The 13th annual ''

Powerlist The Powerlist is a list of the 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom. The list is updated annually and has been published in book format by Powerful Media since 2007. The Powerlist is not lim ...

'' was judged by a panel chaired by Dame Linda Dobbs and published in October 2019; sponsored by J.P. Morgan & Co.,

pwc PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a Multinational corporation, multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Fo ...

linklaters Linklaters LLP is a British multinational law firm, headquartered in London. Founded in 1838, it is one of the four ' Magic Circle' law firms known for their corporate and financial expertise. It currently employs about 3,100 lawyers in 31 of ...

and The Executive Leadership Council.

Top 10

Outside Top 10

Also listed in the 2020 ''Powerlist'' were the following people, organised by industry: Arts, Fashion and Design * Adwoa Aboah - fashion model and founder of Gurls Talk * Chi-chi Nwanoku, OBE - classical musician and founder of

Chineke! Orchestra Chineke! Orchestra () is a British orchestra, the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of majority Black & ethnically diverse musicians. The word Chineke derives from the Igbo language meaning "God". The orchestra was founded by m ...

* Duro Olowu - fashion designer * Dr Shirley J Thompson, OBE - composer, conductor and Reader in Music,

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Po ...

Isaac Julien Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn"Julien, Isaac (1960–)" BFI Screen Online.) is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Early life Juli ...

, CBE - artist and filmmaker *

Lemn Sissay Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. He was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, was chancellor of the University of Manchester from 2015 until 2022, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trus ...

, OBE - poet, author, broadcaster * Matthew Morgan - founder of

Afropunk Festival The Afropunk Festival began in 2005, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. By 2018, Afropunk Festivals had also been held in various major cities, including Atlanta, London, Salvador (Bahia), Salvador, Dakar, Dakar, and Johannesburg, Jo ...

* Valerie Brandes - founder and CEO of

Jacaranda Books Jacaranda Books is a Black-owned British independent book publishing firm launched in 2012 and known for their effort promoting diversity in United Kingdom's publishing industry. History Jacaranda Books was founded in December 2011 in Lo ...

Business, Corporate, Financiers and Entrepreneurs * Alan Smith - Global Head of Risk Strategy and Chief of Staff, Global Risk at

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

* Arunma Oteh, OON - academic scholar,

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economics, politic ...

, former Treasurer and Vice President of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

* Bukola Adisa - Head of Framework and Design at

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

* Camille Drummond - Vice President, Global Business Services at BP * Eric Collins - CEO and Founding Member, Impact X Capital Partners * Gary Stewart - Director, Telefonica Open Future & Wayra UK * Jason Black (J2K) - co-founder of Crep Protect and co-owner of Crepe and Cones * Lindelwe Lesley Ndlovu - CEO, AXA Africa Specialty Risks,

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...

* Netsai Mangwende - Head of Finance for Great Britain,

Willis Towers Watson Willis Towers Watson plc, branded as WTW and stylised in its logo as wtw, is a British-American multinational company that provides commercial insurance brokerage services, strategic risk management services (such as contingency planning, sec ...

* Pamela Hutchinson - Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion,

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...

* Patricia Lewis - Managing Director & Head of European Loans and Special Situations Sales,

BofA Securities BofA Securities, Inc., previously Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), is an American multinational investment banking division under the auspices of Bank of America. It is not to be confused with Merrill, the stock brokerage and trading pla ...

* Sandra Wallace - UK Managing Partner,

DLA Piper DLA Piper is a law firm with offices in over 40 countries across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. It was founded in 2005 through the merger between three law firms: San Diego–based ''Gray Cary Ware & Freiden ...

* Dame Sharon White - chairman,

John Lewis Partnership John Lewis Partnership plc (JLP) is a British company that operates John Lewis & Partners department stores, Waitrose supermarkets, financial services and a build to rent operation. The public limited company is owned by a trust on behalf o ...

* Tavaziva Madzinga - CEO,

Swiss Re Swiss Re Ltd is a Swiss reinsurance company founded in 1863 and headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the world's largest reinsurers, as measured by gross premiums written. Swiss Re operates through around 80 offices in 29 countri ...

UK & Ireland * Tevin Tobun - founder and CEO, GV Group Gate Ventures * Wol Kolade - Managing Partner,

Livingbridge Livingbridge is a mid-market private equity firm launched in 1995. Headquartered in London, the firm also has offices in, Melbourne, Australia and Boston, US. Livingbridge was known until November 2014 as Isis Equity Partners, but rebranded a ...

* Yvonne Ike - Managing Director and Head of Sub Saharan Africa region,

Media, Publishing and Entertainment *

Ade Adepitan Adedoyin Olayiwola "Ade" Adepitan (; born 27 March 1973) is a Nigerian-born British television presenter and wheelchair basketball player. As a presenter, he has hosted a range of travel documentaries and sports programmes for BBC television. A ...

, MBE - TV presenter and Paralympic wheelchair basketball player *

Afua Hirsch Afua Hirsch Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL (born 1981) is a British writer and broadcaster. She has worked as a journalist for ''The Guardian'' newspaper, and was the Social Affairs and Education Editor for Sky News from 2014 un ...

- journalist, author, broadcaster * Akala - rapper, journalist, poet and activist * Anne Mensah - Vice-president of Content UK,

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Amma Asante Amma Asante (born 13 September 1969) is a British filmmaker, screenwriter, former actress, and Chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts, who was born in London to parents from Ghana. Her love for the film industry started when she receive ...

, MBE - writer, director *

Charlene White Charlene Denise White (born 22 June 1980) is a British television broadcaster, journalist and presenter, best known for presenting ''ITV News'' programmes. She has been an anchor on '' Loose Women'' since 2021.ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

News anchor *

David Olusoga David Adetayo Olusoga (born January 1970) is a British-Nigerian historian, writer, broadcaster and BAFTA winning film-maker. He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester. Olusoga has presented historical documentaries on th ...

, OBE - historian, Joint Creative Director of Uplands Television Ltd *

Femi Oguns Olufemi Temitope Ogunsanwo (born 28 October 1977), known as Femi Oguns, is a prominent British agent and former actor who founded Identity School of Acting and Identity Agency Group. Background Femi Oguns obtained a joint honours degree in ...

, MBE - founder and CEO of Identity School of Acting * Gary Younge - journalist and author *

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba Order of the British Empire, OBE ( ; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor and musician. He has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for three BAFTA Awards and six Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards. He w ...

, OBE - actor, writer, producer, musician and DJ *

John Boyega John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega (born 17 March 1992), known professionally as John Boyega, is a British actor and producer. He first gained recognition in Britain for his role as a teenage gang leader in the comedy horror film ''Attack the B ...

- Actor * Kanya King, CBE -CEO/Founder,

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

* Lorna Clarke - Head of Production,

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

* Marcus Ryder - Chief International Editor of China Global Television Network Digital *

Mo Abudu Mosunmola "Mo" Abudu (born 11 September 1964) is a Nigerian Media proprietor, media mogul, Philanthropy, philanthropist, and former human resources management consultant. Biography Early life Mo Abudu was born in Hammersmith, West London ...

- CEO/Executive Chair, EbonylifeTV *

Naomie Harris Naomie Melanie Harris (born 6 September 1976) is an English actress. She started her career when she was a child, appearing in the television series '' Simon and the Witch'' in 1987. She portrayed Selena in the zombie film '' 28 Days Later'' (2 ...

, OBE - actor * Paulette Simpson - Executive, Corporate Affairs and Public Policy, Jamaica National Group; executive director, The Voice Media Group *

Reggie Yates Reginald Yates (born 31 May 1983) is a British television presenter, actor, writer and director with a career spanning three decades on screen as an actor, television presenter and radio DJ. Yates played Leo Jones in ''Doctor Who'' and has wo ...

- actor, broadcaster and DJ * Reni Eddo-Lodge - journalist, author * Simon Frederick - artist, photographer, director * Sir Lenny Henry - actor, writer, campaigner * Vanessa Kingori, MBE - publisher, ''

British Vogue ''British Vogue'' (stylised in all caps) is the British edition of the American Fashion journalism, fashion magazine Vogue (magazine), Vogue. The magazine was launched in 1916 by Condé Nast, linking together fashion and high society.König A ...

'' * Yolisa Phahle - CEO, General Entertainment, Naspers Ltd Politics, Law and Religion * Baroness

Floella Benjamin Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin (born 23 September 1949), is a Trinidadian-British actress, singer, presenter, author and politician. She is known as presenter of children's programmes such as ''Play School (British TV series), ...

DBE, DL - Peer,

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, policy maker, campaigner for children's rights *

David Lammy David Lindon Lammy FRSA (born 19 July 1972) is a British politician who has served as Foreign Secretary since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenham since 2000. Lammy previously held vario ...

, MP - Member of Parliament for

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

* Dr Sandie Okoro - Senior Vice President and Group General Counsel,

* Grace Ononiwu, CBE - Chief

Crown Prosecutor Crown prosecutor is the title given in a number of jurisdictions to the state prosecutor, the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual in a criminal trial. The title is commonly used in Commonwealth realms. Examples * ...

, West Midlands * Joshua Siaw, MBE - Partner,

White & Case White & Case LLP is a global white-shoe law firm based in New York City. Founded in 1901, the firm has 46 offices in 31 countries worldwide. History The firm was founded on May 1, 1901, when two Wall Street lawyers, Justin DuPratt White, 31, a ...

* Dr Kathryn Nwajiaku - Head of International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding Secretariat,

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

* Martin Forde, QC -

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

* Rev

Rose Hudson-Wilkin Rose Josephine Hudson-Wilkin (born 19 January 1961) is a British people, British Anglican prelate, who serves as Suffragan bishop, Suffragan Bishop of Dover in the diocese of Canterbury – deputising for the archbishop – since 2019: she is ...

- Chaplain to the Speaker of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

* Segun Osuntokun - Managing Partner, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner Public, Third Sector and Education * Beverley De Gale, OBE & Orin Lewis, OBE - Founders, ACLT (African Caribbean Leukemia Trust) * Dr Cheron Byfield - Governor and founder of King Solomon International Business School and CEO Excell3 * Dr Dayo Olukoshi, OBE - Principal,

Brampton Manor Academy Brampton Manor Academy (formerly Brampton Manor School) is an 11–19 mixed, secondary school and selective sixth form with academy status in East Ham, London, England. It is the second largest school in the London Borough of Newham. In 2019, ...

* Dr Margaret Casely-Hayford, CBE - chair,

Shakespeare's Globe Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse first built in 1599 for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays. Like the original, it is located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Southwark, Lon ...

, Chancellor of

Coventry University Coventry University is a Public university, public research university in Coventry, England. The origins of Coventry University can be linked to the Coventry School of Art and Design, Coventry School of Design in 1843. It was known as Lancheste ...

, Non-Executive Director, Co-op Group * Marvin Rees -

Mayor of Bristol The Mayor of Bristol was the political leader of Bristol City Council. The mayor was a directly elected politician who, along with the 70 members of Bristol City Council, was responsible for the strategic government of the city of Bristol, En ...

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle, August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family, media personality, entrepreneur, and former actress. She is married to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son ...

- campaigner, actress * Nira Chamberlain - President of

Institute of Mathematics and its Applications The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) is the UK's chartered professional body for mathematicians and one of the UK's learned societies for mathematics (another being the London Mathematical Society). The IMA aims to advance ...

* Professor Funmi Olonisakin - Vice-president and Vice-Principal International and Professor of Security, Leadership and Development at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

* Lord Woolley - Co-founder/Director,

Operation Black Vote Operation Black Vote (OBV) is a British Independent (politician), non-partisan and not-for-profit, nonprofit national organisation established in 1996, which addresses the Black British and ethnic minority democratic deficit. OBV uses Voter regis ...

* Sonita Alleyne, OBE - Master,

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

and member of

BBC Trust The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...

Science, Medicine and Engineering * Dame Donna Kinnair - CEO & General Secretary,

Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union and professional body in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916 as the College of Nursing, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Eliz ...

* Dr Emeka Okaro - Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist * Dr Ian Nnatu - Consultant

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

* Dr Joy Odili - Consultant plastic surgeon * Dr Martin Griffiths - Lead trauma surgeon,

Royal London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and sp ...

& Clinical Director for Violence Reduction,

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

* Dr Samantha Tross - Consultant

Orthopaedic Surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

* Dr Sylvia Bartley - Senior Global Director, Medtronic Philanthropy * Prof. Laura Serrant, OBE - Head of Department and Professor of Community and Public Health Nursing at

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

* Prof. Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, OBE - Chief Midwifery Officer,

NHS England NHS England, formally the NHS Commissioning Board for England, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning si ...

Sports *

Anthony Joshua Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua (born 15 October 1989) is a British professional boxer. He held the unified champion, unified world heavyweight championship twice between 2016 and 2021. At regional level, he held the British Boxing Board of C ...

, OBE - boxer * Dina Asher Smith - British record-holding sprinter *

Eniola Aluko Eniola Aluko (born 21 February 1987) is a British football executive, football broadcaster and former professional player who played as a winger and striker. Aluko has been a regular broadcaster for live football on ITV, BT Sport, Amazon Prim ...

- Footballer *

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

, MBE -

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

champion *

Luol Deng Luol Ajou Deng (born 16 April 1985) is a South Sudanese–British former professional basketball player. He was a two-time NBA All-Star and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2012. Born in South Sudan that was then part of Republ ...

- former NBA player *

Nicola Adams Nicola Virginia Adams OBE (born 26 October 1982) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2017 to 2019. She retired with an undefeated record and held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) female flyweight title in 2019. As an ...

, OBE - boxer *

Raheem Sterling Raheem Shaquille Sterling (born 8 December 1994) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Winger (association football), winger for club Chelsea F.C., Chelsea. Sterling began his career at Queens Park Rangers F.C., Que ...

- footballer Technology * Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, MBE - CEO and co-founder,

Stemettes Stemettes is a social enterprise which encourages girls and young women aged 5–25 to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM). Stemettes runs panel events, hackathons, the Student to Stemette mentoring programme su ...

* Baroness Oona King - Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, Snap Inc. * Ian Greenstreet - founder and chairman, Infinity Capital Partners and Member on the advisory board,

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

* Ije Nwokorie - Senior Director,

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

Mariéme Jamme Marieme Jamme (born 1974) is a Senegalese-born French-British businesswoman and technology activist. In 2016 she founded the iamtheCODE Foundation and served on the World Wide Web Foundation board. In 2017, Quartz Africa included Jamme in their ...

- CEO, SpotOne Global Solutions and Advisory Board Member, Data-Pop Alliance * Martin Ijaha, CBE - founder, Neyber * Nneka Abulokwe, OBE - founder and CEO, MicroMax Consulting

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Top 10

Outside Top 10

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