Did you know that a black man owns the second-largest airport in London? According to an article from The Network Journal, a Nigerian entrepreneur with an impressive resume of accomplishments recently purchased a British airport. Adebayo Ogunlesi, chairman and managing partner of Global Infrastructure Partners, purchased Gatwick Airport, the second largest airport in London in December of 2009 for approximately $2.2 billion. Global Infrastructure Partners is Mr. Ogunlesi's investment company.

Mr. Ogunlesi's purchase of the Gatwick airport is just another in a long line of impressive achievements. After graduating from England's Oxford University, Mr. Ogunlesi attended Harvard Law School, where he obtained a law degree and an MBA. Upon graduating from Harvard, he earned a prestigious clerkship with the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He followed that up by practicing law at a major corporate firm for a while, before eventually joining Credit Suisse First Boston in 1983. While helping to turn around the then struggling investment bank, he rose to the position of Executive Vice Chairman.
According to The Network Journal, when Ogunlesi first started his private equity firm in 2006 (with funding from various sources, including General Electric and Credit Suisse), he was the first black man to head a private equity firm in London's financial district (referred to as "The City").

I applaud Mr. Ogunlesi on his success thus far, and wish him much continued success in the future. Being "the first" to represent a group of people in any area of expertise can be an overwhelming experience, especially in the super-competitive financial sector. Although ideally every individual would be given the benefit of the doubt regarding his or her competency to perform in a particular field, we know this is not always the case. Every success story such as this provides further evidence (to those who need it) that when given equal opportunity, black men and women (from any country) can excel at the highest level in any industry.

Hopefully the success of Adebayo Ogunlesi will further open the doors for other black men and women to achieve high levels success in the financial industry, in London, the U.S., and all other areas.