Black Tech Professionals Resolved to Overcome Recession and Economic Slowdown by Strengthening Community Networks

Black Professionals in Tech Network (BPTN), the largest community of Black tech and business professionals in North America, returns to in-person conferences in October 2022 with the launch of The BFUTR Global Tech Summit.

The BFUTR Global Tech Summit, BPTN’s annual premier event supported by founding Title partner TD Bank, will be accessible through a hybrid format from Oct. 19, 2022, until Oct. 21, 2022. The first two days of the conference will offer participants the option to engage in a select number of remote and in-person events, while the third day’s programming components will only be accessible at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, according to a press release.

The summit, the most prominent Black tech conference globally, is known for its innovative tech talks, dynamic networking opportunities, career development seminars and epic after-parties that include some of the music industry’s most talented artists.

What can BFUTR attendees expect

Participants attending the 2022 hybrid summit experience can purchase a VIP pass ($299) to access the venue, while guests accessing the event remotely can secure a General pass ($0) free of charge. TD Bank being the founding Title partner, we are expecting 20,000+ attendees composed of Black professionals and allies, as well as 60 plus influential corporate tech partner such as LinkedIn, Salesforces, BMO, RBC and Intuit, this summit offers opportunities to celebrate accomplishments and reconnect with old friends within the Black tech community while also enjoying conference perks and programming elements like:

– Tech talks led by 100 plus industry leaders and change-makers sharing the sector’s latest technical advances along with keynote touchpoints delivered by public figures like Comedian and host of the Emmy-Award Winning “The Daily Show,” Trevor Noah;

– An after-party with performances by American rapper and six-time Grammy-nominated artist Rick Ross;

– One-on-one networking lounges, product demos, VIP social outings around the city of Toronto, and an array of meet and greets at some of the corporate offices of Big tech industry partners — allowing prospective job candidates to obtain a personalized experience of their company culture;

– And most importantly, a series of dedicated hiring and learning sessions designed to strengthen and build scalable talent recruitment pipelines and sponsorship opportunities with Black professionals in attendance.

Aside from the return of the summit’s in-person activities, which were temporarily paused for the last two years due to pandemic restrictions, what’s especially notable about this Black-led tech conference is that its core function is to provide pathways for hiring talent and sponsorship of Black professionals in an industry that traditionally excludes them as consumers and viable talent sources.

With the recession’s rise, a climate has developed in which Black professionals have frequently been faced with more lay-offs, hiring freezes, reduced sponsorship possibilities, and smaller raises while also experiencing greater unemployment rates and unemployment periods than their white counterparts. For example, while economists maintain that the U.S. labor market has recovered since the pandemic, with overall unemployment decreasing to 3.5%, a 6% boost impacted Black workers (Economic Policy Institute 2021). An outcome which is not surprising given that Black professionals are often the last hired and first fired during times of economic instability.

“The BFUTR Global Tech Summit is where the global Black tech community and its allies come together to celebrate tech, learn about new industry innovations and most importantly, build employment pipelines with tech companies and establish sponsorship opportunities for Black professionals. Unfortunately, Black folks tend to be the hardest hit talent pool during economic downturns or recessions. The best way for any Black professional to find a way forward or recession-proof their careers, for lack of a better term, is to build and strengthen their professional networks- essentially, it’s exactly what BFUTR has always aimed to provide to all its attendees year after year,” said Lekan Olawoye, CEO and founder, BPTN.