Tom Ilube CBE has challenged Nigerian businesses to move beyond celebrating their rise to actively shaping the future through strategic collaboration and artificial intelligence adoption.

Delivering the keynote address at Algorithm Media’s 10th anniversary celebration on Friday at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, Ilube, chairman of LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, told guests that Nigerian businesses have already proven their excellence and now stand at a critical inflection point.

Reaching the Mountaintop and Seeing Further

“You are standing at a mountaintop. The climb has happened. The resistance has happened, the struggle has happened, and you have made it to the mountaintop,” Ilube said. “So the question before us is no longer, how do we rise? The question is, how do we go further than ever before?”

He explained that reaching the mountaintop changes perspective, allowing businesses to stop watching their footing and lift their heads to see new horizons, new terrains, new routes and new futures. This, he said, is what “Beyond the Rise,” the theme of Algorithm Media’s anniversary, truly means.

From Vision to Arrival: The AI Moment

Ilube, who also serves as chairman of The King’s Trust UK and sits on the board of WPP plc as non executive director, drew from his nearly decade old TEDx talk titled “From Artificial Intelligence to Intelligent Algorithm” to argue that the moment he pointed toward then has finally arrived.

“What I was really arguing for then was confidence, the confidence that Africa and Nigeria in particular would shape intelligent systems in its own image, with its own priorities and values,” he said. “That vision remains the same. What has changed is that the moment we pointed towards has finally arrived.”

Why Artificial Intelligence Favors Nigerian Businesses

He described artificial intelligence as leverage that accelerates judgment, amplifies creativity and rewards momentum, qualities he said Nigerian businesses understand deeply.

“For decades, we were told that technology revolutions require perfect infrastructure and well-established systems,” Ilube said. “This revolution, this AI revolution, rewards adaptability. AI thrives in complexity, in imperfection. It thrives where human judgment and intuition already operate at scale. In other words, it thrives right here.”

 

A Leadership Inflection Point for Africa

He argued that the next decade will belong to companies and leaders who treat AI as a strategic partner, where creativity expands rather than contracts, and where decisions travel at the speed of light.

“This moment goes far beyond technology. It is a leadership inflection point,” Ilube said. “And here’s the truth that matters most for us: Nigerian businesses are exactly on time. You are standing forward alongside the world’s leaders, which means African markets that emerge from African hands, African experience and African ambition.”

“Beyond the Rise is the moment Nigerian companies stop asking for permission and start setting direction.”

 

The Power of Strategic Collaboration

Ilube called for strategic collaboration among Nigerian businesses, arguing that true progress comes from companies working together rather than competing in isolation.

“The next phase of Nigerian business growth will be defined by a small group of confident, visionary companies choosing to collaborate on strategy, investment and mission to build something of global scale, an African coalition, something with real weight, real intent, real impact,” he said.

He emphasized that such collaboration would signal that Nigeria is helping to shape the future, not simply participating in it. “You can do this. It’s time to create something truly amazing on an international scale, but you can only do it if you work together and collaborate.”

 

Lessons from the Mountaintop

Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., Ilube referenced the civil rights leader’s famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, noting that King’s statement was never about arrival but about vision. “That is where Nigerian business stands today,” he said.

 

Beyond the Rise: A Bold Closing Charge

In closing, Ilube told the gathering of business leaders, industry stakeholders and Algorithm Media staff that the rise was necessary but never a destination.

“Beyond the rise is the mountaintop, and from here, the future doesn’t belong to the cautious or the timid. The future belongs to those who are bold enough to claim it,” he said. “The future belongs to you.”