Diversity & Inclusion

Our commitment to driving greater diversity and inclusion in the consumer sectors

D&I champions for over thirty years

The MBS Group is proud to partner with businesses across consumer sectors globally to develop diverse leadership teams, ensuring their senior executive and non-executive leaders are as diverse as their workforce and customers

What D&I means to us

We take a broad view when it comes to diversity. Gender, ethnicity, social mobility, sexual orientation, age, nationality, disability and neurodiversity are all important factors to promote diversity of thought. So too, are the career paths leaders have followed, including sector and functional experience.

Why it matters

Ultimately, our view at The MBS Group is simple: businesses that fail to prioritise diversity and inclusion – especially now – will suffer as they find themselves outrun by their more forward-thinking competitors. This practically manifests itself through both a commercial performance, and a ‘moral compass’, lens

What we're doing about it

At the core of everything we do

We put D&I at the heart of each and every mandate – from start to finish – and we commit that every longlist we present will contain at least 50% diverse candidates

Actively tracking diverse talent

We actively track and mentor diverse talent the world over – from up-and-comers to established board members – across the consumer sectors, and in all key functions

Borne out in our results

Over the last three years we are proud to have advised on the appointment of over 100 female, black or ethnic minority leaders into critical roles within our sectors

Partnering with others

We work with external bodies at the forefront of their industries to actively help shape the D&I agenda, making our sectors spaces within which all talent can thrive. Ongoing partnerships include the British Retail Consortium, IGD, WiHTL, BFC and CEW.

Active in the community

Our partners and directors play an active role in driving diversity in our sectors. For example, our leaders at MBS sit on the WiHTL Advisory Board and are a longstanding judge on the prestigious Veuve Clicquot businesswoman awards - and we are an early signatory to the UK Government’s Code of Conduct.

Holding up a mirror to the sector

In partnership with PwC, through extensive, in-depth interviews and research, we are supporting our sectors by producing the definitive data on D&I in our sectors – as well as highlighting pockets of best practice and nuanced challenges.

MBS Intelligence

Our latest research, analysis and thinking about diversity and inclusion

Women in football: the next challenge is roles off the pitch

The past two years have proved transformational for women’s football in Europe. In 2022, the England women’s team – the Lionesses – won the European Championship in a final which broke television viewing figures. And this summer, the women’s...

Collaboration, commitment and community: reflections from WiHTL & DiR’s 2023 Inclusion Summit

Diversity & Inclusion

It hard to believe that MBS is now in the sixth year of partnership with WiHTL & DiR to help the hospitality, travel and leisure sector become more diverse. In preparation for this year’s Inclusion Summit, I was flicking through the 2019 edition of...

D&I in Beauty: leading on strategies, lagging on engagement

Consumer Goods & Services

There’s something that feels particularly urgent about discussing diversity and inclusion in the Beauty sector. Over the past decade or so, the way we think about beauty has transformed, and there’s now a pressing commercial imperative for Beauty...

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Beauty Sector

Consumer Products

The MBS Group is delighted to share our second report into diversity, equity and inclusion in the Beauty sector, produced in partnership with CEW and ScienceMagic. Over the past few months, MBS has undertaken in-depth research, measuring the...

Diversity & Inclusion in Fashion 2023

Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion in Fashion, produced in partnership with British Fashion Council, looks in depth at how diverse our sector’s leadership teams are in 2023, and explores if fashion companies are adequately prioritising D&I. Our second...

D&I activity is not yet translating into meaningful change in UK retail

Diversity & Inclusion

Only a few short years ago, it was very hard to engage most retail leaders in diversity and inclusion: D&I simply wasn’t top of the corporate agenda. Few businesses had D&I strategies, there was poor data on diversity within retail businesses,...