Ade Larigo is the founder and CEO of Agency Connection, helping adoption & fostering agencies to recruit high-caliber individuals for their panels
Learn more about Ade here:
If you are an entrepreneur, what motivated you to start your own business?
I have observed for years how i mainly see white middle class people in senior positions within adoption and fostering and they make lots of the decisions around the children in the care system. Yet in the UK system, black children are over represented in the system and they don’t necessarily get the best care. I want to ensure that black children have strong representation and have their voices amplified at the tables where their care is being discussed is very important to me because i have watched a for a long time how they have been marginalised. In 2020, i decided to stop watching and complaining but do something meaningful to have long term impact.
What does success mean to you?
Accomplishing all the goals i set out to achieve, but also appreciating and enjoying the moments during the journey.
What is your mantra or favorite saying? (If it's a known quote, please let us know who said it first!)
Life is too short so whatever you want to get done, do it, even if you are afraid
What's your favorite book - fiction or non-fiction! - in the past year?
Real wins, Atomic habits, the girl with the louding voice, boy at the back of the class
If you could teach the world one five-minute lesson, what would it be?
Why we all need to be aware of others heritage, culture and identity
Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently when you were first starting out?
I would have carried out more research on diferent coaches that i came across, interviewed several of them first to see what they really understand my mission, objectives and the adoption sector before committing myself financially. whilst i got a lot of value from the coach i worked with, their understanding around adoption and fostering in UK was limited. Therefore a coach who has experience within social care would have been more appropriate.
What does women's empowerment look like to you in action?
Community where women support women and help each other to be visible, amplify each other’s voices, can be vulnerable with each other in order to build trusting and nurturing relationships whilst remaining ones true self.
What would you tell 19-year-old YOU?
Speak louder, hold your head and be unapologetically yourself. Be true to yourself and understand yourself as this would help you to navigate the journey to where you are heading.
What will 86-year-old you want you to know TODAY?
Did you achieve the goals that you set out for yourself, what legacy did you leave for your children and their children’s children? what impact did you make on the world and what changes do you want your children to carry on making on the world?
Does anyone call you by a nickname? What is it?
My husband calls me Adewadewoowoo
Congrats! You just met a Genie in a Bottle. You get three wishes. One can be worth $0-100, one is worth $100,000, and one is worth $100 million. What are your wishes?
Invest money in building properties for families in the black community who wish to adopt but don’t have big enough accommodation to do so. They can rent it a reasonable cost but the profits would be re invested into more properties and land so business continues to grow, whilst the profits are being re invested and compounded to make more profits and purchase more properties and so it continues.
What is your favorite quote? (It can be yours or from someone that you look up to.)
Be the person of your word
