Tom Ilube


Thomas Segun Ilube is a British entrepreneur and educational philanthropist. He is ranked first in the Powerlist 2017, an annual listing of the UK's 100 most powerful people with African or Afro-Caribbean heritage.

Early life

Ilube was educated at Edo College in Benin City, Nigeria, followed by a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Benin. He later received a master's degree in business administration from London's Cass Business School.

Career

Ilube was chief information officer for the internet bank Egg.
Ilube founded the Hammersmith Academy, a state secondary school in Hammersmith, west London, which opened in September 2011 and has become one of the UK's "most innovative technology schools".
He created and launched Noddle, a credit reference service, in his time as MD of consumer markets at CallCredit Information Group. In 2005 Ilube co-founded Garlik, the online identity company sold to Experian in 2011 He and is the founder and CEO of Crossword Cybersecurity plc, which was admitted to the Alternative Investment Market on the London Stock Exchange in December 2018.
Ilube was appointed as a non-executive director of the BBC, effective April 2017.

Charity

Ilube is the chair and founder of the African Gifted Foundation, a UK education charity focused on science and technology in Africa. They recently launched the African Science Academy, Africa's first all-girls science and maths academy. He was chair of Ada, the National College for Digital Skills. which opened in 2016 as the first brand new UK further education college in 23 years.
Ilube provided the prize money for the Nommo Awards for African science fiction and speculative fiction, announced at the Ake Book Festival in 2016.

Recognition

He was the first recipient of the City Livery Club centenary "Root and Branch" Award in 2014, presented by The Princess Royal. Ilube was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Wolverhampton in 2005.
In October, 2016, Ilube was named by Powerlist as the most influential black person in the UK after topping the annual list of the 100 most powerful people of African and African Caribbean heritage in Britain.
Ilube received the 2017 Beacon Award for innovation in philanthropy. and in the same year, New African magazine listed Ilube as one of Africa's most influential people.
In 2018, Ilube was awarded an honorary doctorate by City University of London. and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to Technology and Philanthropy.
In 2018, Ilube was elected an advisory fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, and in 2020 an honorary fellow of Jesus College, Oxford.