Migrants Mean Business with George Alagiah – podcast

Migrants Mean Business with George Alagiah is a new podcast series from the Migration Museum, in association with Allianz Global Investors, featuring conversations with some of Britain’s most successful business leaders – all of whom have immigrant backgrounds.

Presented by broadcaster and author George Alagiah, each episode explores the personal and professional stories of some of Britain’s most prominent business leaders, offering insights into how they built their businesses, challenges and achievements, and how their backgrounds have influenced their lives and careers. These conversations, and the series as a whole, also serve to highlight the important contributions of migrants to all aspects of British life – a story which, now more than ever, needs to be told.

See below for a list of episodes – you can listen via the embedded player or by subscribing to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast, Stitcher – or wherever you get your podcasts by searching for ‘Migrants Mean Business’.

Episode 1: Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou

To kick off our Migrants Mean Business series, we’ve got a cracking conversation with one of the most charismatic and recognisable business leaders of the past few decades – Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. His conversation with Daniel Franklin, executive and diplomatic editor of The Economist, ranges from shipping to dog walking, suing Netflix to going head to head with Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary.

Episode 2: Sir Lloyd Dorfman

A conversation between George Alagiah and entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Lloyd Dorfman CBE. Lloyd founded Travelex at the age of 24 from one small shop in London and grew it to become the world’s largest foreign exchange specialist. Lloyd and George’s wide-ranging conversation, recorded live in London on 1 July, explores Lloyd’s business and philanthropic career, his family roots and Jewish identity, the essence of entrepreneurialism and whether one ever stops being a ‘migrant’.

Episode 3: Karen Blackett OBE

When Karen Blackett was growing up in Reading, aka mini Barbados, her dad told her that, as a black female, she’d have to work twice as hard to make it to the top. Karen is now UK Country Manager for WPP, the world’s largest marketing services group, and Chairwoman of MediaCom, the largest media agency in the UK, was appointed Race Equality Business Champion by the Prime Minister in 2018, and regularly ranks among Britain’s most influential business leaders. Karen is in conversation with David Abraham, Founder and CEO of Wonderhood Studios, and former chief executive of Channel 4.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan visits Migration Museum and pledges support

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, pledged his support for a permanent national Migration Museum in London during a visit to our Migration Museum at The Workshop in Lambeth on 4 June 2019.

During his visit, Mayor Khan made himself at home in our Room to Breathe exhibition, met several of the artists who have taken up residency in the art studio in the exhibition over the past six months, and discussed diversity and difference with students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form.

He reiterated his support for the creation of a permanent Migration Museum in London and emphasised the importance of the role that our museum can play in sharing stories from generations of migrants, and in highlighting the central role of migration in shaping who we are – individually and collectively.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said:

“It’s great to be here at the Migration Museum, which tells great stories about the triumphs and the struggles for migrants to this city and this country, but also reminds us that there’s been immigration and emigration and the story goes back hundreds and hundreds of years. And I think the more of us that know more about the story of our city, the better for our city.”

Aditi Anand, the Migration Museum’s Head of Creative Content, said:

“It’s really important to us to have the Mayor’s support and the GLA’s support for our project, because we need to find a permanent home and we want to take this project to scale and to have it be right in the centre of our national consciousness and have a home for it in London.”

@MigrationUK’s exhibitions remind us we need to defend the rights of migrants & refugees if we’re to curb anti-immigrant prejudice and prevent another #Windrush scandal. pic.twitter.com/UDIyyyLpcK

— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) June 4, 2019

Jewish Chronicle – Bringing the past alive through family history can change how we see ourselves (10/11/2019)

‘The Migration Museum tells the story of the movement of people — and that means the story of Britain’s Jews. Last weekend it held a day of talks and workshops, including Rob Rinder speaking on his experiences, and advice researching your own family.’

South London Press – The Migration Museum’s Family History Day takes place at The Workshop in Lambeth November 2nd (30/10/2019)

‘Who do you think you are? As the BBC show has taught us there is a growing desire to find out where we come from and to uncover the stories of the ancestors that brought us here. And now you don’t have to be a celebrity to find out.’