My current activities involve delivering a variety of training courses for financial institutions around the world covering mathematical finance, risk management and inclusive leadership. I also occasionally supervise post-graduate students at King’s and I am still involved in applied research in which I might employ mathematics in solving real-world problems in sustainability or finance.
I have developed a series of training courses in being anti-racist and the impact on organisational dynamics. My skills in mathematical analysis have helped me to design the courses so as to appeal to a wide spectrum of people scientifically and those not so scientifically-minded.
My mathematical journey is, perhaps, not typical of those that study the subject. Whilst at school, at the age of 13, I was informed that I had learning difficulties and would need to attend a special school. I loved mathematics but was assessed as having abilities equivalent to someone several years younger than my chronological age. At the time, I did not know that this assessment was based on factors that discriminated against me due to my ethnicity.
Notwithstanding the above, I resolved to not accept the label as having ‘learning difficulties’ as being a life sentence. I took it on myself to go to my local library and read books that were more advanced than the subjects I was studying. I read books on number theory by Hardy, Ramanujan and others. I studied texts on calculus, geometry and other areas of mathematics. The more I read the more I understood and the more I wanted to be just like the authors of those books.
I applied the same philosophy to my other subjects and grew in confidence as time progressed. By the time I was 19, I went to university to study mathematics, statistics and computer science eventually graduating at the top of the class. A few years later I had completed a PhD in mathematical computer science.
The moral of my story is that neither race nor belittling characterisations of my mental abilities held me back. I do not consider myself to be unique, in this respect, and believe my story is similar to and can uplift others who have/are going through like circumstances.
I am joyful when others say they have benefited from the knowledge I have imparted in particular when it relates to being a better inclusive leader.
My journey into the world of leadership development is predicated on the need to fill the void caused by the lack of black representation in this space. A near-term objective is to develop a mathematical and/or economic framework of inclusive leadership.
A longer-term ambition is to develop a financial fund that could be used to support the educational aspirations of Black, Asian and other minority people wishing to study mathematics at university as well as those wishing to be entrepreneurs exploiting the use of mathematics.