Our Group Chairman, Sir Kenneth Olisa, raised alone by his formidable mother in a working-class part of Nottingham, England, shares how his story and his experiences of the benevolence of others at various junctures in his life ultimately shaped his worldview.

Himself the recipient of an IBM scholarship at the University of Cambridge (where he graduated in Natural Sciences and Management in 1971), Sir Ken and his wife, Julia, endowed the £2 million Olisa library, which contains over 50,000 books, reference works, journals, links and access to digital resources, at his alma mater, Fitzwilliam College in 2011.

He describes this as his proudest philanthropic achievement and the cause of his most incredible philanthropic thrill. He reminisces that one cold, wet evening many years ago in London 🇬🇧, whilst running late for a meeting (and frustrated to be waiting in the rain for a taxi) "𝐴 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒, 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑀𝑟 𝑂𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑎. 𝐻𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝐹𝑖𝑡𝑧 𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑛𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡, 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦..."

Sir Ken's story and ethos serve as constant inspiration for our deep resolve and unwavering commitment at The Switch to catalyse the development of Africa's youth through initiatives like InterswitchSPAK, in line with our overarching purpose of inspiring Africa to greatness through innovation, value-creation and excellence.