I was in a community call today contributing to the good work of the NZ Startup Council. It wasn’t long before somebody popped the “diversity question” into the conversation, complaining that women, migrants and people of colour can’t get help with their startups and do not get a fair hearing from investors in New Zealand. If that is true, I want to do something about it!

For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been active in the NZ tech community for around 20 years and I’ve seen a lot of bullshitters come and go. I’ve started three companies. One was a great success that we bootstrapped and exited in 2019, another tanked during acceleration and another one ticks along and generates a bit of cash here and there. So I’ve been around the block a few times – as they say.

BITE ME! – Building In The Ecosystem for Migrant Entrepreneurs!

At present I’m a part-time advisor at University of Canterbury incubator ThincLab. I’ve worked with a huge diversity of founders. Young students, women founders, Maori. Founders from all over the world. Germany, Iran, Pakistan, India, Japan, Ukraine, China, United States, France… the list goes on. I’ve especially enjoyed working with founders who identify as neuro-diverse. We certainly have an amazingly diverse group of founders here in Canterbury. Perhaps it is not the case elsewhere?

In startup land it’s important to look beyond our tiny isolated little islands from the outset. A lot of Kiwi founders don’t get this. So diverse founders and especially skilled migrant entrepreneurs bring huge value to our ecosystem. I’ve even started companies with a few of them. So it grinds my gears when I hear people complaining about the “lack of diversity” in our startup ecosystem.

Supporting our skilled migrant entrepreneurs is the fastest way to grow an even more diverse ecosystem, whilst building high value, scalable startups that contribute tangible economic value.

Take a look at We Love Local for example, a corporate gift box provider founded by my friends from Mauritius and Germany. They’ve been growing fast and have received multi-award recognition for their business which was started from scratch only a few years ago. How about Swallowing Technologies. Migrant female founder from academia commercialising her research globally. Caterway, my friends from Japan and Ukraine serving the corporate catering market.

So I’m putting my money where my mouth is by offering a free advisory session.

If you are a New Zealand based e-commerce, cleantech, foodtech, edtech or fintech (especially fintech) migrant founder struggling to make connections, recently arrived or just need some objective feedback on your project. Pitch me! I don’t care if you have lizard skin and shoot purple streamers from your arse. I’ve seen it all, trust me! What I do care about is your ability to execute, sharp intelligence, that you have technical skills and have some kind of workable business model. Oh and a sense of humour and a willingness to listen would definitely be useful.

Let’s talk and see where it leads. Reach me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

If I can’t help – I will probably know someone else who can.

Paul Spence is a commentator and serial entrepreneur, a previous co-founder of a successful New Zealand based global technology venture, co-founder and director of Creative Forest, principal at GeniusNet Research & Genius ReFi and previously an advisor at ThincLab Canterbury. You can follow Paul on Twitter @GeniusNet or sign up for a free weekly digest of startup, tech and innovation related events co-curated by him through New Zealand Startup Digest.