Bentley Motors has announced the launch of the third edition of its Extraordinary Women mentorship programme. Designed to encourage and develop the next generation of young female leaders, this year the initiative will involve students, universities and inspirational female Pioneers from the United Kingdom and Qatar.
The Extraordinary Women mentorship programme is organised in collaboration with the University of Bath, Loughborough, Warwick and Manchester Metropolitan in the UK and the University of Doha for Science in Technology in Qatar.
The programme focuses specifically on female students in the fields of engineering, design, technology, and business, and is a component of Bentley’s wider commitment to diversity and inclusion, which falls under its Beyond100 strategy. It was created and crafted to encourage women to explore a variety of career paths in the STEM and automotive sectors.
Eight students from the UK and Qatar will be selected to embark on the programme, which will involve one-on-one mentorship by specially selected, high-achieving women – the inspirational Pioneers – and will culminate in a week-long visit to Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe, England, this June.
The significance of the programme lies in highlighting the range of opportunities available for women. Participating students in previous editions in the UK, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been able to engage with Pioneers such as Amanda Levete, a Stirling Prize-winning architect appointed CBE for her contributions to architecture, Saudi Arabia’s Mishaal Ashemimry, the first female aerospace engineer in the Gulf region, and Amna Al Hashemi, an Emirati thought leader and serial entrepreneur.
This year, Sara Davies MBE joins the cohort of Pioneering women and will mentor a student from the UK. The founder and owner of Crafter’s Companion, a craft supply company that employs more than 150 people worldwide, is an inspiration to many women all over the globe. Sara is best known for her place on the BBC One show Dragons’ Den, as the show’s youngest ever female investor and appeared on BBC One on 15 March in Snow Going Back: Comic Relief vs. The Arctic, where she has taken part in an incredible trek in the Arctic Circle for Comic Relief.
“It is a source of pride and inspiration to everyone within Bentley to see the Extraordinary Women programme going from strength to strength, as it enters its third year and expands to a fourth country. Our aim for this extraordinary initiative has been to build a legacy for young women and support the success of the next generation of future leaders, and with past participants progressing to undertake placements with Bentley, we are already witnessing the positive impact it is having,” said Karen Lange, Bentley’s Board Member for Human Resources.
The extraordinary women programme is one of many initiatives from Bentley Motors to champion gender equality, empower women globally, and foster inclusion. As part of its Beyond100 strategy, Bentley aims to become the most diverse luxury car company with colleagues as individual as its cars. Bentley have released their second Sustainability Report, voluntarily, to show the progress that Bentley made in 2023 and this includes a chapter focusing on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Earlier this year, as part of Neurodiversity Acceptance and Autism Acceptance Weeks, Bentley with support of their Neurodiverse colleagues hosted a virtual meeting with a focus on the opportunities for anyone across the business to join and find out more about the purpose of both weeks, ask questions, and share ideas for the business or network. Bentley are also creating more knowledge-based articles for colleagues and managers on Neurodiverse topics.
Outside of the organisation, Bentley Motors were one of 20 Top Employers who took part in the Top Employers Institute pilot survey about neurodiversity in the workplace, examining what organisations are currently doing and how that fits with the research theory on neurodiverse employees. From this survey the Institute received fantastic insights on what works and what is next related to neuro-inclusion and they will share what they learned later in the year.
Bentley Motors also recently presented their next Inclusion Car – the Belonging Bentayga. This unique hand-painted Alpine Green Bentayga Hybrid features 29 different landmarks from all across the world – drawn from memory by Stephen Wiltshire MBE, a British architectural artist and autistic savant, who is known for his ability to draw a landscape after seeing it just once.
At Bentley there are colleagues from 52 nationalities working together, selling cars in 67 different countries and this project reinforces that our planet is full of all different people with different beliefs and views but we all belong to it equally. The Bentley culture of supporting everyone to be able to achieve their highest potential, mirrors Stephen’s ethos of ‘do the best you can and never stop.’
Continuing their 40-year commitment to training the next generation of engineers, designers, and technicians Bentley Motors has created a record number of trainee positions for the 2024, 164 roles. More than a third of the positions are focused on Bentley’s R&D department as the luxury brand looks for the industry’s brightest talents to support its Beyond100 strategy, seeking sustainable luxury mobility leadership. This includes the ambition to produce only fully electric cars, and to be end-to-end carbon neutral by the end of 2030.
Of the 164 2024 roles, 34 are for three or four-year Apprenticeship positions, 29 are two-year Graduate roles, and 101 are for 12-month Industrial Placements. Additional departments include Manufacturing, Sales and Marketing, Finance and Human Resources. In parallel to this, Bentley welcomed its 117-strong 2023 cohort to join the 4,000 colleague workforce in Crewe, including a record high 50/50 gender split of the new starters.
“I was eager to join Bentley as it is a much respected and prestigious company known globally for its highly-skilled workforce, which I’m now proud to say I’m a part of. I’m very excited for the year ahead and for the opportunities it will bring. There is no where I’d rather begin building the foundation for my career,” shared Sera Holden, Industrial Placement at Bentley Motors.
These are just some of the reasons why Bentley Motors has been recognised for the twelfth consecutive year as a UK Top Employer by the internationally-acclaimed Top Employers Institute and is the sole UK car manufacturer to be included in the celebrated list.
Bentley’s approach to employee wellbeing, values, ethics and integrity was commended by the Institute, alongside Bentley’s focus on sustainability, digitalisation and diversity and inclusion. The award is based upon a comprehensive review of the business which highlighted Bentley’s innovative and compelling approach to its employees’ own ‘Extraordinary Journeys’, as well as Bentley’s own progressive strategic ambitions for the future.
For more information about career opportunities at Bentley Motors, visit their Career’s website.
Photographs by Bentley Motors.