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At a time when many organisations are questioning how far to go on diversity, equity and inclusion, Elizabeth Bananuka has built a framework designed to make commitment measurable.
As Founder & CEO of The Pros Collective and the architect behind The Blueprint diversity mark, Bananuka has created what can be described as a B-Corp-style accreditation for DEI values in the PR and communications industry - a structured, data-led model that requires organisations to evidence, track, and reapply for their inclusion credentials rather than simply talk about them.
What does meaningful DEI look like in 2026?
If you listen to the headlines, you would think it is in full retreat. Pledges are being quietly rewritten. Budgets are being trimmed. And in some corners of business, diversity, equity, and inclusion has become a lightning rod for wider political and cultural battles.
Elizabeth Bananuka
Founder & CEO, The Pros Collective
Yet for Bananauka, the story looks rather different from where she sits.
“I’m very fortunate in that I work exclusively with brilliant, intelligent, successful business leaders running or working for brilliant, intelligent successful businesses who understand that, fundamentally, DEI is good for employees, it’s good for customers and clients, it’s good for businesses and, consequently, it's good for shareholders too,” she says.
For her, the real divide is not between pro and anti-DEI voices, but between organisations that understand what good DEI work actually looks like and those that never did.
“Of course there were a number of agencies who quickly jumped on the DEI bandwagon during 2020 and then promptly jumped off it when the premature death of DEI was declared but they’re not organisations I work with, or have ever worked with, and, consequently, not my concern. Though I think it’s safe to assume they were organisations that never understood the power of good DEI work, had never delivered it nor engaged with it.”
The problem with quick-fix diversity schemes
The Blueprint was launched in June 2020 with a clear objective: to promote racial diversity in PR and communications through a structured, accountable framework. But its roots stretch back further.
“I started doing this work, attempting to diversify the UK PR and comms industry that is, in 2015, and was inundated with requests from organisations looking for quick fixes to their diversity problem,” Bananuka explains.
She says the sector was - and in many ways still is - marked by structural imbalances. Agencies were often predominantly white despite operating in diverse cities, disproportionately privately educated, and youthful in profile. And while women make up a large share of the industry, senior management roles remain male-dominated.
“Most were calling me in for a quick fix e.g. ‘we need a director of colour asap’ or ‘get us more diverse candidates asap’.”
Those short-term interventions, she argues, rarely addressed the deeper cultural and structural issues around promotion pathways, training, development, and working culture.
To be pro-business is to be pro-DEI. To be anti-DEI is to be anti-business and anti-growth. That is the bottom line
“The problem with the quick fixes is that they were often short-term solutions that rarely addressed all the factors needed to create a healthy, diverse, and inclusive workforce, and they rarely worked for the group they were trying to attract and retain.”
She describes growing frustrated with what she calls “tick box tokenism” and disillusioned watching talented professionals placed into environments that were anything but inclusive.
“Talented comms pros were told they were joining an inclusive workforce, only to find themselves in exclusive and excluding environments.”
The Blueprint was designed as a “360 degrees blueprint - pun intended - for organisations wanting to increase racial diversity.” A framework that would help businesses recruit, nurture, and retain diverse talent properly, rather than superficially.
Although described as a diversity mark, The Blueprint functions more like a structured accreditation model. Organisations apply, are assessed by an independent panel, and must reapply to retain their status.
“Accountability is key,” Bananuka says. She is candid about the cynicism that surrounds DEI work from multiple directions.
“I suspect the one thing the ‘business case for DEI’ people and the ‘DEI is a problem’ culture wars people have in common is cynicism around DEI initiatives, and it’s fair.”
For too long, DEI activity often amounted to symbolic gestures without structural change, she explains.
“[It was] work that cost a lot of money and changed nothing. Work that created great PR and Instagram content but had no tangible positive impact on any demographic. You know the stuff - the ‘let’s give out samosas for Diwali but not tackle our ethnic pay gap’ or ‘let’s have jerk chicken because it’s Black History Month but not talk about our gender pay gap’ kind of stuff.”
By requiring organisations to track, submit and publish data, The Blueprint aims to move DEI away from feel-good gestures and towards measurable outcomes.
“By developing a framework seeped in transparency and accountability, forcing organisations to track, submit, and publish data, we wanted to create a framework that employees, customers, clients, shareholders, and stakeholders could trust,” Bananuka comments.
