📸 “We did not come to Britain. Britain came to us.”
(Black Outdoor Art by Greg Bunbury)
👑 As a reminder of what empire took, and what migration has given back in return. Last year a UK immigration white paper, marketed as “control”, was really a desperate attempt by a faltering Labour Party to lure voters drifting towards tech-enabled fascism.
🦅 Then we have the US… saying upfront for the confused at the back, “no one is illegal on stolen land.” Colonialism is an interesting thought experiment for those who try to justify it. ICE is being empowered to dictate “who looks native” by ironically arresting, killing, and deporting people of colour (many of which are US citizens). Native Americans were the first people, European colonisation opened up global migration without local acknowledgement, conservation, or discussion.
🌏 So why, is migration now bad, or considered detrimental, if not from white-majority nations? In a sophisticated nutshell, it is because of racism. I was fortunate to be an economic migrant living in Hong Kong for the first part of my career… many “white” or “westerners” were considered expats, whereas, domestic workers, and other service workers were “migrants”.
😕 As an ethnically ambigious person, therefore the UN/university brochure face and Benetton first-choice model, I often was confused between the two. “You speak British and sound western”, but “you look like a brown migrant”. Chewing gum and walking, understand migrant diaspora histories… too much for some folk.
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Meanwhile… here’s what the data - and my own life - makes undeniable:
🪬 My migrant grandmother worked in a factory on Warren Street. Two generations later, I studied for my Master’s at UCL, just minutes away. That story isn’t rare, it’s pretty bloody foundational to the UK and many western countries, their economy is dependent on it.
✅ Over 90% of the founders I’ve invested in are migrants or from migrant diaspora communities.
✅ My latest client? A migrant.
✅ The one I’m about to sign? Also migrant.
✅ Several VC funds and family offices I’ve been in discussions with? Led by migrants.
✅ Want harder data? £3.3B annual revenue boost from migrants (CEBR), and higher net migration reduces government borrowing and debt over time (OBR).
✅ The NHS? Held up by migrant hands.
✅ The UK? Built, maintained, and still innovating because of migrants.
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🧿 Then you have incredible folk by Ramzi who runs No Label Ventures. He spoke with me on stage last year: ~50% of US and ~40% of UK unicorns are immigrants. Constraint breeds creativity. Displacement sparks determination. Survival requires innovation.
⛅️ The real threat to the UK, US, and other countries frazzled by families seeking to contribute… isn’t migration. It’s forgetting. Forgetting that empire created the conditions for movement. Forgetting that migration powers our systems, our startups, our futures.
🤗 Forgetting that when those of us with migrant heritage do rise to power, we must remember how we got here… and who is still being shut out (insert all sellout politicians).
📬 If you’re a migrant founder building something bold, know this: I work with and bet on people like you.