Marylin Haimé, the powerful head of the government’s integration services, has been named black female manager of the year by the black women’s business foundation.

Haimé, who came to the Netherlands from Surinam when she was 16, told the Financieele Dagblad she became aware of her colour on the first day of term at her new Rotterdam high school when someone shouted; ‘hey look, a black one’ as she walked into her classroom.