By Prerna Aswani
In interviewing the founders of two diaspora networks, the Oliver Kamanzi from the Chicago based African Global Chamber of Commerce and Utkarsh Amitabh, from the global career exploration network, Network Capital, our colleague Prerna explores what binds diaspora networks together.
At inHive, we often speak about harnessing the power of your hive, whether this be your local community, those who you have grown up with, gone to school or university with or participated in a programme with. Alumni of schools, universities or even other institutions have a sense of belonging that comes from a shared experience that unites them. This feeling of belonging is crucial to a network’s success and is often what provides young people the comfort and confidence to reach out to those in their immediate network for advice and support when making crucial life and career decisions.
Yet the globalised nature of the world and professional opportunities today means that young people are no longer wedded to their local communities, and more likely than not, actively venture further afield (often internationally) in search of opportunities for work. But what happens when they emigrate to foreign countries? The communities and networks they have harnessed at home are no longer able to provide holistic support, and this can sometimes feel like a lonely and isolating experience.
In this context, diaspora networks can be of huge value for young people who have moved away from their communities. In a funny way, diaspora can be seen almost as ‘alumni’ or former residents of a country. In this blog we explore what binds people together in diaspora networks, how members support each other and how these networks also can serve as an incredibly powerful tool to give back to members home country(ies). We do so by zooming into two incredibly different networks:
(1) Network Capital, a network for career exploration and career intelligence (predominantly of Indians and Indian diaspora globally)
(2) African Chamber of Commerce, a network intended to promote trade, investment, educational exposures, and cultural exchanges globally for Africa’s economic interest and its partners starting from the United States of America.
In exploring these two networks, we discover how networks that bring people together towards one purpose or intended area of support can often result in many other forms of collaboration and support within the network. Network Capital for example began purely as a network for career exploration, mentoring and advice. What began as a simply a Facebook group where young Indian professionals would seek careers advice, share opportunities and connect with one another around professional learning quickly developed into a community with a strong sense of trust and belonging within it. Every city chapter across the globe is driven by a city leader who would host events with guest speakers on different areas of career expertise. However, beyond career exploration, Network Capital found that members longed for meaningful connection, which they found in their fellow members at city-wide events. As Founder Utkarsh Amitabh shared with me, connection among network capital members often ‘starts with career exploration together but what follows was further deepening of relationships as a result of social engagements.’ For Network Capital a network that has been 5 years in the making, COVID accelerated this trend. At the start of the pandemic, the deep relationships of trust that had been built across network members translated into many of them coming together to tackle the challenges of COVID in their local communities and home communities back in India. Some banded together to source masks and oxygen cylinders for shortage regions whilst others came together to write letters to their respective governments or support local NGOs. The trust that has now been built around the institution of Network Capital is what has enabled trust to be scaled across the network. It means that people are willing to go out of their way for network members across the world who they do not know to support each other not only on professional advancement but personally too, whether this is to find accommodation in a new city, or support in navigating the legal and logistical challenges of migrating to a new city.
Similarly, a network that has sprung up in a very different context, the African Chamber of Commerce has been through a parallel journey. Set up by Oliver Kamanzi with the intention of catalysing connections between Africans across the world to enhance business and trade amongst each other and with the African continent, the Chamber has expanded its remit well beyond simply supporting businesses. Members not only collaborate and seek business opportunities together, but also support new immigrants from the African continent in the U.S. to set up their life and businesses in the States. At the organisational level, the Chamber now also organises an annual Youth Entrepreneurship Summit, where young African and Afro-American entrepreneurs are brought together to connect with mentors, explore business opportunities together and share and learn from each other. Members of the community have developed strong bonds together, such that mentorship and support no longer is limited to simply the arena of business and commerce, but holistically looking out for each other in all aspects of life. Drawing on the Ubuntu philosophy, ‘I am because we are’, members of the network see the Chamber not only as a space to grow their business, but also a place to connect with others with similar backgrounds and roots as them, and to collaborate together to give back to the African continent.
Speaking to both Utkarsh and Oliver, it became more apparent than ever to me, that the glue of networks, whether they be alumni networks or diaspora networks, are essentially relationships and the desire to belong to a community that we share a common identity with. Once that sense of shared identity is built, it creates the scope for scaled trust that enables networks and its members to collaborate and innovate together at levels that would not be possible simply based on individual relationships.