Ade Adepitan – Keynote Speaker

Ade Adepitan MBE is a TV Presenter, Paralympic Medalist, Journalist and father.

Born in Lagos Nigeria and raised in East London, Ade survived polio as youngster. Contracting the virus at just 15 months old he began to lose the use of his legs, and aged three his parents migrated with him to the UK. Ade went on to succeed as an international Paralympic wheelchair basketball player and renowned broadcaster.

Never one to hold back, Ade’s work has taken him across the globe; going undercover with C4’s Dispatches, reporting foreign affairs for Unreported World and more recently fronting the ground-breaking BBC Two Series, Climate Change: Ade on the Frontline. Filmed during the pandemic, Ade meets the people and places around the globe who have been directly affected by climate change.

Ade is a well-respected co-host on Children in Need’s annual live appeal show. He has hosted countless sporting events including his BAFTA ward wining coverage of the 2012 Paralympics on C4 co-hosted with Clare Balding. An Olympics that changed the course of history for people’s attitudes towards disabled people, not just in sport.

In a personal documentary for C4, Ade Adepitan: Journey of my Lifetime, Ade returned to his birth place Lagos to investigate Nigeria’s polio endemic. Picked up by the Sunday Times, Ade’s story left viewers inspired including support on Twitter from Bill Gates, who invited Ade to speak at the Global Vaccine Summit: We Changed History in 2020, when Africa officially declared the country free from wild poliovirus. A milestone that see’s Ade continue to work alongside the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to end poliovirus globally.

An exceptional public speaker and live host, Ade supports a plethora of charities including Amnesty International, Unicef and NSPCC and continues to deliver motivational speeches to schools, charities and businesses around the world.

Ade’s personal sporting achievements include a Bronze in The Athens Paralympics, Silver in the European Championships and Gold in The World Championships. Ade received an MBE in 2005 and was awarded Honorary Doctorate from Loughborough University in 2006 and the University of East London in 2010.

Ade has released four children’s books all based on stories from his own childhood, as a Nigerian kid with a disability growing up in East London during the ‘80’s. His debut book series follows a superhero character called Cyborg Cat, and they call centre around the same messaging “We can all be superheroes, no matter who we are or where we’re from.” 100% of the proceeds from Ade’s second book were donated to Children in Need.