Good afternoon everyone, and welcome,

My name is Ruben Brave, and I’m the founder of Dutch New Narrative Lab (DNNL),

And I want to start with one simple idea:

Opportunity is not just about talent. It's about access. Access to networks. Access to capital. Access to rooms like this — and what we choose to do inside them.

Thank you to the partners who made today possible: Rabobank, our host; Accenture; the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations; and VU Amsterdam, our strategic partner, where I serve as Entrepreneur in Residence.

And thank you to all speakers, our organizing committee, especially Nuthan Manohar and Emmanuel Agha, and our volunteers — the people who make the community real.

Before we dive in — I want to wish you a truly fantastic unConference. Be curious, be generous, and if you meet one person today you can help — with an introduction, a piece of advice, or a sponsorship moment — don't wait. Do it before dinner.

For those who don't know me: I was born and raised here in Amsterdam. My parents came from Suriname. My background is Surinamese — but I also carry African, Indian, and Jewish roots. That mix shaped how I see the world.

I started my career in the 1990s at Planet Internet — the Netherlands' first commercial Internet Service/Access Provider (ISP). Back then, the internet felt like a promise: a network where participation mattered more than background.

In 2013, I sold the shares in my own ventures and had an “exit”, and took a sabbatical until 2018. That break changed me. I came back with a different question: who gets to participate in this economy — and who doesn't?

Today I chair Internet Society Netherlands and the New Economy Working Group at VNO-NCW Metropolitan Region Amsterdam. DNNL began in 2020, after a Diversity Exploration I conducted for the Ministry of Economic Affairs. I spoke with over 400 people. One story kept repeating: brilliant founders, global ambition, serious traction — but no warm introductions. No trust-based access. No capital. So we built DNNL as infrastructure — not as a talking club.

Our unConferences have brought together 350+ underrepresented founders, and an impact measurement shows UnConferences can realize more than one million euros in deal making. We did this together. And recently, together with VNO-NCW and about thirty entrepreneurs, we helped shape a parliamentary motion by Raoul White — now adopted — pushing the government to remove barriers to inclusive financing across major instruments.

Now, this week matters for another reason.

This is Martin Luther King week. Sixty years ago, Dr. King received an honorary doctorate at VU Amsterdam — a moment preserved in the university's archives, in a UNESCO Memory of the World context.

King understood something we still struggle to operationalize:

There is no social equality without economic equality.

Here is where my own work became confronting. Together with founders like Carolien Wanrooy, Kemo Camara, Maria Rotilu and Nelson T. Ajulo, I've been researching how fear and fragmentation shape inequality — not just across groups, but sometimes even within marginalized communities.

The mechanism is brutal: when networks fragment, opportunity gets trapped. And small differences compound.

In our model, the advantaged group ends up 'well-connected' about two-thirds of the time, while the disadvantaged group is connected only one-third. That difference alone changes who gets the warm intro — and who never even gets in the room.

Over fifty years, even modest yearly effects produce about 4.4 times the wealth difference. And the capital reality: in the Netherlands, only 0.8% of venture capital went to all-women teams. Europe faces a €20 billion annual investment gap.

So yes — the dream is urgent.

But here's the part we often avoid saying: The dream is also in our own hands.

My dream is that we — as diverse founders and stakeholders — get better at working together. Not just being present. But actively building trust, making introductions, and sponsoring each other into rooms that still default to 'same old networks.'

If you're an investor or corporate leader: sponsor one founder into a room they can't access alone. If you're a founder: ask for the introduction.

The hopeful part: the research doesn't only diagnose. It shows what works.

Coaching alone often falls short — it improves the individual, but doesn't change their network position. But mentoring and sponsorship change the trajectory — they change access. That is a modern translation of Dr. King: build bridges, change structures, move with the fierce urgency of now.

And now — something special. A few months ago, I did something that might sound naïve. I emailed Martin Luther King III — Dr. King's son and, together with his sister Bernice, the one who continues the legacy of their father and their mother Coretta Scott King. I didn't expect a response. But then — an unexpected moment. His Chief of Staff, replied. She had looked at our website, and asked: 'Can we find a meaningful way to work together?'

I brought this to VU Amsterdam. President Margrethe Jonkman and her team — especially Kaat and Nynke — picked it up with real commitment. We are now exploring a collaboration: a lecture series, and programs that support diverse founders — turning legacy into living infrastructure.

Today, Martin Luther King III has recorded a message for all of you. Please give him your full attention — and listen for the invitation.

Ladies and gentlemen — Martin Luther King III :