Welcome to the Powerlist: Britain’s 100 most influential black people. It is a publication that pushes aside stereotypes, celebrates success and offers a more balanced view of a community that gets little positive press.
It comprises people from a variety of backgrounds – law, politics, business, the arts, sport, entertainment, academia. You name it and somewhere in Britain there is a black person excelling at it. And when you consider that Britons of African or Caribbean heritage make up about two per cent of the total population of Great Britain and have only been here in any great numbers for fewer than 50 years, that is an achievement in itself.
We have split the list equally into 50 men and 50 women, in order to get an idea of the strength of both sexes.
But why do it? And why ‘the most influential' people and not some other classification?
To answer the first question first, we did it because no one has done it before and because, at a time when so many negative stories abound about black people in
Britain, it was time for a bit of a pick-me-up; time to give people a more positive view of themselves and to do so in as realistic a manner as possible without wheeling out the usual suspects – sports stars and entertainers.
As for the second question, actually, like many ideas, this one went through several phases before it became what it is now.
My first intention was to put together a list of the wealthiest black people in Britain – a rich list – but after mulling it over and listening to various opinions, I
decided that was too crass and not all that interesting because it doesn't leave a lot of room for debate. After all, if someone is worth £100m, they will
automatically be higher up on such a list than a person worth half that amount and what more is there to say about that?
So a rich list was out.
Then the idea of a powerlist came up. That was better, I thought, but it threw up a number of other things to consider. Not least the questions: What is power? What is influence? Is there a difference between the two?
We decided that we could define influence as ‘the ability to alter events and/or change lives'. This meant that power per se took a back seat. Power we decided to
regard as latent influence. In other words, you are powerful if you are in a position to alter events and/or change lives; you become influential when you
actually do so.
And before anyone points it out I am well aware that we have ended up with something called a Powerlist that actually measures influence. But I'm sure you
will agree that Influencelist doesn't have quite the same ring to it!
Once we had worked out what to call it and how to put together a shortlist of candidates for the list, an independent panel was appointed to decide who
featured on it. After mulling over the nominees for a week or so, they held a seven-hour meeting to decide the final 100 and the order of the top 10s and we were in business.
We ended up with a publication that features what we consider to be 100 fascinating people, many of whom we could all, probably, learn something from.
Here's a taster of the top two.
Leading the women's list is the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, who was told by her career advisor that the best she could hope for would be a job as a
check-out girl in a supermarket. She went on to become the youngest QC since William Pitt, the Younger (1759-1806) and Britain's first female Attorney General.
Heading the men's list is Dr Mo Ibrahim, who, in his mid-forties was working for BT, before leaving to set up a telecommunications company in Africa. Now in his
early 60s, he sold his company, Celtel, a few years ago for an incredible $3.4bn and runs a Foundation dedicated to measuring and improving African States. He
gives away a prize of $5m every year to a former head of State who has best served his or her country while in power.
Here are the rest of the top 10 men and women.
Men
Dr Mo Ibrahim, Philanthropist
Tidjane Thiam, Group Finance Director, Prudential
Damon Buffini, Chairman, Permira
John Sentamu, Archbishop of York
Trevor Phillips, Chair, Commission for Equalities and Human Rights
David Lammy, MP, Skills Minister
Rio Ferdinand, Footballer
Ken Olisa, CEO Restoration Partners
David Adjaye, Architect
Daniel Alexander, QC, Barrister
Women
Baroness Scotland, QC, Attorney General
Claire Ighodaro, Director
Michelle Ogundehin, Editor-in-Chief Elle Decoration, Real Homes
Vivian Hunt, Director, McKinsey and Co
Pat McGrath, Global Cosmetics Design Director, Proctor & Gamble
Carol Lake, Managing Director and Head of Philanthropy, JP Morgan
Diane Abbott, Member of Parliament
Tandy Anderson, CEO, Select Models
Sonita Alleyne, CEO, Somethin' Else
Abigail Blackburn, Editor, Now magazine
To learn more about all of them and to find out about the other 80 people on the list you can either download the ezine, which costs just £3.00 or, alternatively,
buy a hard copy of the magazine, which is £4.95 including postage and packing in the United Kingdom (various postage rates apply internationally).
But it doesn't end there, because in addition, you will also be able to read an interview with Britain's most influential black family, as well as features on why
Africa is the world's most promising emerging market; the new wave of entrepreneurs who are changing the business landscape in Nigeria; the Jamaica
you didn't know and the real significance of Barack Obama, written by his friend David Lammy MP, a man who has himself been tipped to be Britain's first black
Prime Minister.
It's a quality magazine that offers a good read and profiles 100 people who could be role models to you or your children.
I hope you enjoy it.
Michael Eboda
CEO, Powerful Media Ltd
Publisher, Powerlist 2008
