Keynote Speaker at Signature Awards (London) 2022

Lord Verjee is a highly successful multiple entrepreneur and since September 2013 a member the House of Lords, the Upper House of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

In business Lord Verjee founded Domino’s Pizza in the United Kingdom and for over twenty years was Chairman of heritage British luxury brand Thomas Goode & Co. Today, he is the Chairman of The Rumi Endowment Company Limited – a real estate investment business investing in prime UK properties – and also Ipanema Properties in Brazil. Over the last few years Lord Verjee has used his network to help scale up many businesses in the Tech sector.

Lord Verjee’s success is entirely self-made: a fourth generation Indian born in Uganda, much of the Verjee family’s assets were seized by Idi Amin’s regime and after the expulsion of the Asian population from Uganda, he travelled to the UK and made it his home. Lord Verjee is now an Honorary Fellow of the University of Cambridge where, as a student, he had studied Law at Downing College.

Lord Verjee has always sought to share his success and experience through philanthropic work. He is Chairman of WE UK, a member of the World Presidents’ Organization, the Global Leadership Foundation and was on the Advisory Board of the British Olympic Association for the London 2012 Olympic Games. In 2009 he was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for charitable services and in 2013 was appointed by HM The Queen to the United Kingdom House of Lords, as a Peer, where he sits as Lord Verjee of Portobello in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Passionate in his belief that young people should have access to opportunities to develop their ideas, capitalise on their talent and realise their potential, The Rumi Foundation was launched in 2006 and has supported a great number of projects over the years since then.

The Rumi Foundation is Lord Verjee’s proudest achievement.