Garth Dallas is a Jamaican-born British entrepreneur and lawyer, who is highly regarded for his work in promoting social inclusion and equality of opportunities in the UK, for over 20 years. He has received accolades and recognition as a high profile and respected voice on Workplace Diversity and Inclusion, Corporate Social Responsibility, Commercial law, and Employment law.
Garth claims that being from a large Jamaican family, filled with great diversity of characters, instilled in him, from a very young age the values of ‘collective before self.’
He left Jamaica in 1987 to take up a Chemical Engineering academic scholarship in Hungary. The first year was spent in Budapest learning the Hungarian language, in preparation for spending the next 5 years in a rural university, The University of Veszprem, completing a BSc in Chemical Engineering and a MSc in Chemical Control Engineering, alongside native Hungarians.
Those years in Hungary were very significant in shaping his social consciousness and understanding of cultural diversity and the need to extend one’s head above the parapet to act as a beacon of change and awareness.
Garth left Hungary in 1994 as a ‘social activist’, having experienced first-hand the turbulent and rapidly dynamic political and social changes in East and Central Europe, some of which were extremely negative in relation to the acceptance of ‘differences’ and the treatment of minorities.
He frequently speaks of how those negative experiences helped to harden his resolve and taught him the importance of education and educating others in the beauty and value of diversity.
Garth had already embarked on various entrepreneurial projects whilst at university in Hungary and had a burning desire to build his own successful enterprise which would allow him the necessary freedom to explore his vision of influencing change towards achieving a fairer society, in an ever shrinking globe, in the age of globalisation.
Before leaving Hungary he applied to the University of Liverpool, in the UK, and was accepted, for their MBA course, thus cementing the next phase in his development as an adopted son of Liverpool, which has been his home ever since. He is a life-long fan of Liverpool Football Club, as are his two sons who were both born in Liverpool, so it was not difficult to settle quickly into the civic, business and social fabric of the fantastic city.
After completing a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) he had managerial roles in several companies and built a career in the Management of Diversity and Inclusion.
He also completed a law degree at the University of Central Lancashire and qualified as a lawyer, specialising in Business and Employment Law.
Driven by a sense of social justice and the belief in an equitable, compassionate world where difference is understood, valued and respected, he was eventually led to create two companies, Global Diversity Partners and Fortis Legal – both heavily linked to principles of fairness and inclusivity.
Global Diversity Partners was recently rebranded to Diversity Partners International. It is a specialist diversity and inclusion company that provides a range of related services to private, public and voluntary sector organisations to foster good workplace practices.
Fortis Legal offers a comprehensive suite of up-to-date legal compliance, experienced legal representation, proactive legal protection and practical commercial advice supported by strategic planning and implementation mentoring.
The path of both businesses has enabled Garth to be involved in community engagement, tackling social exclusion, empowering and developing local community leadership and helping to build various communities’ capacity to meet their own needs.
Garth is still driven by what he terms “the absolutely insane lack of fairness, decency and equality in society”.
He is the founder/editor of the award winning Diverse Magazine, The Diversity & Inclusion Top 50 UK Companies, and hosts an annual Diversity and Inclusion conference that explore how organisations can gain Business Growth and Competitive Advantage through effective Diversity and Inclusion.
He also Chairs the African Caribbean Business Support Group and is a member of the Commonwealth Association of Liverpool, thus maintaining his links to, and providing support to, the Jamaican and Caribbean Diaspora.