How to turn a problem into a manageable, huge opportunity | Chris Richmond 'Nzi | TEDxGenova

In a talk on integration and fruitful coexistence, Chris Richmond shares his thoughts on his startup and his App: MyGrants. This App allows to map the competencies of migrants that come to our country, develop their talent through microlearning, and matches their professional profiles with the needs of companies and the job market in general. Because if you look in the right direction, you can achieve "more with less".

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

I was born in Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast.

But to be honest,

I can't remember what Africa looks like.

For the simple reason that,
when I was a kid,

I was taken and brought somewhere else.

Growing between United States and Europe
doesn't mean living a healthy environment.

My biological father
was an African father,

with that, back in the days:
African mentality.

According to him, he was the boss

and we, the kids,
had just to follow his rules.

Simple as it was.

I knew I was good enough to do something
extraordinary later in my life,

but at that time I was not allowed

to follow the passion
I had for several things,

especially sports and computer science.

My desire was to live in one environment

where all individuals could freely aspire
and achieve their dreams,

according to their abilities
and perseverance.

That's why I thought that

leaving my parents’ house
and moving somewhere else

would be the only way
to truly achieve better life prospects.

That single day in which
I left my parents' house,

I felt like my period of jail
was finally over,

and my life as a free man
was about to start.

Living without economic resources

forced me to develop the ability
to do more with less,

and I learned how to turn adversity
into an opportunity.

I was broke.

But, despite the challenges,
I worked hard to go to university.

I chose international rights and diplomacy

without any clear idea
of how the academic path

would turn to be helpful
later in my professional career.

During university, I fell in love
with macroeconomics and geopolitics.

So, after my graduation,

I applied to go to work
for one of the biggest banks ever,

and for the most interesting
country of the world:

the European Union.

In 2010,

I started working for a private agency
of the European Union.

And my job was the monitoring
of several factors

to anticipate through
data collection and analysis

the potential movement of individuals

leaving their country of origin

towards the external borders
of the European Union.

In the same year, 2010,
we had the so-called “Arab Spring”.

And since then,

the immigration has become
the megatrend of our time.

Since then,

the debate focuses too much

on the distinction between refugees
and economic immigrants.

Forgetting that, globally,

immigrants represent approximately
three percent of the world population,

but produce more than
nine percent of the global GDP.

The debate can't see

that immigration is not just inevitable,
but it is necessary.

The contribution of immigrants
can be seen in every aspect of our life.

We see it in religion, in politics,
in business, in arts, in education.

Even in athletics and entertainment.

There is no part of our nations

that has not been touched and shaped
by our immigrant background.

And we got to recognize

that the energy that immigrants
bring to host communities

is a key reason why the American economy

has been the greatest engine
of prosperity and innovation in history.

Without the opportunity
for his biological parents

to leave their country of origin
and build better life prospects,

in a country they deserved to call home,

Steve Jobs would never be able
to deliver us the iPhone,

as we know it today.

Without the opportunity
to leave their country of origin

and build better life prospects
in a country they deserved to call home,

Sergey Brin and Sundar Pichai
would never be able

to deliver us Google as we know it today.

I know, some of you are going to tell me

that stories of immigrants
can be positive and negative.

And it's true.

But we cannot pretend
to understand immigration

without hearing all of them.

Individuals that leave their comfort zone
and choose the journey to the unknown

are necessarily equipped

with drive, creativity, determination

and just plain guts.

But too often they are distrusted

by the country of arrival
in host communities.

And you can feel it.

There is this anti-immigrant sentiment

that is spreading everywhere
around the world.

So the world, not just Europe,

urgently needs better tools
to manage international immigration.

Well-managed immigration,
in the third millennium,

builds on reliable data and evidence.

But too often data is seen

as the abstract business
of technical experts,

operating in backrooms.

Yet, data is more than numbers.

It is essential to defy
challenges, design responses

and monitor the implementation
of immigration policies.

Thereby,

data enables us to manage
for better immigration outcomes,

skills recognition,

fill the labor market shortage
in a targeted way,

speed up asylum system
and increase net remittance flow.

Large benefit accrues
to country of origin and destination,

when immigration is managed well.

Mismanaged immigration, on the other hand,

puts migrants at risk

and paves the way
for this anti-immigrant sentiment,

that is spreading everywhere,
especially in Europe.

In Europe, immigration
divides communities,

while the motto of the European Union

is “Unity in Diversity”.

According to data,

to achieve greater competitiveness,
European Union needs all its talents.

And guess what?

Immigrants represent a potential
also for the creation of new jobs.

More than seven percent
of self-employed in European Union

were born outside
their country of residence,

which is more than two million people.

Of theirs, 47 percent were born
outside the European Union.

It is time to wake up, people.

It is time to take our responsibility

and give an answer to 258 million people

estimated to be residing
outside their country of origin.

It is time to turn immigration
into a huge opportunity,

not just for immigrants,
but especially for host communities.

All of you are going to ask me,
Yes, nice, so how are we going to do that?

My answer is simple: four steps.

One, do a preliminary screening
of skills, background and aspiration

of all immigrants,
especially newly arrived.

Two, train all immigrants
with a good balance

between a theoretical approach,
based on information and knowledge,

and a practical approach,
based on direct experience.

Three, analyze collected data
to ease the matching

between most skills identified

and career placement
available on the market.

Four, ease the access
to deserving immigrants

with fundamental tools they need
to achieve an economic independence.

So, tonight I'm going to share with you
the most extraordinary part of my life.

In 2017, I had the privilege
to become the founder of MyGrants.

MyGrants is the first app
based on microlearning

especially designed
to deliver support to immigrants

through a series
of thematic modern quizzes.

The quiz provides immigrants
all information and training needed

to build consciousness,
new skills and renewed credibility.

To assess the background,

we assume that trainees
initially begin with no prior knowledge.

Through MyGrants, they can learn
simple concepts like,

How many stars are there
on the European flag?

Eight, twelve or fifteen?

Things they need to know like,

What is the first step
of the asylum system?

And things that could be interesting like,

How many startup accelerators
are in place across Africa?

Trainees read the question,

and choose the option of answer
they think to be the correct one.

They collect a single point
for each correct answer.

And even if the answer selected is wrong,

the app is providing a formative feedback
to guide self-reflection.

The assessment of background
is fundamental

in order to identify skills

that immigrants may have acquired,
formally or informally,

during their previous life.

The training program,
always based on microlearning,

uses the power of technology

making lifelong learning
available for free to all immigrants.

Adaptive training gave us the opportunity
to personalize the training program

according to their areas
of strengths, weaknesses and interests.

Trainees can choose
among three main destinations:

higher location, job placement
and entrepreneurship.

Modern quiz attempt and repeated,

collected points,
percentage of correct answers

and average time
to finish each single module

are among the main evidence used

to generate the monthly report
of performance for each single trainee.

Data mining and machine learning
give us the opportunity

to track if and when trainees reach

from beginners, competent,
proficient or expert level of mastery

in one or more topics.

MyGrants' unique value

is the huge database
of competences and skills

of over 44.000 immigrants,

where skills are empowered and validated

according to local, regional
and national occupational needs.

Through database, MyGrants is offering

a new and simple hiring process
for smart businesses.

Companies have the opportunity

to pick in real time
or track the performance

to program the hiring
of the most suited, talented immigrant,

according to the role they require.

In 2018, we matched over 920 talents

with private companies seeking individuals

with the right skills they need
to grow and innovate.

But we realized that up to 90% of talents
with a job contract in their hand,

did not show up the first day of work.

Do you know why?

Economic constraints.

When it comes to credit,
most immigrants are just left behind.

They don't qualify for credit
because they lack a credit history.

But to build a credit history,
you need to get some credit.

So, the question here is simple.

How can immigrants express
their full economic potential

without having any access
to economic resources?

So, MyGrants' next challenge
will be access to credit.

Follow me.

If credit is linked
to reputation and credibility,

we need to give the opportunity
to all immigrants

to build and measure through evidence,
their reputation and their credibility.

So, instead of taking into consideration

the economic and the financial background,

we will take into consideration
for each applicants' credit potential

and take into consideration factors
like the quality of the online training,

the proficiency in economic
and financial literacy,

and the future career placement.

We believe that helping future customers

be successful with economics
and financially independent

is good for immigrants,
it's good for business

and it's good for society overall.

But several challenges

that immigrants, and MyGrants,
are trying to face and overcome

are the same challenges

that you, European citizens,
should take into consideration.

Let's take skills recognition
as a concrete example.

Did you ever ask yourself

why 40% of European companies,
including MyGrants,

have difficulties finding the right people

with the right skills they need
to grow and innovate?

The answer is simple:
lack of basic skills.

Around a quarter of European adults
struggle with reading and writing,

and many more have poor digital skills.

And if you think that financial exclusion
is only an immigrant-related problem,

you're completely wrong.

There is an estimated
two billion working-age adults, globally,

who have no access to financial services

delivered by formal
financial institutions.

In Europe, 47% of adults
have no bank account

and many more have no savings.

So, financial exclusion increases
the risk of social exclusion and poverty

without any distinction.

I know some of you
would like me to continue,

but it's not necessary.

What is perhaps necessary
is that all parties involved,

especially immigrants
and host communities,

take their part of responsibility
as soon as possible,

also because we have
our window of opportunity now

to do something extraordinary.

Thank you.

(Applause)