MESH/Diversity, the New Brunswick company whose software helps organizations improve diversity and inclusion, has launched a new program to help human resource executives and others improve their skills.

The company announced recently that it is now offering the new DEI Builder program, a three-week course that helps to train people in the skills needed in diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. People attending the course – ideally DEI or HR execs – can then use what they’ve learned in collaboration with the MESH/Diversity software to help effect change throughout their company or organization.  

MESH/Diversity’s intelligence platform helps organizations build a more diverse and inclusive workforce, providing them with the metrics to expose shortcomings and show progress.  Using predictive algorithms, its Diversity Intelligence platform measures an organization’s inclusiveness, and helps to implement improvements. The goal is to develop an inclusive culture in which the best people will want to work, stay and thrive.

The company’s approach and philosophy follow the teachings of Chief Diversity Officer Leeno Karumanchery, who has more than 20 years of experience and expertise in the field. MESH/Diversity works with clients throughout North America, including the insurer Guardian, Habitat for Humanity and Silicon Valley Bank, and its technology is now used by people in more than 20 countries.

“There are a lot of well-meaning folks who have a DEI portfolio within their organizations, and what they’re doing in a lot of cases is focusing on training or on hiring,” said Karumanchery in an interview. “The problem is … if you go on Google and look up ‘DEI best practice], you’ll find 30 years of failed practice. You’re only filling in holes.”

The problem goes well beyond training and hiring, he said, and senior people within organizations need to understand the complexity of the situation. “We built a program that would fill in the gaps in those DEI programs, that was systemic in nature and that would be sustainable over time,” he said.

He and CEO Mike Wright said several times in the interview that the DEI Builder is a “three-week sprint” and is meant to complement the broader, systemic work of MESH/Diversity. The company has held the first DEI Builder cohort, which was attended by 16 organizations. MESH/diversity plans to hold several cohorts each year.

As well as launching the new program, MESH/Diversity is continuing to grow revenues with its core platform, said Wright. The growth has come not only by adding new customers but also by increasing the use by existing companies. It is also forming more strategic partnerships, such as a recently signed pact with Biocom California, the state’s life sciences association.

MESH/Diversity employs 16 people, all working remotely, and is planning to hire more staff in Atlantic Canada and beyond.

The company closed a $750,000 equity funding round led by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and Concrete Ventures in October, 2020. Wright said the company is beginning to discuss another round and wants to ensure that the next round will be all about growing revenues and getting more people using the DEI platform.

“Our growth has put us in a fortunate position so that we’re definitely having the discussion on what that next raise will look like,” he said. “It’s definitely to really pour fuel on the fire. It will be capital for growing.”