“It’s all about human connection” – Atif Choudhury at Brighton Chamber Breakfast

We all went on quite a journey with Atif Choudhury last Friday starting in Brighton, breakfasting Japanese style at Moshimo, travelling across Palestine and back to the UK, but the common theme throughout was the importance of human connection.

Atif showed us how it underpins doing business, and the lessons we can take from it – the connection of people working together for a common purpose, the humility needed to recognize the realities of people facing such loss and the connection of accepting and celebrating each other’s individuality.

We started with Atif telling us the story of setting up Zaytoun, a Community Interest Company he co-founded to support Palestinian farmers through fair trade.

Atif talked about his mission to help Palestinian farmers by encouraging them to form co-operatives to sell their products, but it turns out that this only worked once he established a connection with them (and between the different farmers).

As well as dealing with the logistical issues of operating in villages and communities facing conflict, they were also operating from a scarcity mentality of “if you can’t guarantee you can sell [our products], how do you know it will work”.

However, by listening to the farmers and properly engaging them in the process, Atif realized that for them it wasn’t all about the business plan and raising income – it was about trust, co-operation, and connection.

Once this was established the farmers were able to work with the Zaytoun team and together and pool their resources, from warehousing to delivery drivers, to achieve the common goal of selling their products. Starting in 2004, the response to Zaytoun’s work grew to such a extent that in 2009 it became the World’s first Fair-trade certified olive oil. 

Atif then went on to tell us about how, returning from Palestine, he set up Diversity and Ability. Based in Brighton, D&A is an award-winning social enterprise led by and for disabled people, paving the way for a future where everyone is welcomed and included.

Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) is a term that is used a lot, but at its heart, it’s about human connection and the things we can achieve if we work together, rather than creating what Atif called “disabling situations”.

The barriers that people face aren’t related to mental or physical health impairments or conditions, but are actually created by society and businesses not recognizing our individual differences.

Atif talked about the importance of tools and tech to create a human-centred experience, to make human experience more meaningful and to unlock individuals’ strengths.

He posed the important question we should all consider: “What do we miss as people when we don’t get excited about our differences”?

Where would we be without people like Thomas Edison, Alan Turin or Greta Thunberg?

It’s our collective responsibility to anticipate differences and welcome them, rather than reacting to our differences.

The stories that Atif, now an advisor to the UN and WHO, told about his journey with Zaytoun CiC and Diversity and Ability served to highlight how we all face different barriers, no matter our circumstances. He showed us the importance of human connection in business and that we can achieve more by working together (whilst celebrating differences and individuality).

‘The diversity of thought is a key for innovation, it’s a gift to any civil society, entrepreneurship or business but only if we learn to welcome it.’ 

As Atif highlighted - 5% of GDP is lost on mental health issues, so it’s not just the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense.

The team at Brighton Chamber are great at making connections and just think what we could achieve by working together!

Atif Choudhury is CEO of Diversity and Ability, and Founder of Zaytoun.

Find out more about Diversity and Ability here. And, find out more about Zaytoun here. 

And big thanks to Samantha Oakley from SO Legal for writing up Atif’s talk. 

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk