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UK Black History Month has ended on a high, with the annual Powerlist announced at the end of October. The celebration of the most influential Black Brits of African or African Caribbean heritage honours a list of 100 people who have shown exceptionality in the last year. The list is then published in book format, and has been celebrated since 2007.
The list was first created in 2007 by Michael Eboda, who was the editor of the New Nation, a weekly newspaper published in the UK for the Black British community, as a way to profile and celebrate influential Black Britons, and inspire and influence the next generation.
The first Powerlist was compiled after six months of research and debate where 400 people of influence were whittled down to 50 women and 50 men, then ranked into a respective top ten, with the results announced in August 2007.
From 2012, the 50 highest rated nominees, along with updates on the previous year’s Powerlistees from rank 2 – 100, are then ranked by an independent panel in the summer, with the list being produced each autumn. Each year’s highest-ranking individual is added to the Powerlist Hall of Fame.
An impressive list of names has made the top ten for 2022, with a range of skills and industries belonging to the esteemed Powerlist members:
| Rank | Individual | Occupation | Category | Notability |
| 1 | Jacky Wright | Businessperson | Technology | Corporate Vice President and Chief digital officer at Microsoft US |
| 2 | Marcus Rashford | Footballer | Sports | English and Manchester United footballer, and campaigner against child poverty and racism |
| 3 | Anne Mensah | Businessperson | Media, Publishing & Entertainment | Vice-president of Content UK, Netflix |
| 4 | Daniel Kaluuya | Actor | Media, Publishing & Entertainment | Oscar and Golden Globe winning actor for portrayal of the Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah |
| 5 | Prof. Kevin Fenton | London regional director at Public Health England, who has played a key role highlighting Covid and inequality | ||
| 6 | Steven Bartlett | Businessperson | Media, Publishing & Entertainment | Founder and former CEO of Social Chain; Dragon on Dragons’ Den |
| 7 | Michaela Coel | Actor, screenwriter, director and producer | Media, Publishing & Entertainment | Creator, co-director and producer of BBC/HBO series I May Destroy You |
| 8 | Simon Woolley, Baron Woolley of Woodford | Co-founder and director of Operation Black Vote and principal of Homerton College at Cambridge University | ||
| 9 | Richard Iferenta | Businessperson | Business, Corporate, Financiers & Entrepreneurs | Partner at KPMG |
| 10 | Jacqueline McKenzie | Human rights Lawyer | Politics, Law and Religion | Director at Centre for Migration Advice and Research and McKenzie, Beute and Pope |
A number of impressive people made the Powerlist top 100 this year, including UK Grime legend Stormzy, actor Idris Elba, footballer and presenter Alex Scott, and footballer Raheem Sterling.
Securing the top spot, Jacky Wright holds an impressive list of accolades and career achievements – she has a 30-year career in which she has worked in senior leadership at BP, as Chief Digital and Information Officer for HMRC government in the UK, and is now the Corporate Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Microsoft US, as well as working with aspiring tech leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds to offer support. Speaking to the BBC, Wright explained:
“Talent is everywhere but opportunity is not. I now create a door that says “welcome”. People of all walks of life, from all backgrounds and experiences too can have the opportunity.
I had the burning passion to change the world as I thought about the injustices that occur in life, and the problems we have from an existential perspective. I always wanted to solve problems, but I fell into technology and then I realised, technology can help change things.
Digital is at the core of everything we do, it’s an ethos. Technology plays in every aspect of our lives, and you have a role as a leader, no matter what or who you are in society, to help leave the world in a better place than you found it.”
Microsoft's Jacky Wright has been named as the most influential black Briton, by The Powerlist 2022https://t.co/w8Hjd28zXy pic.twitter.com/z2eUiDZCPe
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 15, 2021
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