At the beginning, it was money to be honest. I was tired of counting the pennies to buy food and got sick of eating tuna mayonnaise sandwiches (I had that for 6 months at some point!). Once I was comfortable with money, having saved some, I felt I didn’t have to buy the cheapest baked beans tin at Tesco (I used to buy one that was £0.09 ten years ago). The hierarchy of needs got filled. I got a nice place to live, a nice car and got married, once all my personal needs were fulfilled, it was now time to help others. That’s why I moved on from property investment to running a social enterprise. It’s more fulfilling and now I feel that I run a business with a purpose and this attracts opportunities - so I can help even more people. It’s a wonderful place to be.
Do you believe entrepreneurship can be learnt or is it an innate quality that only some are born with?
I think it can be learnt if people want to. My father is a fisherman and my mum is a housewife, so I don’t have role models as entrepre- neurs. I got into it and once I learnt what business was all about, I decided to invest in some education. I think everyone can be an entrepreneur if they put their mind to it.
You took part in the USA accelerator programme… How does entrepreneurship differ from the UK to the US? In the USA sales are the core of a business. But it’s ‘hardcore’ sales, sales, sales - sell, sell, sell. In the UK sales are important but relationships come first. People need to nurture relationships here. They like to know who they are doing business with. Americans are much more outgoing and they celebrate success. I loved going to networking events there. They clap and congratulate successful people.
In the UK it has to be subtle. You must not shout out to the world about your success and only recently this has started to change. Fi- nally we are starting to celebrate success. That’s why companies in the USA are much more successful than UK ones. The biggest start ups come from the USA and I understand why. They are bolder and they take more risks. They share and celebrate success. The UK is changing but it’s nowhere near the USA yet.
You have recently launched the Migrant Business Accelerator programme through your new social enterprise ‘This Foreigner Can’… tell us more…
This Foreigner Can is a social enterprise and our mission is to develop and grow the migrant business community through their entrepreneurial spirit. Our vision is to turn one million migrants into entrepreneurs over the next 10 years.
The MBA programme is the combination of a tech accelerator and traditional business training. It’s a 16-week programme where ten migrants are selected to attend workshops in finance, marketing and operations. They also receive mentoring from experienced entrepre- neurs and at the end they receive funding to grow their business. We don’t have a demo day like some tech accelerators, but we have the ‘Pitch Higher’ event, where our migrants will pitch to an audience of 100 people including the media and investors.
Do you feel the negativity around the subject of migration is being debated fairly?
Absolutely not. Migrants don’t have a positive voice in the media. We receive a lot of bad press and we are not celebrated when we do good things for the country! One in seven companies are owned by migrants in the UK says the CFE and Duedil report, but I think this figure could indeed be higher.
When I register a business at Companies House for example, I say that my nationality is British because I would not be able to run a company with my Brazilian passport. I believe there are many more businesses owned by migrants that hold a British passport. The media like sensationalism and bad news. Migrants creating jobs and paying tax is not sensationalism, so they don’t want to cover it.
How do you feel about the anti-migrant sentiment creeping back into politics in the UK and US? Are there any dangers if these views gain more popularity?
I think we must separate economic migrants and refugees. Migrants have the choice to move countries. French, Italian or Spanish citizens are migrants in the UK but they don’t see themselves as ‘mi- grants’ because they don’t need a visa or because they are ‘Europe- an’. I heard that yesterday from one of my French employees. When I asked her: do you feel alien to the food or language, she said ‘yes, completely!’ I said: ‘you are a migrant then!’
Refugees don’t have the choice that migrants have. They are run- ning from terror, war, or in some cases death. Can you blame them for wanting to go somewhere safe?
The anti-immigration sentiment in my view is divided. Some people feel ‘migrants’ are milking the resources and not giving anything back. Some anti-immigration views are against refugees, “where are they going to go? Will they get free housing and free hospital care - so will we have to pay for all of these resources?”
What I am working on is to get more positive messages in the media. I want more people to know that migrants are here to grow business- es, generate jobs, pay tax and help the economy - not take from it.
What has been your most successful case study so far? I have been mentoring a Brazilian journalist who got into property and a Spanish nanny who’s launching her own agency and they are growing their businesses.
Once you give people hope, you show them how it can be done, they feel inspired and they go for it. I have a group of ten migrants in the course and the energy is amazing. I love our weekly ses- sions. They push and help each other with ideas and contacts. It’s wonderful.
From all the countries that you have travelled to around the world, which one has been your favourite and why? When it comes to entrepreneurship, I think Turkey (Istanbul) is my favourite. It seems to be in their DNA to be entrepreneurs. I love the vibe of the city. The mix of Muslim and western culture blends perfectly and the people are super friendly.
When I want to take good break, I go to south of France. Nothing is better than good, cheap local wine and cheese to recharge and get your ideas flowing and your thoughts together.
Where would you say the most opportunities for economic migrants are?
Micro businesses owned by migrants normally start relating to their culture or community needs. Food I think is the most popular. For example, I write about small businesses for the newspaper, Brazilian News in London. The number of adverts for food (restaurants, party food, etc) is very big. I have used a few of those small businesses for events and parties. There are certain things you will never discon- nect from your country and food I think is one of them.
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