Hyson Green-raised Ken Olisa has been named the most powerful black Briton on the 2016 Power List.
The 64-year-old currently serves as Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for Greater London, and is in charge of all of the Queen’s security and formal arrangements while she is on public engagements in the city.
Mr Olisa was the first black person to be a director of a FTSE-100 Company and in 1970 was awarded a scholarship by IBM to study at Cambridge University.
The businessman, who founded a technology bank, was raised by his mother in Hyson Green after his father left for Nigeria.
They lived in a house with no inside toilet – a far cry from the stately homes and banquets that Mr Olisa attends in his day job now.
Presented with an OBE by the Queen, he has been chairman of various charities for the homeless and young people and took position as Lord-Lieutenant in May 2015.
A known philanthropist, Olisa told Growth Business in 2012: “I think the way you treat the most vulnerable in society is a barometer of how civilised the nation is, and I want this to be a civilised nation.”
“I like being respected for coming from the UK.”
The annual list celebrates the top 100 most successful people of African and African Caribbean heritage.
Also on the list were comedian Sir Lenny Henry, Olympian Mo Farah and Baroness Lawrence.
