We Are Building the Tables Ourselves

Every LIFT begins with a welcome, and every welcome is really a reminder. At LIFT 3.0, standing in front of more than 120 founders at Western University, I wanted the room to hear one thing clearly before the panels and pitches began.

"I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept."

When I arrived in Canada in 2020, I saw African and Black entrepreneurs with real talent, real products and real customers, building in isolation. Many were waiting for an invitation: to a funding table, a procurement list, a seat in a boardroom. FilAfrik started from a simple decision to stop waiting.

"Black Canadians no longer have to justify their place at the table, because we are building the tables ourselves."

That is what LIFT is. It is not a conference we attend; it is a table we build. Our founders pitched for real prize money. Our panellists talked plainly about money, artificial intelligence and turning culture into revenue. A Member of Parliament, a City Councillor and the City of London came to listen, not just to speak, and two more MPs sent messages.

Finding each other

"There is enough talent, enough value, enough opportunity already inside this community. We just need to find each other, and then refuse to let go."

The hardest part of building is rarely the idea. It is the loneliness of carrying it. Every gathering we host, from LIFT to Founders Breakfast, exists so that no founder in our community has to build alone. Find each other. Then refuse to let go.

We are building tables. Pull up a chair.