On the 10th of October, 2023, Roos Ykema came to the Diaconie in Amsterdam to share her mission of open borders with an audience of entrepreneurs.

Her mission, via her organisation MiGreat, advocates a world without borders with freedom of movement for all. Because borders, as Roos illustrated, do not only exclude people from work or travel but lead to dehumanisation and fatalities. 

Roos showed how borders do not only exist in the physical realm, but are apparent everywhere in society. Undocumented people, for example, are not allowed to work, marry, rent or buy a house, and so on. Unwillingly, employers are part of this system by being forced to ask for documentation when hiring new employees.

Therefore, the question asked tonight was: how can entrepreneurs contribute to freedom of movement?

Each group quickly got to work and the ideas were very diverse! Ranging from creating a new alternative payment system to creating a new 'selling story' for open borders, and from challenging businesses in their diversity & inclusion policies to making open hiring more mainstream.

Of course, only one team could win the pitch round, which went to team Orange for their suggestion of a new payment system!

Thanks to the Diaconie for hosting us, Ayman from Wereldhuis for the incredible food, and Fadi Haddad for the pictures. See you next time!