Founder's Story: Holly Simmons, Co-Founder of Niya

In this new edition, we are spotlighting Niya a pre-seed human resources services start-up and co-Founder Holly Simmons . Niya just raised ￡1.5m to build career platform for underrepresented workforces Holly is part of the wonderful keshty community led by Neda Sahebelm #Keshtyfamily

Tell us more about Niya

?"Niya is a London-based tech startup focused on closing the opportunity gap. Our platform generates career pathways for underrepresented people from over 200 NGOs and communities. Each pathway gives users free access to world-class training courses that align with today’s skills-gaps and a direct route into work.

Corporates seeking to close their skills gaps and build diverse, high-performing teams specify the skill sets and talent pools they need; Niya’s AI engine then matches them with top candidates who meet their current job requirements. We want to make it easy for companies to engage and hire people from society's most underserved and unconnected groups and to prove that talent is everywhere, opportunity is not."

?How did you end up as a co-Founder of Niya

"From a young age, I knew I wanted to start my own business, but I wanted to learn from other entrepreneurs first. So I worked in different accelerators, I worked with the Baobab Network, where I supported entrepreneurs across Africa in scaling their social entrepreneurship ventures. Then I worked at Rocket Internet and in venture capital, which gave me insights into the high-growth venture landscape and effective business scaling. The combined experiences sparked my interest in combining tech for social good with high-growth venture frameworks to build an impactful, global venture and that’s Niya. The whole founding team have had really close proximity to the problem we’re tackling and we’re all firm believers that talent is everywhere, opportunity is not."

What is the most challenging part of being an under-represented founder?

"One of the biggest challenges I've faced is definitely the lack of relatable role models. While there are more female entrepreneurs in the spotlight now, which is fantastic, we still see a shortage of female success stories, especially in companies that have exited, gone public, or succeeded as social ventures. This scarcity of role models can make it difficult to navigate the entrepreneurial landscape, but I’m grateful for all the founder communities I’m a part of as we share learnings and support eachother a lot."

Another significant challenge is the lack of connectivity when you don't have an established network. Over the past five years, I've worked hard to build a strong network of role models, mentors, and experts on LinkedIn to support my journey. However, when it comes to seeking early investment rounds or guidance, relying on friends and family isn't always an option. This puts additional pressure on me to independently build a robust network.

What is next for Niya?

Having just closed our pre-seed round, it’s now about building on the validation we've received and the success of our pilots. Our primary objective is to transition towards enterprise subscriptions and recurring revenue by increasing traction. This year, we'll focus on engaging corporate clients and collaborating closely with heads of diversity and inclusion, talent acquisition, and CSR to get more of our users into long-term, meaningful employment.

Initially, our focus is on companies in the UK and across Europe, but over time, we plan to expand and support our global network of users who are now in 60+ countries. We also want to move beyond tech and data career pathways, broadening our scope into other business areas. This will mean we can become a key talent source for corporates and can really move the needle in closing company skills gaps and creating equal access to opportunities for everyone.

How can you help Niya

If you know anyone working in HR / DE&I / CSR who could be interested in engaging untapped talent from their network please get in touch at [email protected] - Holly would love to be introduced!

Gluey is looking for a full stack engineer If you want to join with Torbj?rn Maaherra and Brett Ryan with the next generation of logistics integration connectivity and are up for a challenge then apply HERE.

SmartShift Energy with Natalia Baltazar and Oliver Knight are looking for people who have, or want to have, one or more of these devices to talk to: Solar panels, electric vehicles, heat pump, or other electric space and water heating. Share the message to your friends

HI! I thought of you when I came across this startup, SmartShift Energy, that's helping people save money on their electricity bills and support the transition to net zero with smarter tariffs. If you're already on the journey to electrification, or want to in the future, they'd love your feedback! It's a quick 5-minute survey that learn more about smart tariffs and how they could benefit you: [https://forms.gle/EUjMiE8ngAA6FNwN7] As a thank you, you'll be offered a chance for a free energy review and personalised tariff recommendation to help you cut costs!        

Marjo from Possible Spark Consulting (Yay, me!) I am looking for consulting projects from social media strategy, to event planning and marketing, to email marketing to community building. I am particularly excited to help early stage start ups in navigating their growth phase. Reach out if interested.

To feature an ask in the newsletter, just message me and I’ll add how we can help.?

???? Last Features

Healthtech:

• S?kerData and Dr. Elsa Zekeng : AI-enabled platform providing access to correlated genomic and clinical datasets from under-represented groups. HERE
• @Apo and Lauren Romanish : A holistic health solution dedicated to improving MSK patient outcomes through AI-powered, digital-first, human-centric care HERE

???? Last note

This newsletter was born following my personal founder’s journey in the Zinc Venture Builder Program from 0 to raising VC funds to leaving.?

In this newsletter, I will continue to support and advocate for under-represented founders trying to solve the biggest problems in the world. +1 if related to health, climate and economic empowerment.?

Each month, I will spotlight an under-represented founder and share one of she/he/their asks. I’ll take on any feedback but my goal is to use my skills to make the founders shine! Reach out if you’d like to be featured!

Thank you for reading my newsletter, don’t hesitate to share any comments, questions, suggestions of resources to help me in my journey or even experts to follow on LinkedIn! Don’t forget to subscribe?