Founder of two socially impactful organizations, Re:LIFE and Startup52, Chike Ukaegbu has already shown the world how far a little bit of compassion and empathy can go. Re:LIFE is a program designed to support and educate at-risk youth on the ropes of small business and tech entrepreneurship. Startup52 is the first diversity focused tech accelerator in New York City, built in response to the need to support the dreams and aspirations built by Re:LIFE. Startup52 has since also expanded to nurturing tech startups launched by founders from disadvantaged backgrounds including women and POC.
Chike has just announced his candidacy in the upcoming race for the Nigerian presidency. So we are glad to have been able to catch him for a brief moment before this, to explore with the charming Nigerian native, what being a Patron of Progress means to him.
Where are you from?
I am Nigerian, born and bred. My parents got married in the UK and had my oldest sibling there and then decided to move back to Nigeria to have myself and my younger siblings.
What does doing good mean to you?
Everything I do is so, the day I die, my legacy would be one of creating opportunity and access for others. My entire experience has always been centered around people; people who are underserved, underrepresented, oppressed. I feel like we are not complete, cannot achieve fullness or wholeness if there is someone else who is being oppressed. Doing good for me is laying the foundation or building on what others have done to ensure that we all have equitable access to the pursuit of happiness, to life.
Share a moment in your life that made you passionate about making the world a better place.
There are several of them. Let’s go back to this one: I came to the US at nineteen. Prior to that, I had always known myself as this Nigerian boy. That’s it, that’s all I knew. Except when I got here, I realized all of the sudden that I’m a black man. And being black in America comes with all of these negative stereotypes and connotations that I was not used to. I grew up in an environment where you are taught to believe that you are the best you can be. You are no better than anyone and no one is better than you. I had to reconcile what I had always known about myself with what my new environment was telling me about who I am.
The reality of that made me understand that if I don’t speak up, I was doing not just myself a disservice, but all the other people coming after me. Then of course, with everything you see on television — the Trayvon Martins and the Michael Browns — it became very pertinent that I use my voice in whatever way I could. It’s important to my existence, to the existence of my children, and everyone and anyone that looks like me or has felt oppressed, marginalized, silenced.
In Nigeria, you’re not black. You’re just Nigerian.
If you could choose one word to describe yourself, what would it be and why?
I would say “Outlier”. I gave a speech in April called “The Black Fear”. In this speech, I broke down what I thought were categories of black people. The top one was “Outlier”. The Outlier is the person who recognizes what needs to be done and even in the face of challenges, will still go at it. I always return to the fact that the work I do is like missions work and not a lot of people do what they do that way. Money is important but the social good, the social impact is what drives me: being able to create access, give opportunities, resources, capital, voice — whatever I can do in my capacity as a human being — to uplift and empower the next person.
What trait do you admire in others?
Empathy. I think it makes the world a better place. If we had more empathy for the next person; someone who is less privileged than we are, I think we would actually have a better world.
What sparked your interest and passion to create Startup52 and what has been the most rewarding aspect of your work?
Startup52 is the first diversity focused tech accelerator in New York.
Prior to StartUp52, I co-founded a non-profit called Re:LIFE, inc. Our mission was to empower disconnected and at-risk youth through tech entrepreneurship and education. People did not really value (in the sense of creating opportunities) the belief that they could actually do stuff. But I tell people I’ve learned so much more from them then I feel like we actually ever gave them.
Our program was four months long. The first half was small business entrepreneurship and the second half was focused on tech entrepreneurship. We watched young people — some of whom didn’t even know what the word ‘entrepreneurship’ meant — in the space of four months, pitch viable tech ideas. I realized that, at least for this demographic, it wasn’t about them not knowing. The difference between them and maybe myself, were the opportunities that I had. If given the right opportunity that engages their passions or their interests, they actually excel beyond. The question for us now was “How can we ensure that these viable ideas didn’t just die after the program?” We needed a means to help them sustain their ideas and their ventures. That was how StartUp52 was born.
The goal initially was to start this acceleration program for this group of kids. During our research in trying to set up an accelerator, we realized that there was a bigger problem. There are people like you and I who are highly educated with brilliant ideas, who also didn’t have access to resources or capital. And that includes women, POC, veterans, seniors, disabled. Usually what we say is if you don’t belong, then “Hey, come on along.”
Resources and technology aside, if you could make one remarkable change in the world by 2020, what would it be?
I would plant several other Startup52’s. Each cohort is a class of twenty. So if you have two classes a year in five locations, over three years we could actually invest in 600 start ups with diverse founders. And these cohorts would be global.
Share something that you’ve learned along the way that’s helped guide you in your journey.
Self care is very important. And this is something that I actually learned when I was a teenager: I realized early that worrying doesn’t solve any of my problems. So I channel that energy into thinking of solutions. Just do it. Like the Nike slogan. But make sure you take care of yourself. Your mind space is important. I spend a lot of time alone, because that’s when I can clear my mind, I can process everything
What do you hope our readers will gain from your story?
There’s this perception when you mention diversity or inclusion, that people think, “charitable”. This is what I’ve learned; there are four reasons why diversity is extremely important and why I have embraced it as a weapon.
One, diversity drives innovation. When you have people from diverse backgrounds contribute to a solution, you have an enriched solution. For instance, if you have all men trying to solve a problem for women, it could never be as great a solution as when you have a woman contribute as well.
Two, it’s profitable. Data has consistently shown that diversity improves the bottom line. When you have gender diverse teams your profitability index can go up as high as 15 to 20 percent. When it’s racially diverse, it almost doubles: about 35 to 40 percent. It’s not just a social thing, it’s very profitable.
The third thing is, at least in tech, when you have a diverse team it actually opens up more channels for funding. If I have a team that has both a woman and an African American, all of the sudden that team is qualified to pursue sources that normally would not have been available if it were just all black men or all women.
Finally — this is the one that is dearest to me — it humanizes us to work with someone of a different background. For instance, let’s say you’re from Michigan and all your life you believe that all Muslims are terrorists. All of the sudden, you find yourself working with someone who is a Muslim but is not an extremist, as you thought they all were. You start to understand that the stereotypes, bigotry, and all the -isms that we use to separate ourselves can easily be broken down when you actually collaborate.
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Concept + Production by London Wright-Pegs, Michael Tennant + Meghan Holzhauer // Interview by London Wright-Pegs + Meghan Holzhauer// Portraits by Tom Kubik
