Resilience and Ambition Driven by Immigrants are growing the Canadian Tech Ecosystem
In the last decade, Canada has become a hub for tech innovation, with a thriving startup scene and a growing number of unicorns. A significant factor in this success has been the influx of talented immigrants who are bringing their skills, ideas, and entrepreneurial spirit to Canada. Based on the most recent data shared by Statistics Canada, in 2021, more than 8.3 million people or almost one in four people (23.0%) were landed immigrants or foreign-born permanent residents in Canada. This is the highest proportion on record since Confederation, topping the previous record of 22.3% in 1921.
Out of the total number of people that immigrated to Canada, Eastern Europeans made up the first large wave of foreigners that were not of English or French origin.
As a recent Ukrainian immigrant myself, and a new Canadian venture capitalist with Luge Capital (read my story here ), I have seen firsthand the transformative impact that immigrants are having on Canada’s tech ecosystem. Immigrants come from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, which can lead to new insights and approaches to problem-solving. This diversity of thought can be especially valuable for startups, as they look to disrupt existing industries and carve out new niches.
At the beginning of my Canadian journey in mid-2022, I started to reach out to fellow Ukrainian and Eastern Europeans in Toronto, the city that I decided to call home. However, I soon realized there was no organized community of Ukrainian/Eastern European tech professionals that I could jump into with both feet. The loneliness started to sink in and the desire to feel connected to my roots, especially in a new setting, grew bigger.
I was lucky enough to meet two new Eastern European friends in the tech sector — Elena Pikulina (Investment Associate, Relay Ventures ) and Eli Costea (co-founder, NetNow ). Interestingly, they both shared similar experiences and already worked on ideas on how to unite the Eastern European community here. It looked like a great opportunity to connect the three of us and finally take some action. As often happens in the tech sector, we saw a problem, and started a quest to solve it! Our mission was to establish a community, share our experiences, and above all, support one another, especially the newcomers.
A spark was ignited, and we launched the Eastern European Tech community. As a start, we decided to host networking events and panels of successful entrepreneurs sharing their lessons about breaking into the Canadian tech scene. We’ve hosted two events, and the demand for more is overwhelming! We’ve hosted speakers like Vassil Chalashkanov (Country GM Canada, Affirm ), Ruslan Nikolaev (Co-founder, Float ), Assel Beglinova (Co-founder/CEO, Paperstack ), Lizaveta Akhvledziani, CFA (Co-founder/CEO, Chexy ), Vova Golubin and Alik Sokolov (Co-founders, Responsibli ).
The thirst for this community was evident from the very first gathering, as people had shared experiences coming to Canada, but didn’t have anyone with whom to discuss it. The speakers opened up to talk about the struggles they faced getting to Canada, finding a job, making friends, and eventually starting a family.
Vassil highlighted that he had to take a few steps back in his career just because he was a recent immigrant and his stellar career (as the CEO of a Bulgarian subsidiary of BNP Paribas) was not well understood or appreciated by some Canadian employers. Assel shared stories about the cultural differences between Canada and her home country of Kazakhstan, and how she got into trouble for mistaking an assignment from her manager as merely a suggestion rather than an obligation. She can laugh about the experience now, but at the time, it felt unpleasant.
In this journey, we have come to realize that the ambition of the immigrant population in Canada knows no bounds, and this cohort of dedicated people will adapt and learn in order to be successful. For some of us, there is no other choice.
With the immensely positive feedback that we received, we have decided to institutionalize the Eastern European Tech community. We were also joined by Dmitry Rakhanskiy , who helped us to partner with a Ukrainian NGO Children New Generation providing emergency relief to internally displaced Ukrainians on the frontlines. Our overarching aim remains the same: we want to leverage our bonds through common experiences, and foster friendly and professional relationships. And the community is open to all people, regardless of background or nationality. We are planning to expand to other cities across Canada and help anyone who needs a dose of friendship, a piece of encouraging advice, help with a career move or, maybe, even a co-founder.
This initiative would be impossible without the initial support from our sponsors: Luge Capital , Relay Ventures , NetNow and Antler . We welcome anyone who is interested in connecting with the community and helping it in any way, to reach out to us.
Resilience and Ambition Driven by Immigrants are growing the Canadian Tech Ecosystem was originally published in Luge Capital on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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