Neri Karra Sillaman is an advisor and speaker who was recently recognized on the Thinkers50 “Radar” list for 2024 as one of the top 30 emerging management thinkers. She is an Adjunct Professor and Entrepreneurship Expert at the University of Oxford, and founder of Neri Karra, a global luxury leather goods brand that has been manufacturing for leading Italian labels for over 25 years. A former child refugee, she brings a powerful perspective on resilience, cultural innovation, and ethical business to her work. Her insights have been featured in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, and Fortune.
What’s the big idea?
It’s no coincidence that immigrant-led businesses have better survival and long-term success rates. Common threads of the immigrant experience tend to naturally strengthen the necessary skills to build a thriving business. Qualities such as personal resilience, commitment to a greater purpose, and authentic community building give many immigrants an edge as entrepreneurs.
Below, Neri shares five key insights from her new book, Pioneers: 8 Principles of Business Longevity from Immigrant Entrepreneurs. Listen to the audio version—read by Neri herself—in the Next Big Idea App.
1. Start with who you are, not just what’s missing.
Most entrepreneurs are told to scan the market for gaps to fill. But immigrant entrepreneurs often do something radically different—they begin by looking inward. They build businesses rooted in their personal stories, cultural legacies, and lived experiences.
When Jan Koum, co-founder of WhatsApp, remembered the fear of phone surveillance in Soviet Ukraine and the costs of calling his family from America, he didn’t just see problems—he envisioned a solution. WhatsApp became a free, ad-free, encrypted service that now connects nearly three billion people.
This principle of “inside-out” entrepreneurship isn’t just more human—it’s more resilient. When the origin of your idea is deeply meaningful, your motivation is more sustainable. You’re not chasing trends. You’re building what only you can build.
2. Necessity is the fuel of endurance.
Immigrants often don’t start businesses because they want to. They do it because they have to. This is what I call necessity entrepreneurship.
“Companies started by immigrants tend to grow faster and survive longer.”
Necessity isn’t a disadvantage. It’s a source of grit. When you’ve fled war, rebuilt your life from nothing, or supported your family with little more than hope, you develop a drive that doesn’t quit when things get hard.
This endurance often makes immigrant-founded businesses outlast their peers. In fact, companies started by immigrants tend to grow faster and survive longer. In a world where 90 percent of startups fail, that kind of staying power is worth paying attention to.
3. Community is the business model.
Long before “stakeholder capitalism” was a buzzword, immigrant entrepreneurs were practicing it. Many come from collectivist cultures or grew up relying on informal networks of support. That mindset shows up in how they build companies.
Take the story of my own business: we got out of a refugee camp in Istanbul thanks to a distant relative who took us in. Today, her children are my factory manager and accountant. We didn’t just build a brand—we built a family business, sustained by trust.
Community is not a “nice to have.” For many immigrant founders, it is the secret to longevity. They succeed because they lift others as they rise.
4. Build with legacy in mind, not just profit.
Immigrant entrepreneurs tend to have a long-term lens. Perhaps it’s because they’ve witnessed how quickly everything can disappear. Or because they’ve felt the weight of what’s been lost and the responsibility to create something that endures.
“Companies that last are the ones rooted in purpose.”
Luis von Ahn, founder of Duolingo, grew up in Guatemala, where access to education was limited. He didn’t just build a tech company; he built a free tool to democratize language learning worldwide. That’s what legacy looks like.
Profit is important. But the immigrant entrepreneurs I interviewed showed again and again: the companies that last are the ones rooted in purpose.
5. Connection is the true currency of success.
Success stories are often told in isolation, but nobody does it alone. Immigrant entrepreneurs understand this better than most. They’ve seen how invisible networks—family ties, community trust, shared experience—can shape their futures.
In the book, I write: “Forests appear to be made up of individual trees, but each one thrives only because of the vast, interconnected root system below.” That’s what I’ve found in immigrant-led businesses, too.
Whether it’s a factory built with childhood friends or a mentorship that changes everything, the unseen connections are what make a business resilient. They’re also what make it human.
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