"The talent is already there. People just need someone to believe in them," says Usman Iftikhar, Co-Founder of Catalysr.
For many people arriving in Australia, the challenge isn't a lack of talent or ambition, but knowing where to begin.
Founded in 2016, Catalysr is a pre-accelerator that helps migrant and refugee entrepreneurs turn business ideas into reality.
Through startup education, mentoring and connections to Australia's innovation ecosystem, the organisation helps founders navigate the early stages of entrepreneurship while building the networks and confidence to succeed.
Bridging the gap
For many migrants and refugees, arriving in a new country means rebuilding professional networks, learning an unfamiliar business landscape and overcoming barriers that have little to do with ability.
Catalysr was created to bridge that gap, helping founders move from an idea to a viable business while becoming part of Australia's startup community.
Today, Catalysr has supported more than 1,300 entrepreneurs from 87 countries, with almost half of participants women.
But for Usman Iftikhar and his co-founder Jacob Muller, the organisation has always been about something much bigger than startup programs. It's about creating opportunity.
Building opportunity
When Usman arrived in Australia from Pakistan in 2013, he believed he'd done everything right.
Armed with an engineering degree, a master's qualification and years of professional experience, he expected hard work would help open doors.
Instead, he found himself working casual jobs while applying for role after role with little success.
"My overseas experience wasn't recognised," he recalls. "I wasn't getting meaningful employment."
So Usman decided to create his own path.
"If no one was going to give me a job," he says, "I'd start my own business."
While Usman’s first business idea didn't take off, the experience introduced Usman to something equally valuable.
He found himself immersed in Australia's growing startup ecosystem, surrounded by founders, mentors and investors who were willing to share their knowledge and open doors.
He later joined cleantech accelerator EnergyLab, where he helped organise events and build community.
It was there that he began to understand the power of startup ecosystems, not simply because they provided funding or advice, but because they connected people with the right networks at the right time.
Seeing a bigger problem
As Usman became more involved in Australia's innovation ecosystem, he saw that his experience wasn't unique.
There were thousands of highly skilled migrants arriving in Australia with qualifications, experience and ideas. Yet many struggled to access meaningful employment or the professional networks that could help them succeed.
At the time, around 65 per cent of migrants and refugees were underemployed or unemployed during their first five years in Australia, despite many arriving with valuable qualifications and professional experience.
If qualifications weren't recognised, professional experience wasn't valued or local networks didn't exist, that couldn’t be solved through polishing a résumé or practising interview techniques.
Entrepreneurship offered another path.
Usman believed people could build businesses around the knowledge and skills they already possessed.
In doing so, they wouldn't just create employment for themselves, they could create opportunities for others as well.
"I realised there were so many people like me," Usman says. "People with skills who just didn't know where to go or who to speak to."
Rather than asking how migrants could fit into the existing system, he began asking a different question: What if they could create their own opportunities?
Becoming the catalyst
The name Catalysr wasn't chosen at random.
Drawing inspiration from chemistry, a catalyst speeds up a reaction without changing the ingredients themselves. Usman believes entrepreneurship works in much the same way.
Migrants don't arrive lacking talent or resilience; they already possess those qualities. What many lack is access to mentors, customers, investors and a community that knows the challenges of building in a new country.
It also challenges a long-held assumption about migration.
Traditionally, many migrant families have accepted that the first generation makes sacrifices so the second generation can succeed.
Usman knows that timeline can be shortened.
Rather than waiting decades for opportunity, he wants talented people to contribute from the moment they arrive.
Starting to succeed
In 2016, Usman and his co-founder launched a pilot program in Parramatta for aspiring migrant entrepreneurs.
There were just ten participants, but three went on to start businesses.
"We really didn't know what we were doing," Usman says with a laugh. "But we knew there was something and it was already helping people."
Today, Catalysr has grown into a national organisation, helping founders take their first steps into entrepreneurship, while connecting them with investors, mentors, universities and Australia's broader startup community.
More than a startup program
While Catalysr measures the number of businesses created, jobs generated and investment raised, Usman believes the organisation's greatest impact can't be captured in statistics alone: it's the community.
In Catalysr’s early years, the focus was firmly on education, teaching founders how to validate ideas, build businesses and connect with mentors.
But after every program, participants shared the same feedback. The most valuable outcome wasn't a workshop or a pitch session. It was finding people who had lived similar experiences.
That insight changed the way Catalysr designed its programs.
Today, alumni are encouraged to stay connected, mentor new founders and continue supporting one another long after the formal program has ended.
For many participants, it's the first professional network they've built in Australia and often the beginning of lifelong friendships as well.
Changing the conversation
Catalysr’s impact extends well beyond the businesses it helps create. He wants to change the way Australia talks about migration.
Public debate often focuses on the challenges migrants face or the services they require.
Catalysr instead highlights what migrants contribute.
Across Australia, migrant entrepreneurs are creating businesses, generating employment and solving problems in industries ranging from technology and healthcare to education and climate innovation.
To help shift perceptions, Catalysr introduced the term ‘migrapreneur’.
Rather than seeing migration purely through the lens of settlement, it encourages people to recognise migrants as innovators, employers and business creators.
Every founder who succeeds helps tell a different story about what migration can look like and the economic value it brings to Australia.
Growing and collaborating
Stone & Chalk has played an important role in that journey.
The partnership reflects the way Australia's innovation ecosystem works best, through collaboration rather than competition.
Catalysr specialises in helping founders take their first entrepreneurial steps.
Stone & Chalk provides a place where many of those founders can continue growing through access to workspace, mentors, investors, events and a broader innovation community.
Together, the organisations create a clearer pathway for migrant entrepreneurs, ensuring support doesn't end when a program finishes.
From hosting demo days and founder programs to providing scholarships, workspace and introductions across the innovation ecosystem, the partnership helps emerging migrapreneurs continue growing after completing Catalysr's programs.
Being part of Stone & Chalk is a natural extension of Catalysr's mission. The organisation helps founders take their first steps, but it’s partners like Stone & Chalk who help them take the next.
Looking ahead
Asked what he would change for migrant entrepreneurs if he could, Usman doesn't hesitate.
“Access to capital,” he replies.
He believes many talented founders still face barriers when raising investment, not because of the quality of their ideas, but because they often lack the networks, connections and familiarity investors expect.
It's a challenge he hopes will continue to change.
Now, more than a decade after arriving in Australia looking for opportunity, Usman spends his days helping others create their own.
With this, Catalysr is helping ensure that Australia's next generation of entrepreneurs reflects the diversity, resilience and ambition of the people who choose to call this country home.
