The British economy is an “outlier” and rides on its “colonial dividend” to bring skills and growth. Manish Tiwari explores how skilled migration is powering Britain’s economic growth and global soft power
Britain’s population reached an all-time high of 68.2 million in mid-2023, and at the core of this shift is an influx of 677,300 international migrants, with 250,000 Indian citizens alone migrating to the UK, the largest group from outside the EU (Post 2021 Census till mid 2023). Similarly, migration from Nigeria has surged, with these two nations together accounting for nearly half of all non-EU immigration.
.What makes this particularly transformative, that these new arrivals are shaping the UK’s society, bringing in vital skills that are reshaping industries. As the UK inches closer to a population of 70 million, these vibrant, diverse communities are becoming a powerful force within the economy.
Indian and Nigerian communities expanding rapidly, presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for brands. This is more than just a demographic shift— the future of the UK is a globalised multicultural democracy, and this is a call for British brands to expand their “soft power” globally, this time ‘inside – out’
The acquisition of major Indian food supplier brands which happened five years back is an example of how businesses created for migrant communities can scale up and eventually become a global player. Vibrant foods has ambitions to take its brands like TRS, East End and Cofresh to Europe and beyond the brands acquired were once essentially community focused.
There are others in the ethnic food industry. Tilda is now owned by Ebro and has now taken Basmati rice back to India where it sources the product; however as a brand it is now aiming a global presence for what was essentially an Indian ethnic food story relevant only to Britain initially.
These examples are seeds of globalisation emerging from ‘inside multicultural Britain’ which sees the opportunity in its diaspora ‘home’ countries.
In fact, the diaspora is more comfortable with global world and Britain certainly seems to be leveraging this in its appeal as a Nation without cultural borders to create trading opportunities.
Similarly investments from India and Nigeria have significantly increased. Not all of this has been documented as a lot of investment comes via Dubai, Singapore and other global financial hubs but there definitely seems to be a connection to the diaspora population.
Great Britain needs to rethink on how the growth enabled by skilled migration can ensure the Nation’s status as a soft power and economic giant. The tech industry and its cultural industries have stepped up but it needs clever and well thought policies on migration that serves not just its own citizens but creates a global good will.
(Manish Tiwari is the Chairman & Founder of Multicultural Specialist Media Agency HereandNow365 and HereandNowInfinity which operates in the UK and North America)
