A man who was twice homeless as a teenager before becoming a multi-millionaire entrepreneur has topped the list celebrating influential black Britons.
Dean Forbes, who, after failing as a professional footballer, began his career in a call center, is now the head of several software companies.
He rose through the ranks of “abject poverty” on an estate in south-east London to become chief executive of Forterro, a Swedish software company.
Forbes said topping the 2025 Powerlist was a “professional and career high.”
He told the BBC that although he grew up in a single-parent household on a housing estate in Lewisham, his disabled mother always encouraged her children to be positive and gave them hope.
He said he had a “crazy time” growing up despite having little money, living in a local community who “looked after each other”.
He said his mother taught him and his two brothers to “raise our expectations,” “never be victims” and not dwell on misfortunes.
He found himself homeless twice as a teenager, but said he and his family always saw them as temporary challenges to overcome.
He managed to secure a place at the Crystal Palace Academy, but it didn't work out.
He considers this failure a key moment in his eventual success, because it made him more determined.
“Through that disappointment and rejection, it set me on this path beyond my wildest dreams,” he said.
He had borrowed money to “keep up appearances” from friends like then-footballer Rio Ferdinand, who were “well paid”, but he was eventually left with a debt of £88,000.
To begin to figure this out, he got a job at a Motorola call center and quickly moved up the ranks.
He joined a software company called Primavera that he helped create and made his first millions after it was sold to Oracle: he had taken an equity stake.
Forbes went on to become chief executive of two software companies, KDS and CoreHR, each time taking equity stakes and earning millions more.
He also has a stake in Forterro, which he says is a business with more than €300 million (£250 million) in turnover a year and a profit of €130 million.
Despite his wealth, he said he never wanted to “lose the value of a pound”.
He was able to buy his mother a house and his children “never had to deal with anything that I had to deal with” in terms of poverty.
He now describes celebrities like Ferdinand and actor Idris Elba as close friends.
But he told the BBC that his roots remained very important to him and that he wanted to inspire and give opportunities to those who did not start out with advantages in life.
Forbes and his wife Danielle created the Forbes Family Group, a philanthropic organization for people living in underserved communities.
They work to break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage and provide people with positive role models.
“My experience made me painfully aware that there is so much talent in these communities — you just have to open the door a little” to give people a chance, he said.
Forbes said that growing up, the only black people he could see who were successful seemed to be in entertainment, sports or “doing unsavory things” in criminal gangs.
He said he wanted to make success in business more “accessible,” in part through mentoring and networking projects.
He is now named number one on the 2025 Powerlist, after being number two last year.
The annual Powerlist was first released in 2007, with the aim of providing role models for young black people, according to Powerful Media.
Forbes replaces British Vogue editor Edward Enninful at the top of the list.
