The “political correctness” of diversity — and why we should all fight for it
On Tuesday last week, I looked into the future and saw what the Norwegian startup community can do — if we work to make it happen.
Oslo Innovation Week provided us with many events, new insights, and good networking opportunities. These things are — after all — what we join the Oslo Innovation Week for: We want to experience the community, and see what our fellow community members have been doing since we met them the previous time. The big events, famous founders & entrepreneurs, and inspirational mindsets are (of course) something we look forward to experience in full.
However — what about the events that the less famous founders and entrepreneurs might attend? Or even more “underground”: The events that are aiming to recruit new people to the startup community? What is there to find at such events?
Creating a community, one member at a time
On Tuesday last week, I looked into the future and saw what the Norwegian startup community can do — if we work to make it happen. During six intensive hours, two big events happened at the Startup Campus — the coworking space where I spend most of my work days. The events were the “Start or Invest: A crash course to change the world”, and “Tribe Night”.
From the looks of it, the two events might appear to be founded in quite opposing mindsets: Where Start or Invest was all about paving the way for innovative and sustainable ideas, Tribe Night wanted to provide a relaxing atmosphere for everyone who wanted to connect, socialise, and dance to international live music. However, the two events were in fact about the very same thing: Creating a community where people feel welcome to join, be themselves, and bring forward their ideas.
Start or Invest, an event arranged in a collaboration between YSI Global and Angel Challenge, was a compromised version of the five-month programme YSI Global are running in four countries: Norway, Singapore, China and Bangladesh. The event provided a “startup round” for people eager to learn more about creating a startup from scratch, and an “investor round” for people who wanted to learn more about the investment process. Halfway through the intensive program, the investors were invited to enter the room where the startups were ready to pitch their ideas. The investors then had to decide on who they felt deserved their “investments”: fake, but symbolic, money — signifying who had the best concept.
Looking at the Start or Invest event through the lens of my camera, I saw something I rarely see at such events: The vast majority of attendees at the “investor round” were in fact women — and this was the case for a notable portion of attendees at the “startup round” too. And not only that: Ethnic diversity was also present at the event. One young woman arrived in a wheelchair: It is evident to me that she (whether she knows it or not) might have innovative ideas people who walk simply don’t have — precisely because we don’t use a wheelchair.
At the Tribe Night, people danced and socialised well into the night. Not only were the bands diverse — with the Spanish band Mueveloreina first on stage, and then the multi-ethnic band 3rd Space DJs following soon after — the attendance reflected that too. Hijabi women mingled to the party music, and attendees from the Pakistani Tech Summit danced to the rhythms of the 3rd Space DJs.
So why aren’t the innovative communities of Norway more diversified — in every way possible?
Innovation to the people
The reason to this is partially rooted in who we think of as innovative, and how we communicate what innovation is. The future of Norway is fully dependent on innovative minds once we’re no longer relying on our oil reserves. And yes, diversity is multi-faceted: It’s possible to write multiple articles on why we need diverse startup communities, and diverse investor communities. Just a few weeks ago, I wrote an article detailing why having more female founders and investors indeed can turn out to be a life-saving change, not just a statistical one.
And still, in many cases, the Norwegian innovation communities are still mainly recruiting young, white men as founders and entrepreneurs. On the investor side, being an older white man is still more common than seeing a woman in the same role. Ethnic minorities have yet to be in the groups of people we think of as “inherently innovative” — and so we usually don’t see that many of them either, whenever there is an up-and-coming startup, or a startup event. The same goes for people with disabilities — but having a wheelchair-friendly entrance is a first step in the right direction.
So yes — on Tuesday last week, I got to see the future of the Norwegian startup community, through a camera lens. The result is visible in my photos: A collection of vibrant, happy, creative and relaxed people — who were networking, innovating, and having a good time. Bringing diversity into our sphere of innovation is not a matter of choice: Yes, it’s the politically correct one, but the time has come and gone for anything else. Diversifying our innovative communities will ensure their survival —as we can’t rely on a fragment of society when we want to contribute in making a worldwide change. We need a society of innovative minds — a population with confidence in their own ideas and abilities. Like one of the attendees at the Start or Invest event said:
As a kindergarten teacher, I always look for safe spaces. This felt like a safe space to be creative and be together. That is so wonderful!
Four percent of the Norwegian tech founders are women, and only one percent of the Norwegian tech investors are women. Hosting Start or Invest and Tribe Night at Startup Campus was never just about hosting two big events during Oslo Innovation Week: We did of course intend on bringing together people for an evening and night of community-building, but didn’t know the results of our efforts until we saw the attendance. But looking back at what we got to facilitate, this much is evident: Young, white men aren’t the most innovative among us (how do you even measure the ideas that never make it out of someone’s head?). And, diverse startup & investor communities will flood through the doors to our innovative spaces — if we let them.
Were you inspired by these events — and want to innovate? The next Startup Weekend in Oslo will have “Energy and Sustainability” as its topics. So in the spirit of a green future, we are asking you to find your most innovative mindset, and join us for the Startup Weekend on November 1st–3rd 2019, at Startup Campus in Oslo.
