in the workplace. It was the same longing for a better sense of belonging and community that led him to start the Black Berlin group on Facebook with a friend to make space for the range of Black identities living in or seeking opportunities in Berlin. The group boast close to 2000 members who identify as Black and living in Germany.
Now working in Employer Branding, Mark gets to focus on how to attract and retain diverse talent and how to build inclusive and fair organizational environments.

In this world we all, especially Black people, deserve financial and professional stability and growth.

Oladunni Staehler is a Senior IT Consultant at SAP with a special focus on Internal Communications. She is responsible for running purpose-driven employee communications to promote knowledge & understanding and champion change. Her mission is to assist others in achieving their goals through communication and shape the brand and culture of their business. Oladunni has been with SAP for 18 years in various customer-facing roles ensuring that SAP customers were getting optimal user experiences with their products, especially in the area of Human Resources software. Outside of her profession Oladunni is the Chapter Lead in Germany for Women in Tech Africa, a non-profit organization whose mission is to showcase African female leaders, create role models and support African growth through technology.

She is passionate about innovation, creating opportunities for Women, and fostering opportunities for partnerships. Ola sees herself as a bridge, connecting people and helping them benefit from each other.

Ola holds a B.A Combined Honors in German & French and M.A in Germanic Languages and Literature.

Nathaniel Idahosa is a Software Engineer who moved to Germany from Nigeria in 1998 at the age of 13. Due to a language barrier, he started school at the lowest German secondary school system known as “Hauptschule”. Soon after graduating from high school he began his career as a trainee in IT system merchandising which allowed him to land his first full-time job in tech as an IT support engineer. After many setbacks in his career, Nathaniel started learning how to code in late 2017, and in mid-2019 landed his first job in software development as an iOS developer, self-taught that was.

Inspired by his journey and seeing the insurmountable opportunities in Tech, Nathaniel decided to start CodeStories a podcast series found on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple with a goal to encourage, equip, empower, and inspire professionals in the tech and those looking to make the jump.

In this very short period of time, Nathaniel has managed to host the biggest German Tech-Youtubers Livestream and has encouraged thousands of his followers to pursue a career in Tech.

Being the first edition of our leaders series during Black History Month, we are extending a conversation to hear more from our featured leaders, what inspired them, what challenges they face and how do they manage to overcome them.

Once more, Happy Black History Contribution in Germany.