Episode 25: The UK's diaspora(s) - engagement insights from the Scottish Business Network and GlobalWelsh

The Migration & Diaspora Podcast

Welcome to a very special episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast. Today I have on the show Christine Esson, Co-founder and CEO of the Scottish Business Network (SBN), and Walter May, Founder and CEO of GlobalWelsh.

First of all, a bit about of Christine, Walter, and their organisations.

Christine is a practically focused economic development specialist with significant expertise gained from working in global public and private sector organisations. Christine co-founded the SBN, a not-for-profit global community, facilitating greater communication and connectivity between the Scottish diaspora to support Scottish-based companies expand internationally.

Walter has held senior business leadership roles in a range of companies from IBM through to start-ups in manufacturing, financial services and the veterinary industry. He lived outside Wales for 20 years and since returning has involved himself in all aspects of entrepreneurship, as well as being a coach and mentor to many, high-growth high-potential Welsh businesses. He is the Founder and CEO of GlobalWelsh, a grassroots, evidenced based and private sector funded organisation, whose origins are within the Welsh entrepreneur community.

I've been wanting to record this episode for a while now because after working on diaspora engagement myself with diaspora communities and governments around the world, and also from my own experience as a "Brit abroad" for 10 years, I've often reflected on the potential of diaspora engagement for my country, the UK. The latest UN data points to 4.3 million British migrants around the world. But going beyond this to talk about the diaspora - those with UK heritage or affinity - we can reasonably consider the size of the combined English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish diasporas to surpass 120 million. Despite this, the UK as a whole does not seem to have thought nearly enough about its own diaspora.

But hope is not all lost, because in today's show, Christine and Walter talk us through their exciting work to engage the Scottish and Welsh diasporas. Both represent innovative organisations that are really pioneering the engagement of their diasporas. We talk about how SBN and GlobalWelsh were founded and how they support their diasporas - especially their business diasporas. Tune in as well if you want to find out which Disney character and which famous Australian popstar are part of the Scottish and Welsh diasporas (not to mention a certain Mr President...).

Useful links

• Connect with Walter on LinkedIn
• Connect with Christine on LinkedIn
• Scottish Business Network
• GlobalWelsh
• Welsh Government's Diaspora Engagement Action Plan 2020-2025, Ireland's Diaspora Strategy 2020-2025
• Other UK diaspora organisations: Northern Ireland Connections, Global Scot
• IPPR's 2010 paper: Global Brit - Making the most of the British diaspora
• The Migration & Diaspora Podcast