Interview, Fireside Chat
Tom Ilube, Chair of the Rugby Football Union and Founder of the African Gifted Foundation
- Tom Elube was born in London (1963) to a Nigerian father and English mother, spending his first year in foster care before moving to Uganda at age seven.
- The family fled Uganda during Idi Amin's regime, returned to London, and relocated to Nigeria when Elube was roughly 14 years old.
- Elube attempted to run away from Nigeria at age 14, closing down Lagos airport for several hours by running onto the runway in the middle of the night.
- He holds a physics degree and an MBA from City University, returning to London at age 21 to launch his career in the technology sector.
- His early job search involved applying to hundreds of companies sequentially by alphabet; he was rejected by every firm starting with 'E' before securing a role at British Airways.
- Elube secured a role at a strategy consulting firm only after applying five times, leading to a direct phone call from HR where he was initially told he lacked the right background.
- He attributes his career success to a high threshold for what constitutes a "real problem" and an unwavering persistence born from witnessing frequent life changes.
- Elube describes himself as an "early-stage" entrepreneur who prefers founding companies from scratch and exiting once they are established rather than managing them long-term.
- He cites Mike Harris, founder of Egg, as a primary influence on his business philosophy, specifically the discipline of defining a narrow customer target and rejecting features that dilute the core value proposition.
- Elube co-founded six or seven successful startups, noting that the thrill of the process lies in building a concept from a blank sheet of paper to generating revenue.
- Early in his career, Elube faced overt racism, including a verbal death threat from a colleague at British Airways and a direct statement from a bank headhunter that they did not employ Black people.
- He chose not to report the death threat incident at British Airways, fearing his credibility would be undermined by a long-tenured witness; he instead retreated and sought to normalize the environment.
- Regarding the discrimination incident at the bank, Elube fought the accusation, eventually forcing the recruitment agency to withdraw the claim under threat of losing future business from the bank.
- Elube observed that overt, large-scale racism has diminished in the technology sector, though smaller, subtle incidents of exclusion persist.
- In 2017, Elube was named the most influential Black person in the UK, which shifted his mindset from operating "in the background" to accepting the role of a public role model.
- In 2021, Tom Elube was appointed Chair of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), becoming the first Black chair of a major sport in England.
- He serves as Chair of the RFU board, overseeing approximately 1,900 clubs and a player base of around 600,000 across the UK.
- Elube co-leads the "Firmware Black Network" alongside Carl Williams to support diversity within technology.
- He serves as a non-executive director on the Board of the BBC for 4.5 years before taking on the RFU chair role.
- The RFU has launched "Rugby United," an initiative specifically designed to attract individuals from minority communities to the sport.
- Elube founded The Gifted Foundation, which established the African Science Academy in Ghana as the continent's first all-girls science and mathematics school.
- The academy operates on a 10-month intensive A-level program covering maths, further maths, and physics, with a reported 100% pass rate.
- In the most recent academic cycle, 65% of students at the African Science Academy achieved A* grades, with 93% achieving grades between A* and B.
- Every student at the academy receives a full scholarship to attend university in the UK, US, Canada, or other global locations.
- Elube founded the academy to address the specific cultural and familial pressure in Africa that discourages young women from pursuing STEM fields.
- The school's environment is exclusively female, with female leadership (head teacher and lead maths teachers) to provide a safe space free from domestic expectations and peer pressure.
- Students are withdrawn from daily household duties (cooking, cleaning, caring for siblings) to focus entirely on their education.
- Elube's motivation for the school stemmed from his university memory of a brilliant Nigerian mathematician whose potential was wasted due to his background and lack of opportunity.
- The academy recruits from thousands of applications across Africa, selecting exceptionally gifted young women who may have previously been unable to access education.
- One specific alumna, a former orange seller, entered the program with no formal schooling and achieved three A* grades in 10 months, earning a four-year engineering scholarship to the University of Edinburgh.
- Elube was awarded a CBE in 2018 for his contributions to technology and philanthropy.
- He intends for academy graduates to return to their home countries to apply their skills and drive impact within Africa.