The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving · FirmsConsulting.com & StrategyTraining.com

621: Business Longevity Principles from Immigrant Entrepreneurs (with University of Oxford's Neri Karra Sillaman)

·43 min·2 clips

Neri says rejection and bullying trained her to hear “no” as “not yet.”

1. The Strategy Skills Podcast episode features Dr. Neri Karra Sillaman on business longevity principles from immigrant entrepreneurs. 2. Krista Farova interviews Neri, who is an advisor, a Thinkers50 Radar Award winner, an entrepreneurship expert at the University of Oxford, an adjunct professor at ESCP Paris, and founder of the Neri Kara luxury leather goods brand. 3. The episode asks why immigrant entrepreneurs build companies that last, and what non-immigrants can learn from their methods. 4. Neri says she was born in Bulgaria and became a refugee at age 11, after communist Bulgaria carried out an ethnic assimilation process against Turkish minorities. 5. She describes forced name changes, cemetery tombstone removals, and schools being turned into “name changing stations,” which left her feeling shame about her background. 6. Neri says she decided at 11 that a good education was her “North Star,” because her family had no university history and the refugee-camp path looked impossible. 7. She says she was bullied at school, failed early because she did not fully understand Turkish, and kept going because perseverance mattered more than immediate results. 8. Neri compares rejection to “not yet,” and says repeated “no” responses to her book proposal became part of the path rather than proof of failure. 9. She notes that immigrant founders she interviewed also described luck as something they recognized and acted on, not something that simply happened to them. 10. Neri names Moderna, Duolingo, Calendly, WhatsApp, Chobani, Dermalogica, Zumba, and A to Z as examples of immigrant-founded companies she studied. 11. She says her research found immigrants make up nearly 50% of Fortune 500 founders, despite being a much smaller share of the population. 12. Neri argues that immigrant-founded businesses last longer because they emphasize community, shared value, purpose, and building bridges across institutions and countries. 13. She gives Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya as an example, saying he took over an abandoned craft factory and focused first on the people in the New York hamlet. 14. Neri says history and heritage are assets, because immigrant founders do not discard their past but use it as a source of information and direction. 15. She says kindness is the glue in her book, and defines it as having the courage to speak up for yourself, for others, and for suppliers and customers with dignity. 16. Neri says immigrant entrepreneurs generally do not place themselves at the center; instead, they focus attention on value created for customers, suppliers, and communities. 17. The interview is conversational and reflective, with Krista asking follow-up questions about teaching, AI, legacy, and community. 18. Neri moves between personal history, research findings, and practical examples, including a 2024 Paris classroom moment where students had no pen or paper. 19. Listeners interested in entrepreneurship, leadership, immigrant stories, and business longevity will likely get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners looking for a fast, purely tactical business how-to may skip it.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving