MINORITY BUSINESSES MATTER

Supplier diversity is a hot topic these days, as organizations look to incorporate business resilience and social responsibility into their broader business strategies. MSDUK has partnered with Open Political Economy Network (OPEN) to publish ‘Minority Businesses Matter Europe', a research report showcasing the massive economic and social contributions that ethnic minority businesses make to the European economy.

Besides illustrating the current state through economic and anecdotal data, writers Martyn Fitzgerald and Philippe Legrain deliver tangible recommendations on how to amplify the positive economic and societal benefits of supplier diversity more broadly across Europe.

Christina shared her perspective and experiences included in this report, with a clear message on uniqueness as a strength.

Selection from the article:

Diversity

Many minority entrepreneurs also make a virtue of their diversity. Being different can provide visibility, create a sense of community, spark new ideas, foster opportunities for trade and provide valuable new perspectives. Christina Calje, the founder of Autheos, a Dutch company that provides a platform to distribute video content on ecommerce pages, has made the most of her mixed background.

“In the [United] States I considered myself Black Latinx. My father is from Suriname and my mother is from Puerto Rico. [And] I had Dutch citizenship through my father. I’ve been able to use the uniqueness of my position as a business leader who is a woman of colour. I’ve been able to use that visibility as a strength. I’ve made a point of trying to use what can be perceived as a weakness as a strength.Being in a minority can also foster a sense of community. I think there is a lot of great community and connectedness that you build with other folks of whom there are few. I’ve spoken at a Google event for black founders recently and immediately in the room you could feel that there was a shared experience with people I’d only just met. I’m much more candid, I’m more willing to help, I empathise, I understand. And I think this is also a strength that, when we’re put together, we want to help each other and see each other thrive.”

Recognition from Google’s Black Founders Fund in 2020 brought much greater visibility to Autheos, which Calje went on to sell.

“Now I’m working on the next idea and investing my own money as an angel investor and working on developing a fund to invest in early stage entrepreneurs, especially those that come from an underrepresented background. ​​The goal is to also showcase the innovation, and that this as an overlooked commercial opportunity… it’s meant as a first step towards creating a cross border network for Black and brown founders, and investors who want to invest in them.”

2hearts is a community founded by four friends with migrant backgrounds to help others like them succeed in tech. It helps ‘third culture kids’ – those whose parents or grandparents migrated to Europe, or who did so themselves as children, and thus have two cultures – through mentoring, advocacy, networking and raising awareness of the issues faced in tech by diverse populations.

In the Netherlands, Christina Calje is doing something similar.

“For the past three years I’ve been focused on trying to discover who are those up-and-coming entrepreneurs who are building something and are outside of the standard profile and where possible helping them connect with each other and investors.”