Be part of our new journey!

It was in 2017, when I officially worked on migrant entrepreneurship, it was not because it was a trend, but because accidentally I became one. Back then, the opportunity that this represented among us, newly arrived, was undeniably an empowering one. However, the recurring question in my head, as I moved ahead was: “How was I supposed to know that!”?

I was savvy in building anything from scratch, business models, structures, building processes, and bringing people together (I worked with 130 nationalities before), yet I think I never reached the necessary information and resources available, nor resources arrived on time.?

After supporting the creation of more than 32 migrant businesses, plus mentoring 50+, taking part as mentor and creating schooling programs for migrants, we came to realise that nothing really helped. Along with my fellow migrants, we felt left behind, disturbed and tired that we were the nice cover of a magazine, the nice story, the ones everyone wanted to mentor, in their panels, but not the ones that could get the resources to make things happen. Because we didn’t and still at times, it feels that others treat us as if we don’t know what we are doing.

Some years later, pivoting and raising from the ashes, I found myself sharing, not teaching, but sharing - connecting people, introducing new projects, making others learn from what is needed and by that, minimise the mistakes and bad luck that every entrepreneur experiences within this journey, but most importantly, I was doing it to protect the most vulnerable: migrants, particularly women.?

Migrants in general because at the end, one of our high needs is to connect -sometimes fit-. We love and enjoy when we join your accelerator programs to learn, yes, but mainly to access resources and the much-needed network, get to know investors to see how they think and if we can be a good fit, but most importantly for the ones with resources to meet us, otherwise it is difficult for us to reach this audience or be taken seriously.?

Women, on the other hand, because there are more migrant entrepreneurs than female entrepreneurs in this country- and this has to change. Not because women are not entrepreneurial enough but because we are not trusted, and our fear of failure is bigger. Trusting and gaining trust from others was always our biggest threat...and when we are not trusted or constantly rejected, our fear increases, damaging our confidence. Now, imagine being a woman and a migrant at the same time, and here is where we need the support of the most powerful ones, willing to support each other.

So, here we come learning from our past projects: Migrapreneur was born in December 2020, officially as a for profit, to allow us migrants to share our work, hopes and struggles with everyone, because if migrants and diversity drives innovation then we call for action: LET us take part and join our journey!

Our upcoming platform, built by migrants and local experts, is a conscious decision and a long term study. A platform with tools that made us survive and those we usually don't have access to, or ignore of their existence. It is and will be the platform that any entrepreneur needs throughout their entrepreneurial journey. But, Migrapreneur, as its backbone, will serve as a platform that brings equity to the disparity between migrant entrepreneurs and the rest, a framework that aims to enable the vulnerable ones to grow, collaborate, share experiences, allowing experts and services to find their clients and mostly: the space to share!?

As a purpose-driven company, its profits will benefit Migrapreneur’s non-profit organisation, Bureaucrazy, built by three Syrians back in 2017. We will ensure to provide free resources and capital money when needed. Not just at the beginning of every entrepreneurial venture, but especially for emergencies and to prevent bankruptcies. Its founders, who had a different plan with it, will take part in Migrapreneur, because they know how to start from ashes and use their resilience to support others.?

The founders of Bureaucrazy were there to support me when I needed a family around me and now I’m here to support them back, because Bureaucrazy and Migration Hub, my previous organization, are the example of what happens when vague promises to migrants are made, and we let people with refugee status create business without knowing the legal implications and possible missteps.

And with this said, here is the effort we make through Migrapreneur to avoid more projects built by migrants to disappear, because at the end we migrate to be financially sustainable, we came to work, build a life, be liable and give back!

I want to close this article by encouraging you to join our movement, talk about it, spread the word and help shape our community.

In the meantime, we are working hard to introduce you to our Allies, Champions, and Angels soon to be unveiled by the end of this month through our upcoming website.

In the meantime, join us and let’s rock this together!

Ana,@ Migrapreneur