ForterroA man who was twice homeless as a teenager before becoming a multimillionaire entrepreneur has topped a list celebrating influential black Britons.
Dean Forbes, who, after failing to make it as a professional footballer, began his career in a call centre, is now the boss of a software company.
He worked his way up from “abject poverty” on an estate in south-east London to become chief executive of Forterro, a Swedish software firm.
Forbes said topping the Powerlist 2025 was a “professional and career high”.
He told the BBC that although he grew up in a single-parent family on a housing estate in Lewisham, his disabled mum always encouraged her children to be positive, and gave them hope.
He said he had a “whale of a time” growing up despite having little money, living in a local community which “looked after each other”.
His said his mum taught him and his two brothers to “raise our expectations”, “never to be victims” and not dwell on misfortunes.
He twice became homeless as a teenager, but said he and his family always saw these as temporary challenges to be overcome.
He managed to get a place at Crystal Palace Academy, but it didn’t work out.
He points to that failure as a key moment in his eventual success, because it made him more determined.
“Thanks to that disappointment and rejection, it put me on this path which is beyond my wildest dreams,” he said.
He had been borrowing money to “keep up appearances” with friends like then-footballer Rio Ferdinand who were being “paid well”, but he was eventually left with an £88,000 debt pile.
To start to clear that, he got a job in a Motorola call centre, and he quickly worked his way up.
He moved to a software firm called Primavera which he helped build up, and made his first millions after it was sold to Oracle: he had taken an equity stake.
Forbes moved from there and was chief executive of two software firms, KDS and CoreHR, each time taking equity stakes, and making millions more.
He also has an equity stake in Forterro, which he said was a firm which makes more than €300m (£250m) in revenue per year and earnings of €130m.
Despite his wealth, he said he never wanted “to lose the value of a pound”.
He was able to buy his mum a home, and his children “have never had to deal with anything 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 his roots remained very important to him and he wanted to inspire and give opportunities to others who have not started out with advantages in life.
‘Open the door’
Forbes and his wife Danielle set up the Forbes Family Group, a philanthropic organisation for people in underserved communities.
They are working to try to break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage, and give people positive role models.
“My experience has made me painfully aware that there is so much talent in these communities – you just need to open the door a crack” to give people a chance, he said.
Forbes said that as he was growing up the only black people he could see who were successful seemed to be in entertainment, sport, or “doing unsavoury things” in criminal gangs.
He said he wanted to make success in business more “relatable” in part through mentoring and networking projects.
He has now been named number one on the Powerlist 2025, after being number two last year.
The annual Powerlist was first published in 2007, with its aim to provide role models for young black people, according to Powerful Media.
Forbes takes the place of British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful at the head of the list.
The top 10 of the Powerlist for 2025 is:
1. Dean Forbes, chief executive at software firm Forterro
2. Bernard Mensah, president of international at Bank of America
3. Afua Kyei, chief financial officer at the Bank of England
4. Emma Grede, chief executive at fashion brand Good American
5. Joshua Siaw, partner at law firm White & Case
6. Tunde Olanrewaju, senior partner at consultancy McKinsey
7. Alexander and Oliver Kent-Braham, founders of insurance firm Marshmallow
8. Adejoke Bakare, chef-owner at Michelin-starred restaurant Chishuru
9. Justin Onuekwusi, fund manager at St. James’s Place
10. Pamela Maynard, chief AI transformation officer at Microsoft