20
Interview
PowerList 2008
SWEET SMELL
OF GARLIK
Tom Ilube can protect you from criminals seeking
to do you harm. Uchenna Izundu hears how
P
ersonal information is easily accessible online, all it takes is account was opened in his name. The Home Office estimates that it
a little determination to find, as Tom Ilube, Chief Executive costs £1.7bn each year in the UK and things are getting worse. Tom
Officer of pioneering online identity management company is not convinced that the government’s proposal to introduce ID
Garlik demonstrates when he flips the script and turns interviewer cards will help to reduce the problem. ‘I am nervous about identity
with me. It is disconcerting to be told where I live, how many siblings cards. The government needs to give more power and resources
I have, my employment history and where I grew up, among other to the Information Commissioner’s office so that it can investigate
things. individuals, companies, and even hold the government to account.’
In an IT career spanning 20 years, Tom has risen to the top of Until recently, Tom was Chief Information Officer and co-
his field. The potential global impact of his company is such that founder of the world’s largest online-only bank, Egg plc - which
Garlik has been selected as a World Economic Forum, Davos 2008 floated with a market cap of £1.3bn and which now has four million
Technology Pioneer, a European Red Herring 100 company and a customers. He cut his teeth at companies such as Goldman Sachs,
Netxplorateur 2008 Top 10 company. Tim Berners-Lee, the man who PricewaterhouseCoopers and on the London Stock Exchange.
invented the world-wide web, is on board as an advisor. He says: ‘I remember when I first graduated, I picked up a
Garlik was formed in 2005 to help people manage their digital reference book that had all the companies that owned computers
identities and better understand how information has been collated. and started with the A’s. I sent my CV to all of them – hundreds – got
Its flagship product, DataPatrol, allows subscribers to track personal rejected, and moved on to the B’s. It was British Airways that gave
information by scanning public records, commercial databases and me my first job.’
credit files for personal data. They then receive updates, advice Tom freely admits he has suffered discrimination on his career
path and choosing which battles to fight has been incredibly
difficult. His first encounter was in the 80s when he started at the
‘In this day and age, the
LSE and went to the pub with some colleagues after work. He was
enjoying the atmosphere until one senior male colleague took him
impact you have on the
aside and said: ‘Some friends of mine would string you up on a tree.’
After recovering from the shock, he decided not to pursue it as the
world is your digital
colleague would almost certainly deny what he had said and Tom’s
career in the City would die. Tom admits: ‘There were few other
impression’
black employees there and I felt very alone and very scared.’
Fast forward to the 90s and Tom began looking for City jobs
through a recruitment agency after completing his MBA. He applied
to an investment bank, which asked his recruitment consultant
and warnings about potentially harmful information. Tom and whether he was black. She told Tom that the bank said they
his business partner, Mike Harris, raised £9m of venture capital ‘don’t hire blacks’ and urged him to pursue a complaint with the
funding to launch the company and a number of banks and ISPs are Commission for Racial Equality. ‘I decided to take it on and the
potential customers. Earlier this year, Garlik launched QDOS, a free CRE thought it had enough meat to change behaviour in the City,’
programme that allows visitors to rate and rank their digital identity he recalls. But the bank threatened to withdraw business from the
by measuring activity, popularity and impact online. recruitment agency and discourage other clients from using it and
‘People are hugely unaware about how much information is out the consultant withdrew her claim, frightened about the implications
there online,’ says the married 45-year-old father of two. ‘We make for her career. ‘I wasn’t surprised that they took that approach. It
an impression within the first 30 seconds of meeting someone in the confirmed to me that they knew what they had to fight,’ says Tom.
real world. In this day and age, the impact you have on the world All that is in the past, though, and Tom is passionate about
is your digital impression. In our surveys, we are finding that more young people engaging creatively with technology and unleashing
people are taking decisions on prospective employers, employees, their potential, so he is helping to establish a new academy in
dates and the like from what they find on Google and Facebook. Hammersmith specialising in technology plus creative and digital
‘People are not paying attention to their credit facilities and there media. ‘With technical bodies, India and China can deliver lower
are sites where criminals trade personal information,’ Tom, who was costs than we do in the UK, so we are destined to lose, but we can
recently appointed by the Secretary General of the Geneva-based UN compete on creativity. The internet was invented by a British person
agency, the International Telecommunications Union, as a member of and the iPod was designed by a British person, too. Ada Byron,
the ITU’s High Level Expert Group on Cybercrime, says. Identity theft Lady Lovelace, created computer programming in the 1830s. We are
can happen to anybody, including him as he found when an internet brilliant at technology.’
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