YouSaid · the spoken record

Michael Eboda

lines on the record: 35
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“And I think we'll do that. I always say to people don't buy shares in our company if they were available because we're working to put ourselves out of business. So when we're no longer needed anymore, then we will have achieved what we set out to achieve”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But legacy is a hard one. I think When we finish our biggest event, which is the celebration of excellence awards, I think if that's gone well, then there's a real sense of achievement. And I think that's probably the biggest thing for us every year. Make that good. And having said that, though, I think the work that Adinik has done with the publications, I started off editing those publications myself. I started when we first started, I was designing them, I was writing them, I was editing them, I was even at the printers at midnight going through them to make sure that they were okay. And she's taken that thing to a completely different level. If you see this year's publication, it's really, really good. So we'll continue to strive for excellence on our part. We'll continue to showcase really interesting people.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I love my sport because I was a sports reporter. So I love my football, I love my boxing and stuff like that. And I love my travel, particularly to, I've got a particular penchant for the Caribbean, I must say. Even though I'm Nigerian, I've got a real love for the Caribbean and I love spending as much time there as possible.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So right now we're on, well, I think probably by the time this comes out, I'm not sure we'll be where we are now, but anyway.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Far, far, far from it. I don't. And as I said before, we haven't even scratched the surface. So I think the power list is going to go from strength to strength. I think so even though we have more people, they still need visibility. They still need, we still want to celebrate them. And I think when you celebrate people and you celebrate excellence, it's a good thing for everybody because it shows that Excellence comes from all communities, including ours. In the past, I don't think that we've been included in that.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh gosh, that is something. What's the greatest? I think the learning curve is actually, again, it's a positive. That there are far more people who are out there that are successful than we knew. I think that's something that's really. It surprises us all the time. Adinike might come to me and say, Oh, Michael, do you know so and They're the CEO with blah, blah, blah. Oh no, I don't know them. And I think that's probably the most exciting part of what we do, just getting to know new people who are, again, just successful. We've not even heard of them. Everybody thinks I know everybody.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think unity is strength. I think unity is strength, as simple as that. I think that. To try and do it on your own is really difficult. But when you're together, I think that it's a far easier fight and a far easier climb. To get to where you want to get to.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, we've got some ideas. We're thinking about trying to do something in Europe. Showcasing who the power players are in Europe, who the movers and shakers are, because I think that will be interesting. And one of the things that I think probably the biggest achievement of the panelist is the fact that we've managed to get people together who are at that level. So prior to what we're doing now, there were a lot of people out there, but they didn't know one another. They were the only ones in their boardroom, and they didn't realize that there were others who were in that same position. And I think it's been really important that people have managed to come together. Because when you come together, you can share experiences. And there have been friendships. That have been made, and loads and loads of friendships.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And, you know, so. There's an organization, and I can't remember who it's called, it's run by Harry Matavu, a barrister, and I shouldn't remember, it's the talent charter. They actually commissioned some work. Showed That particular fact is true For young black people to get jobs, they tend to be twice as qualified as their peers from other ethnicities. So actually you kind of do have to be twice as good.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, for us, it's really important. So everybody on the power list has agreed, if they're asked, to mentor somebody from future leaders. Just that alone, it tells you the mentality of the people themselves, of the people that we put on the list. I think it's really important that we are there for young people. If you look at the things that go to make people successful, almost everybody who's successful has had some kind of a role model at some point in their life that has given them that sort of belief in themselves. So yeah, it was really important.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's awful. I think it's absolutely awful that that particular example that you gave there, I was reading an article. In a newspaper the other day, the writer was trying to argue that there are too many black people in adverts. He has no idea how incredibly racist it is to say something like that. It's just ridiculous. And the fact that they feel that they can get away with it. Is even worse. And the fact that they are getting away with it is even worse than that. But what I also feel is that this is just a moment in time.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Come on. She's just brilliant at what she does. She's just brilliant at what she does. And so is everybody else that we showcase.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've seen it. I've seen that it has affected some organizations. We were fortunate this year it didn't affect us, but then we've never pushed DEI. We've pushed excellence. There's not a single person who appears on our power list who you would say was a DEI hire. They're there because they're just as good or better than anybody else. And it really is that simple. And all you need to do is have a look at who they are. And you can see that. I mean, look at our number one this year, for example, Afwa. Effectively she runs the country's finances as the CFO of the Bank of England. This is a woman who's, she's an Oxford graduate, she's been to Princeton, I believe. I think she did six A-levels or something. You can't tell me that...”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'd say that the They're the drivers and I'm just the person who's trying to make things work from a financial point of view.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They're great. I mean, Denise is newer. Anykee and Yvonne have both been with me for 20 years, for example. So they believe in it as much, if not even more probably, than I do. And they, I mean, people always come to me and say, oh, yeah, you're so successful. The old ad is there's no INT. It really is a team effort.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We're a small team. So there's myself, Yvonne, Adinike, Denise, Inter. And then we have some other people who are also on the team in a looser manner.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that's for me personally is really important. I don't think you can be fake, right? And I think you've got to be who you are. And we're not afraid of who we are. We celebrate who we are. And we want other people to celebrate with us. But what we also want is for them to celebrate with us on our terms. And that's again, it's something that we take quite seriously. And I think you can just see by the organization we work with, they take it quite seriously as well.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because they're so competitive. It's incredibly competitive to be a world-class footballer or a. An A-list actor, for example, or number one. Music But you know what? You can be a lawyer. You can be a doctor. You could be somebody in the arts And there are a whole range of professions. That you can do and really excel at if you do the right things by staying in school and taking your education seriously. And that was one of the things we wanted to showcase to young people.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think a lot of the youngsters, we don't do that anymore. It's a shame. We used to go out to schools and talk to young kids and show them power lists and stuff. We still send them to schools, but we don't actually have the time now to do that as an organization. But when we did that, they were just fascinated. And you get them say, oh, yeah, I want to be like that. I want to be like that. And I bet some of them actually will be. You know what they say? If you see it, you can be it. Again, I think the powerists, the other reason we started it was to be a role model guide for kids, but to show what we call realistic role models who perhaps weren't footballers and they weren't on a stage playing music, which are two of the hardest professions in which to make it.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's been going for 17 years now. And when we look back, I have to say the name that we chose for it, future leaders, is absolutely correct because almost all of the young people from the early days are in leadership positions now. Pretty much all of them, yeah.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, future leaders is another publication that we put out. And Future Leaders profiles some of the most promising young leaders at university. They're judged on two criteria. The academic and academic criteria, so they have to have, they don't have to be like straight A students, but they have to have a decent level of academic achievement. And probably more importantly, they're judged on their extracurricular leadership activity, things that they've done in their spare time to show that they are potential leaders of the future. And that's, if I've got to say, it's almost more exciting than the power list, because you see some young people who are absolutely incredible.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You'd get the BBC ringing up. Oh, have you got any gang members that we can get hold of? No, we haven't. We don't really, that's not what we're trying to promote here. We've got some really great young students, but they're not interested in that. And they never seem to be. So we just said, okay, if you're not interested in it, but we are, and we'll push it, and we'll do that.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think There's been a narrative that's for some reason been around for years and years and years that it's been pretty negative about our community. And I have to say that for me personally, the people I know and the people that my friends, they don't reflect that narrative. You know, most people I know, they're actually not all doing fantastically well, but they're doing well enough and they're living decent lives. And they're not the sort of thing that you see on the news and stuff like that. I remember New Nation, I mean, we used to always get, despite the fact that we were trying to push out positive images of the black community.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I should have stuck with the law and have been far richer. But that's a really interesting question because I think all of them contribute in some way. The great thing about studying law is that you understand how society works. And the great thing about being a journalist is that you get to see it working and you get to explain to other people how it's working. The entrepreneurship, I'm not sure we've really cracked that yet, so I'm not sure I'm qualified to comment on it. But what entrepreneurship teaches you more than anything else is perseverance. It teaches you that you've got to stick with it. And if you look at most people who are a successful entrepreneurs, they are people who have stuck with it through thick and through thin. It's not the sexy part of it, but it's the most necessary part of it.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's the starting point. Then all the people that we find and people can nominate themselves, people are often nominated. We spend pretty much the whole year looking for people. We put them in front of an independent judging panel. I don't sit on the panel. I've never chosen anybody on the list. We put them in front of an independent panel and they have the painstaking task of putting out 100 people and saying that for this year these are our most influential people. We make a difference. We differentiate between power and influence. So power is effectively latent influence. Influence is power at work. If you're doing something, that's when we say that you're influential, and you don't have to be rich, you don't have to be famous. You do have to be doing something.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So we don't define power, we define influence, and we differentiate between power and influence. So we have a definition which is of influence, which is the ability to alter lives and change events, to change lives and alter events, as demonstrated over a reasonable period of time in a positive manner that's conducive with the black community. And it's a very wide definition.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, we would really, at the beginning, we were really worried about there being a sort of point where diminishing returns were set in and we sort of profiled everybody that there was to profile. But you quickly find out that, look, we haven't even touched the surface of this yet. And there are more and more people who are coming through all the time. And now we've got more to choose from than ever. And this is 20 years down the line, and that's good, and that's positive.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I'm thinking, wow, this is great, right? And this is wonderful. And then she says, Michael, the Prime Minister needs to be at this. He needs to see the excellence of this room. So the next thing you know, Gordon Brown. Is at the reception. And he says to me, Michael, this is wonderful. I really enjoy this. Next year we'll do it at number 10. So the following year we were at number 10. And we've managed to try and keep it at that kind of level ever since. And again, I think that's really important.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Quality of the magazine and the way that we just portrayed ourselves. So the first time we did it did the magazine ourselves. I remember I went to Baroness Amos, who was at the time she was leader of the House of Lords, didn't know her from Adam. I got introduced to her, took her to lunch and asked if she would chair our inaugural judging panel. And she said yes. And then when the magazine came out, She said, Oh, Michael, this is wonderful. Right, we've got to do a reception for this. So she got together with Baroness Scotland, who was the Attorney General at the time. And they got... Do this reception and invite the people on the list to the reception”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know what? People often ask that, and I wonder whether it's the same for other sort of successful ventures. I can honestly say we didn't have a massive vision. So we started it when I was at New Nation and we went to the board and said, look, this thing could be really big. They didn't get it. And I said, okay, I'm going to leave and do it myself. So I left, set up powerful media and started to do it myself. At that time, I'll be really honest with you, all I was concerned with in terms of vision, was being able to pay the mortgage, right? Could I get enough advertisers in the magazine because it was only in the magazine at the time, could I get enough advertising in the magazine just to keep going on a personal level? So there was no real big vision. I think the vision came when we got a little bit more comfortable financially. And then we started to think, oh, actually, we can take this to another level. The one thing I will say, we always aspire to be...”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of course, absolutely. I mean, we don't want to be separate. The power list was never about separation. It was about celebration. It was about showcasing. And it was about showcasing the fact that in modern Britain, excellence is everywhere in every community, except you probably hadn't seen it in ours because nobody has shown it to you.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, this is a great thing about working mainstream. I remember a story, right? I won't say which paper I was on, but there was a story that Damila Taylor story. And they'd been down to Peckham, and they'd come up with this story that the Damila Taylor thing was about a war between Africans and Caribbeans. And this whole big spread on it. And I saw it up on the board, and I said, you're wrong Said you're wrong. This isn't what it's about because at the same time that particular newspaper, I also was working at the new nation. I said, look, we've been down there and we know what the real story is. And I sort of outlined what the story was. And they changed it because of that. Actually, changed it because of that. So if we are in these places and we're conscious enough, we can actually do quite a lot to change the narrative.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Why would anybody buy a newspaper that was full of doom and gloom? Our sales were through the floor at the time, and it just didn't strike me as something that anybody would want to do. So we decided to focus instead on looking at things within our community that were positive. And when we did that, we started to realize that there were a lot of people out there who were The cusp of making it big, so to speak. There were a few people out there who were doing quite well, but there were a lot of people out there on the cusp of making it big, and we just thought that if we provide them with some visibility, and if we start to celebrate them and we start to introduce them to certain organizations, maybe they too would be able to climb at that extra step. And that's essentially how it started.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah. And the thing I noticed was that. Black and Asian newspapers. The Asian newspapers were really good at celebrating their heroes. They did a great event called the Asian Rich List. They did a great magazine and they showcased The people in their community who were doing really well. The thing I noticed about the black newspapers was that we were dominated by what I would call victim of the week on the front page. And I say that. I'm not taking it lightly the fact that there are things that happen. That you have to highlight, there are all sorts of negative things that happen. It really struck me that”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Studied in the day I was born no. Seriously As you quite rightly mentioned in the intro, I used to work for a company called the Ethnic Media Group, and they had about 10 titles. And as editorial director, I was actually in charge of all 10 titles from an editorial point of view, and I edited the new nation, which was a title that went out to the black community. When I first took up the job, because I came from mainstream into black press, which is quite, it was almost the other way around. Most people do the opposite”
undated · Off The Agenda · Michael Eboda: The Powerlist, Black Talent & Changing the Narrative | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source