Main content

Tom Ilube, entrepreneur

Tom Ilube, entrepreneur, shares the eight discs, book and luxury item he would want with him if cast away on a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.

Tom Ilube is an entrepreneur, known for his successful start-up companies, and a philanthropist. He recently took up the post of chairman of the Rugby Football Union.

He was born in 1963 to a Nigerian father and a British mother, and grew up first in London, and then in Uganda, a stay cut short by the rise to power of Idi Amin. He began his teenage years back in the UK, enjoying rugby and ice-skating, before moving with his family to Nigeria, where he also attended university, studying Applied Physics and launching his first business selling flared trousers to fellow students.

He returned to London looking for work in information technology. After many unsuccessful job applications, British Airways gave him a break, and he later worked for the London Stock Exchange and Goldman Sachs. In 1996, he founded his first company and has since been involved with several other start-ups 鈥� 鈥渢hinking up ideas, raising venture capital, building companies, selling them and doing it all again,鈥� he says. He is also involved with philanthropic projects in education, including founding a school for high-achieving but disadvantaged girls in Ghana with a focus on maths and science.

In 2017 he topped the Powerlist, the annual list of the 100 most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage in Britain, and was appointed a CBE in 2018. He is married to Caron and has two grown-up children.

DISC ONE: Doctor Who by 大象传媒 Radiophonic Workshop
DISC TWO: Sweet Mother by Prince Nico Mbarga And Rocafil Jazz International
DISC THREE: The Boys Are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy
DISC FOUR: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by Ladysmith Black Mambazo
DISC FIVE: That's The Way Love Goes by Janet Jackson
DISC SIX: Family Business by Kanye West
DISC SEVEN: Mr Bojangles by Sammy Davis Jr
DISC EIGHT: A Change is Gonna Come by Ayanna Witter-Johnson

BOOK CHOICE: The Wormwood Trilogy by Tade Thompson
LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered puzzle generator, designed by Tom.
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Mr Bojangles by Sammy Davis Jr

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor

Available now

36 minutes

Last on

Fri 8 Oct 2021 09:00
大象传媒 Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Tracey Ullman, actor and comedian

Next

Dame Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano

See all episodes from Desert Island Discs

Music Played

  • 大象传媒 Radiophonic Workshop

    Doctor Who

    • Greatest Hits From Outer Space (Original Recording Remastered).
    • Ace Records.
    • 14.

  • Prince Nico Mbarga And Rocafil Jazz International

    Sweet Mother

    • The Essential Guide To Africa.
    • Essential Guide.
    • 3.

  • Thin Lizzy

    The Boys Are Back In Town

    • Jailbreak (Remastered).
    • 6.

  • Ladysmith Black Mambazo

    Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

    • The Very Best Of Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
    • Gallo Record Company.
    • 4.

  • Janet Jackson

    That's The Way Love Goes

    • Janet.
    • Virgin Records Ltd.
    • 2.

  • Ye

    Family Business

    • The College Dropout (PG Advisory).
    • Mercury Records Limited.
    • 20.

  • Sammy Davis Jr.

    Mr Bojangles

    • Live From Australia.
    • Jerden.
    • 14.

  • Ayanna Witter-Johnson

    A Change is Gonna Come

Broadcasts

  • Sun 3 Oct 2021 11:00
    大象传媒 Radio 4
  • Fri 8 Oct 2021 09:00
    大象传媒 Radio 4

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast