Gary Izunwa: Driving Social Mobility through referrals with Tangent

“I think we over index on the significance of education at the cost of other important parts of the social mobility conversation.”

This week’s 40 Minute Mentor is Gary Izunwa, Co-Founder and CEO of Tangent.

Tangent is an employee referral platform that makes referrals accessible to everyone and NOT just the privileged few with the best networks.

Prior to Tangent, Gary worked at LinkedIn and the British Council leading programmes for ‘Generation UK’, a multimillion pound campaign, committed to social mobility.

Most recently, Gary has also been named in the 2024 class of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for Social Impact.

In today’s episode, we’ll explore his career to date, the journey of building Tangent and the power of mentorship and social mobility…

Episode chapters:

➡️ Reframing mistakes & failure [02:39]

➡️ Growing up with an entrepreneurial mind [05:24]

➡️ A successful early career at LinkedIn [07:49]

➡️ Taking a 80% salary cut to drive social mobility [13:36]

➡️ Starting Tangent - the origin [16:44]

➡️ Harsh learnings from building without your customer [23:29]

➡️ The power & gaps of recruitment referrals [29:26]

➡️ Closing social mobility gaps [32:40]

➡️ Gratitude complex of socially mobile people [37:32]

➡️ Audience question: Building your personal brand on LinkedIn [44:40]

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ Connect with Gary: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyizunwa/

➡️ Check out Tangent: https://www.jointangent.com/

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