Chuka Umunna was born 17th of October, 1978 to a Nigerian Father and English-Irish Mother, he was educated at Hitherfield Primary School in Streatham, south London, at the voluntary aided Christ Church C of E Primary School (Cotherstone Road) in the Brixton Hill area of Streatham,and at the independent secondary school St. Dunstan’s College in Catford in south-east London. He obtained a 2:1 degree in English and French Law from the University of Manchester and then studied at the University of Burgundy in Dijon in France, and Nottingham Law School in  Nottingham.

Chuka Umunna

Interest

Education, equality, and community and youth engagement.

Career

He trained at Herbert Smith the large “Magic Circle” City law firm: about his decision to join the firm he said “I wanted to join Herbert Smith because they were a big international firm, very much at the heart of the City, business and finance. Having entered thinking I wanted to be a hotshot corporate lawyer, I ended up wanting to become an employment lawyer because employment relates to people and their relationships. In 2006, he moved to the central London law firm, Rochman Landau, where he mainly acted for individuals and small and medium sized companies. As an employment lawyer, Umunna often spoke in the media on employment issues.

He is “Labour through and through” and says the Tories aren’t serious about equality, “despite what Cameron tries to say with his spin and presentation” and says the BSS is a very positive development, long overdue. But he warns that although Labour has traditionally represented Blacks: “We are in danger of falling behind on that if we don’t increase representation in the future. It’s not just about representation, it’s also about increasing out communities’ general participation in the political process. That’s something we must work on.”

Influence and motivation

At 27 Chuka Umunna has been in main street politics, Influenced by his father who is a died when he was 13. Chuka recalls moment with his father saying “It had a huge influence on my life. I had to grow up very, very quickly.” He added: “Politically my father had a big influence on me. He spoke out against the corruption in Nigeria, for better governance and got involved in politics in Anambra state. He narrowly missed out on winning the governorship of that state shortly before he died in a car crash. He lost because he refused to bribe anyone and was standing on an anti-corruption ticket.

Also motivating were his experiences while growing – In my youth I also often visited my father’s native Nigeria and came face to face with the extreme poverty one sees in Africa in the heart wrenching appeal videos produced by the likes of Oxfam and Comic Relief every year. I simply could not understand why some had so much, whilst others had so little. From there sprung a desire to do something about it and the other challenges we face.

he is presently a School Governor of Sunnyhill Primary School and sits on the Board of Sunnyhill Children’s Centre, both in Streatham Wells. He lives on Streatham High Road.

In addition, he sits on the Board of Generation Next, a not for profit social enterprise which provides activities for young people in London, and has been involved charitable youth work in Lambeth too.

He is a patron of Latimer Creative Media, a social enterprise which trains young people in digital media and a supporter of Cassandra Learning Centre, a charity raising awareness and working to stop domestic violence.

Prior to becoming Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Streatham, Chuka was Vice Chair of Streatham Labour Party from 2004 to 2008 and had held a variety of positions throughout the local party.

In the May 2010 general election, Chuka was elected to represent Streatham having received 20,037 votes, with the number of votes received by Labour rising from 18,950 in the previous general election in 2005. Turnout in Streatham increased by 11.5 percentage points at 62.8% compared with 51.3% in 2005.

He is a member of the GMB and Unite trade unions and sits on the Management Committee of progressive pressure group, Compass.

Since becoming an MP, he has been elected on to the Treasury select committee and become Ed Miliband’s parliamentary private secretary.

In October 2011, Chuka was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, replacing the Rt Hon John Denham MP who announced his resignation from Shadow Cabinet.

In this role, Mr Umunna leads the Opposition Shadow Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) team, leading for the opposition on a wide range of issues including business, enterprise, science and universities.

Contact

 Address

3a Mount Ephraim Road, Streatham, London, SW16 1NQ

Tel: 020 8769 5063

Email: chukka.umunna.mp@parliament.uk

Website: www.chuka.org.uk

Tolulola: An uncanny obsession for caring and giving…

In her quest to take abandoned kids off the streets of Nigeria, provide them with psychological, material and health-care that they deserve, offering them a place in life and in other cases assisting women who lost their husbands in early ages, thereby laden with the burden of training their children in a hostile environment, Tolulola is gradually carving a niche for herself in the world of social care giver with the founding of Dorian Home for Displaced Children and Mothers Initiative.

Tolulola Olajibike Bayode, RN, RMA, BSN, M.Sc, is a trained medical professional but with an unusual passion for the well-being of the less privileged.

Dorian Home

Having travelled far and wide, Tolulola share an uncanny obsession of giving abandoned children and widows another shot at life, employing both her professional training and God given resources in assisting the less privileged at will leading her to initiating Dorian Home for Displaced Children  & Mothers Initiative.

Dorian Home is not limited to taking care of just abandoned babies and widows but also focused on research, training, empowerment and mobilize women towards self-emancipation.

A glamorous persona imbued with the philosophy of giving hope to the hopeless, creating a better living condition for the abandoned , Tolulola is in the forefront of Safe Haven Law in Nigeria – the leaving of unharmed infants with statutorily designated private persons so that the child becomes a ward of the state with proper upbringing.

Aside her passion for the creating a better living for commoners, she has over eleven years extensive managerial experience in the non-profit sector, with outstanding records in getting initiatives off the ground and flourishing.

Few years ago during a visit to Sierra Leone, her visit to a home led her to opening her doors to share a whole lot of love with Mother Child Revera Centre (M.C.R.C.) and today her assistance to this home has led to partnership across borders between Dorian and the Government of Sierra Leone offering ready assistance to the less privileged and widows.

Tolulola, a natural social and talented care giver has continually provided training, education and health consultations in the non-profit entrepreneurial sector to youths in different parts of the world and has successfully maneuvered the delicate balance between dedication to mission in a wide range of settings.

Eminent Leaders Emerging Personality of the Year 2011

 Chuka Umunna – Member of Parliament UK

ChukaH. Umunna

As year 2011 runs to an end, the Editorial Board of Eminent Leaders magazinein its usual style has finally selected UK Member of Parliament, Chuka Umunna, as Eminent Leaders Emerging Personality of Year 2011. Chuka Harrison Umunna is therefore inducted into the Eminent Leaders Hall of Fame.

Chuka Umunna was identified as one of the ten young, gifted and black people in British politics by The Independent on Sunday in November 2007 and as predicted, he became a Member of Parliament representing Streetham on the platform of Labour Party 6^th May, 2010 in the United Kingdom and now holds the post of Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, a position he assumed 7^th October, 2011.

Chuka Umunna, who described himself as being “One Nation Labour” was sometimes described by The New Statesman magazine as ‘A Barack obama for Britain’ was one of the individuals selected by The Observer’s Newspaper in January 2009 Hotlist, as people set to make a mark in Britain.

Born in 1978 by a Nigerian father from the South Eastern part of the country and an English-Irish mother, Chuka Harrison Umunna is the first Member of Parliament representing Streetham to have grown up in the area and also the first Nigerian to get into British Parliament. Streetham is a parliamentary constituency which covers Streatham and parts of Clapham, Balham, Tulse Hill and Brixton.

He started his elementary education Hitherfield Primary School, Streetham, South London, and later moved to Christ Church C of E Primary School also in Streetham, South London.

He had his secondary education at St. Dunstan’s College in Catford in South-East London and proceeded to study English and French Law at the University of Manchester where he graduated with a Second Class Upper before moving to study at the University of Burgundy in France.

Prior to his election, Chuka, a grandson of High Court Judge, Sir Helenus Milmo, QC. Umunna, was an employment law solicitor by profession who started his legal career in year 2002 as a solicitor at Herbert Smith, an international law firm in the City of London where he acted for large companies before he moved in 2006 to the Central London law firm, Rochman Landau, where he this time acted for individuals and small and medium sized companies.

Chuka was Vice Chair of Streatham Labour Party from 2004 to 2008 and had held a variety of positions throughout the local party.  He was a member of the GMB and Unite trade unions and sits on the Management Committee of progressive pressure group – The Compass, before his election as one of the youngest MPs in the country. He was formerly a trustee of the Anthony Bourne Foundation and the 409 Project – both youth charities – and has also served as a school governor of Sunnyhill Primary School and Children’s Centre in Streatham.

Chuka, who often spoke in the media especially on The Daily Politics on BBC Two and Question Time Extra on BBC News 24 on employment issues, began to write and provide commentary on the Labour Party, economic, social and political issues since 2006 in his capacity as a member of the management committee of centre-left pressure group, Compass. He also wrote for the Financial Times, The Guardian, The New Statesman and Tribune is also the founder and former Editor of the online political magazine TMP, which focussed its activities on Labour Party supporting ethnic-minority Britons.

According to Wikipedia, “He challenged former Sun editor, Kelvin MacKenzie for making remarks about former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the BBC’s Question Time television programme in October 2007, on which they were both panelists.

In May 2009, he was chosen to be part of a panel of ten figures from across the political spectrum addressing the question: How do we restore the reputation of Parliament? By The Independent following the expenses crisis.

In January 2010, he was named by The Independent as one the Labour politicians making the best use of microblogging website Twitter as a communication tool.”

Umunna delivered his maiden speech on 2 June 2010, highlighting the need for new school building projects in his constituency, and calling for better financial regulation of the banking sector.

Umunna has taken a particular interest in economic policy and reform of the City since entering Parliament. He was subsequently elected by his colleagues to serve on the prestigious Treasury Select Committee. In July 2010, Umunna had a heated exchange with Chancellor George Osborne over the Chancellor’s first Budget and its impact on the poorest in society at a Committee hearing. This was followed in November 2010 by a similar exchange with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander. Umunna has argued that the coalition government should revise its programme of fiscal consolidation, take a tougher stance with the British banking industry and take action to transform the credit ratings agency market.

In January 2011, Umunna questioned the Chief Executive of Barclays Plc in relation to alleged tax avoidance activities by the bank during which he disclosed that the bank used over 300 subsidiary companies in offshore jurisdictions. In response to a question from Umunna, Bob Diamond wrote in February 2011 to say that Barclays had paid £113m in UK Corporation tax in 2009, during which it made £11.6bn profits worldwide.