Startup scene in Germany: More support for migrant entrepreneurs
The startup scene in Germany has been criticized its lack of diversity. Now support is being offered to budding entrepreneurs with a migrant background to help them launch their own businesses in Germany.
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00:00What do all these people have in common?
00:03They're start-up entrepreneurs. And first or second generation immigrants,
00:08that's still unusual for the German start-up scene.
00:11So right now, I would say the
00:15start-up scene is very elite and very white.
00:19That is set to change.
00:22The idea? A start-up support program especially for migrant preneurs.
00:28How does it work?
00:33Artificial intelligence for skin analysis.
00:35DeepSkin AI is the name of this start-up.
00:39The woman modeling here programmed the software.
00:42And she immigrated to Germany.
00:48We're supported by the Migrant Accelerator because we both
00:52have a migrant background, especially me. I come from
00:56Italy and then I came here in Germany
00:59for this start-up. The founders receive some financial help from TMA
01:04but mainly contacts through workshops, other contacts
01:08and mentors who have a history of immigration themselves.
01:11The product also focuses on diversity.
01:16Their method delivers better results with darker skin, say the founders.
01:20The start-up is currently applying for a patent.
01:25What we do is we standardize the lighting conditions of the images
01:30to reduce noise. So we basically make it easier for the AI to
01:34factor in light differences and therefore
01:37make it hopefully also work better on different skin tones.
01:40Tech start-ups are the focus of TMA.
01:44The Migrant Accelerator is funded by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs.
01:50The incubator also wants to offer a network.
01:53As that's something that's often lacking for people with an immigration background.
01:57Today on Demo Day, the program participants pitch their business models.
02:03It's all about visibility and contacts.
02:06It's a fresh perspective.
02:10Migrants typically come with a different background.
02:13So they're able to identify opportunities that
02:17locals may not be able to identify. So they may see some
02:20hidden doors. And on the other hand,
02:24as a migrant, you need a lot of resilience, you need a lot of grit.
02:27Because you need to establish yourself in the new country, in the new society.
02:31And grit and resilience, it is the key characteristics of
02:35any entrepreneur. And that's why I think migrants make such
02:40excellent entrepreneurs.
02:46For example, he's currently developing a health app
02:49specifically for the LGBTQI plus community.
02:53The need is great, says the Canadian, because many people feel
02:57they're in poor hands and don't go to the doctor in time,
03:00even in industrialized countries.
03:09But good ideas aren't enough.
03:12For start-ups, it's all about financing their business idea.
03:16They have to convince investors.
03:19It's always more difficult for founders with an immigration background
03:23to find investors than for those whose families
03:26have always lived in Germany.
03:29I wouldn't put always the discrimination topic on everything.
03:34It's bias and it's unconscious bias.
03:37How do you connect by knowing them or thinking,
03:41you know, how they tick and how they think.
03:44And if they're similar to you, then it's easy for you to get to know them
03:48and feel comfortable with them.
03:52Financing is also the key issue for Loretta's founders.
03:56With its training courses and contacts, the migrant accelerator
03:59has compensated for disadvantages and opened some doors.
04:05So what these kind of accelerators do for us is they level the playing field
04:09a little bit, right? So this is the magic of it, I would say.
04:12And I can tell you, the immediate outcome is,
04:14during the time that we were in the migrant accelerator,
04:17we did, the knowledge that we gained helped us to get more funding.
04:23The health app specifically for the LGBTQI plus community
04:27is due to go online this year.
04:30In Germany, one in five start-up founders now has an immigration background.
04:35Most of them originally came to Germany to study.