The Problem:
Do you know of a migrant or a refugee who is not working in the industry or profession they were trained in?
Just in the last year alone, over 200,000 migrants and refugees came to Australia, according to DIBP - and over 65% of them are underemployed or unemployed.
To us this is not only a problem, but a social and economic injustice.
Our Solution:
Our solution to this problem is Entrepreneurship. Migrants and Refugees are known to be enterprising. The examples are endless.
imagine a world without Google, Whatsapp, PayPal, Tesla. It is hard to imagine, right? It wouldn’t have been possible without migrant entrepreneurs.
There is rarely anyone who doesn’t know Elon Musk, Inventor and Engineer and one of the best innovators of our time. We know that he co-founded PayPal, then started Tesla Motors and popularised the electric vehicles, and is also a co-founder of Solar City - one of the largest Solar companies in the US, and Space X - a private space company with a mission to take humanity to Mars. But how many of us know that he was a migrant to the US from South Africa. Same is the case with Sergey Brin - the co-founder of Google - who is a Russian born computer scientist who migrated to the US with his family. Jan Koum - co-founder and CEO of Whatsapp is no different who was born in Ukraine and later migrated to the US.
You might say, sure, these are amazing people, but they are in the USA, but what about local success stories in Australia?
Frank Lowy and John Saunders were both Jewish immigrants - the co-founders of Westfield Corporation who set up their first Westfield Shopping Centre in Hornsby in 1961. Currently Frank is listed as the third richest Australian. Nahji Chu was a refugee from Laos and she started Misschu - contemporary Vietnamese diners in both major cities.
The stories are endless, but the message remains the same.
Migrants and Refugees are highly resilient and enterprising. But they are not afforded the same opportunities as everyone else due to various barriers such as language, culture, and networks.
Catalysr:
This is why we have launched a social enterprise called Catalysr to challenge the status quo, and provide an alternate pathway of entrepreneurship of entrepreneurship. Catalysr was co-founded by Jacob Muller and Usman Iftikhar in May 2016.
Catalysr is a startup incubator, working exclusively with migrants and refugees to inspiare and enable them to start their own businesses and create their own future.
It also begs the question, who are we, and why do we think we are the best people to make this happen?
We are a small team at Catalysr, but our approach is networked leadership through working with our supporters and partners to create systemic change. Let’s us tell you a bit about ourselves and our networks.
Jake's story:
"I am a trained Accountant, having studied a Bachelor of Business & Commerce (Advanced Business Leadership) majoring in Accounting. During my studies, I worked fulltime for almost three years in Corporate Accounting.
Existential crisis - Mindset shift - I started to reflect on some of the challenges face by the communiy i grew up in, in western sydney, and also did some travel - and found a real drive to spend my life helping others.
With that drive - I then teamed up with a colleague from the Open Innovation program to cofound 180 Degrees Consulting Western Sydney Incorporated – a student driven consultancy that improves the effectiveness of socially conscious organisations through engaging in consulting projects. During my tenure, we scaled the branch to 5 executive members and 10 student consultants; engaging in two consulting projects in its inaugural consulting cycle.
I then travelled to Bangladesh, where I interned at Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus’ organisation: the Yunus Centre. There, I witnessed the power of grassroots capacity building initiatives; particularly those that support entrepreneurial activity. In Bangladesh, these activities have impacted the lives of millions of people. I wondered whether the same principles could be applied in the Australian context.
In early 2016, I was accepted into the School for Social Entrepreneurs Western Sydney Youth Launchpad program. It was during this program that I met Usman; and through a serendipitous turn of events we teamed up to conceive Catalysr.
I have also been working with the executives with Macquarie at their kickstarter program to get business model training and development in the past few months.
I was also recently selected to be a part of the Local Representative Advisory Committee (LRAC) at City of Parramatta - where I advise the council on strategic direction of Parramatta"
Usman's story:
"I hail from Pakistan. I did a mechanical engineering degree from Pakistan, and during my undergraduate education got the privilege to work with an international youth-led organisation called AIESEC. I undertook two international internships through AIESEC first to Indonesia for development work, and secondly to Russia where I worked as a management trainee, and led a global team to set up an industrial and logistics park in Siberia. I also founded an AIESEC chapter in my university in Pakistan. These experiences gave me an entrepreneurial mindset and a global perspective.
After graduating, I migrated to Australia in 2013, and did a Master of Engineering Management with distinction at University of Wollongong. I faced a lot of barriers to employment, and started a PhD in Energy Systems and Policy at University of Wollongong.
I volunteered with Australian Youth Climate Coalition and worked at GetUp! for some time. I also got the privilege to be a tutor of Strategic Management at University of Wollongong. In late 2015, I was privileged to take part in the Climate Reality Leadership program in Miami, USA, run by by Al Gore and was able to form relationships with leaders of sustainability from across the world.
Earlier this year, I was also accepted into the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) & Citi Youth Launchpad program, where I met Jake and co-created Catalysr using insights and learning from my past experiences as someone with lived experience. We also won $5,000 take off grant at the end of the SSE
After this, I have finished the Young Social Pioneers (YSP) 2016 program run by Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), where I worked with the top 60 young social entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs from across Australia. I also won a $10,000 grant by Mutual Trust, after a pitching competition at the end of the YSP incubator program.
Our Work so far:
We, provide office space, entrepreneurial workshops, mentoring, and cutting edge content, tailored to the unique cultural needs of each cohort.
We have successfully run an 8-week pilot with 10 entrepreneurs which was funded through the Office of Small Business Commissioner (OSBC) NSW, and supported by CMRC. Our content partners were; the UTS Hatchery, BGES.co, The Sponge, WestWood Spice, School for Social Entrepreneurs and Citi Foundation, and our venue partner was Collaboratory.
Success story - Koshari Korner
2 out of 10 businesses launched as a part of our pilot cohort. One of our participant business has seen tremendous success in the recent past. They are called Koshari Korner.
Walid Elsabbagh came here as a Marine Engineer from Egypt last year Although he had 5 years of work experience, he was unable to find and engineering job in Australia after searching for a year. He joined Catalysr's pilot cohort and with his wife Yusra Metwally launched an Egyptian food business called Koshari Korner.
Koshari Korner was able to get permanent stalls at Grounds of Alexandria, Sydney Noodle Night Markets and a lot of catering gigs. They have also been covered in various media outlets and are now planning to scale to Food trucks and Franchise.
Where to next?
This 8-week program was the first step We are currently seeking funding to run our next program.
Our next program will be launched in December, and all funds raised will be used to run our next program, an intensive 4-month program.
Our innovative business model is based around Micro-finance/HECS. Participants are carefully recruited, and go through the program for free, and will make repayments capped at $10,000 at the end of the program.
What will your funds do?
This crowdfunding campaign and your money will enable us to validate our business model and will be a crucial step towards Catalysr's financial sustainability.
If our goal is reached we will be able to run our next program, validate our business model and approach impact investors to make Catalysr a successful business.
All funds raised through this crowdfunding campaign will lead us to take the next step, in offering a 4-month totally immersive program.
We dream of using this program to inspire, to empower, to Catalyse the next generation, a diverse generation of entrepreneurs. Who can put the injustice to bed.
Will you join us on this journey?
