9. Kike Oniwinde Agoro: Taking Flight – From Javelin Throwing to Network Building
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Kike Oniwinde Agoro is the Founder and CEO of BYP Network, a platform that connects Black professionals to each other and corporations. She is a BSc Economics graduate of The University of Nottingham, a University of Florida MSc scholar, and an ex-Great Britain javelin thrower. She previously worked in investment banking, and then in Business Development at a fast-growing financial technology company for two years because she realised ‘tech is the future’.

Kike was a member of the Forbes 30 under 30, the Maserati Top 100 Most Innovative Founders and a Financial Times Top 100 BAME Leaders in Technology. She is on the board of the London Chambers of Commerce Black Business Association, Getting on Boards and is a London Tech Ambassador. She has been named as a Sky Woman in Technology Scholar, F-Factor Winner and New Entrepreneurs Foundation Winner. She was invited to Paris on a business trade mission with London Mayor, Sadiq Khan; won a STEM Trailblazer Batons Award at Houses of Parliament and has won over 20 entrepreneurship awards.

Our conversation starts with her early upbringing and her first experience of interning at an investment bank, when she gained a spot in a BAME internship. She describes that experience and how she found few role models within that setting and a general underrepresentation of Black people within the industry.

We then transition to her time playing sport at a high level – for the GB national junior team, and look at what skills that taught her about resilience, training, patience and failure, and living with it.  After Kike’s time in the US, studying at the University of Florida, she became aware of the shared experiences of Black professionals on both sides of the pond and became determined to “change the Black narrative” in the professional world.

She founded Black Young Professionals in 2016 and the platform has since grown to 150,000 members and over 1000 corporate clients including Facebook, DAZN and Farfetch. Over 15,000 of their members have been up-skilled through mentorship, thought-leadership events and industry specific insight with all members boasting an enhanced network.

In 2020, Kike led a successful crowdfund campaign with over 1200 investors and raised over $1m.

We are releasing this podcast early as a bonus to promote the upcoming BYP conference on October 6 to be held at the Mermaid in London. Expected to host over 600 people the event will feature over 60 speakers, over 30 corporate sponsors, and a theme of “knowledge is power”, part of the “decade of proactive change” commitment of the conference series.

The theme of “knowledge is power” is a pledge by Black leaders to share their knowledge to help other people become leaders and to help others be allies and to help them understand what it takes to navigate the world of work and different industries.  The event will feature panel sessions, exhibitor booths and an after party.  See:  https://byp.network/leadership-conference-2022/