Awo Abdulqadir — CEO & Founder of DAQANI— Conversation with a mindful leader
By: Jonathan Sandoval Sjuls Thoresen
Tags: Consulting, Minfulness, Leadership, Management, Coaching

The warm-up

How’s your weather (how are you doing)?

It does get cloudy. You don’t see people in the winter, and especially during this pandemic. Also, it’s very calm. During the pandemic, people have been looking for ways to see their family. With the holiday coming you can spend time with people. I think people are looking forward to that and it calms us.

Are you comfortable?

Yes, but it’s cold.

What have you been doing lately?

We’ve had a few meetings, but we’ve decided to take a break. We needed to get our heads straight. It’s been a hectic year for us combining studies and starting up a company. We will return fresh for the new year, with clear heads.

Who is Awo?

I was born in Somalia and came to Norway with my family when I was 4 years old. My mum raised me, and she always ensured that I was integrated. She was a chef so when we celebrated my birthday, she made both Somali and Norwegian food. She also played Norwegian music. In this way, she helped me balance both cultures. This way I could be Somali and still be a part of the Norwegian community.

The exercise

How does your community responding to you setting up your business?

In Somali culture women and leaders, but people don’t really understand what I do. They are supportive, but they fear I won’t get the same opportunities as other Norwegians. They want me to do something more comfortable, where they believe I can succeed.

What is DAQANI and why did you start it?

My background is in advertising. During my studies, I realised that advertising in Norway always was Nordic, pleasing to ethnic Norwegian people. It was not made for multicultural purposes.

A multicultural strategy can be a trendsetting strategy if you do it right. The ad world in Norway needs help. That’s where DAQANI comes in. Many companies feel uncomfortable asking questions about things like ethnicity and religion. We are the middleman. With our multiethnic backgrounds, we can comfortably help brands ask people these questions. DAQANI cushions the fall for both groups. We want the same result as our clients.

I got the idea for DAQANI when I was attending the Future Leader Incubator last year. I pitched it to my mentor, and he/she liked the idea.

During my studies, our lead strategist Awa Sarr and I were working on a project for a Norwegian clothing line. The brief was: “create a showstopping ad that people won’t scroll by”. We interviewed 200 people about what they wanted to see in this ad. Our idea was to create a multicultural ad with a girl snowboarding. As the girl takes her helmet off, we would see her being mixed race and wearing a hijab. The idea was based on the insight we had collected from speaking to those 200 people. The feedback we received from the client was that they’d wish we had created the idea objectively. We were accused of selling an idea that we wanted and not what those 200 people wanted. Minority people have money and want to spend good money on for example winter jackets. Young Muslim girls both ski and snowboard.

From DAQANI’s presentation.

It’s however not only private companies that need this help. This is also needed in the public sector. At the beginning of the pandemic, several people with minority backgrounds struggled to understand the communication coming from the government and local authorities. Information was mostly in Norwegian and little in English. The language used in Norwegian was quite advanced and when you first come to Norway your level is much more basic. Thankfully the communities came together to help each other. 3rd generation educated Somalis helped their community by translating the information through things like WhatsApp groups and videos. Peopled came to the volunteer centers where they helped inform families and individuals about mask-wearing, the washing of hands, and the importance of testing.

As of March 2020 Norway has 790 497 Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents. Source: Statistics Norway

Your slogan is “If a brand does not have a multicultural strategy it does not have a growth strategy” — What do you mean by that?

In today’s society, you get left behind if you don’t stand for anything. If you sell candy you also need to have halal and vegan candy. You can’t start a company without standing for something and you need to keep growing. If you don’t advocate for the people in your community, you don’t have a stand in that community.

What do you stand for?

Visibility. Making sure that people feel seen in our society. That brands also are selling to my type of Norwegian. I want each and every Norwegian to be seen.

Just before our conversation, we read an article saying that Norwegians with a foreign name is 25% less likely to be invited for a job interview. Your thoughts?

I kind of understand. Maybe they are afraid of saying your name wrong. If your name is difficult it might be assumed that you are difficult. It’s a fear-based assumption.

Any brands that do it “right”?

IKEA. They do it very naturally. They did a thing with the Norwegian rapper Hkeem. They used Hkeem’s album release as a way of talking about IKEA sound. They organised a chat between Hkeem and his rapper friends just being themselves.

And brands that can do it better?

Norwegian brands think that they are diverse if they have a black dad and a white mum with their mixed-race kid in their ads. Where is the Pakistani, the Indian? They think they are diverse if they have a black person.

Business publications like Harvard Business Review and Forbes are writing a lot about Mindful Leadership these days, what are your thoughts?

One thing. How important it is for a person to feel comfortable by seeing other people with a minority background. If you are the only one you have more pressure. When you don’t feel comfortable, you change who you are. You adapt to fit in, you change to fit in. Companies should hire across the board. It creates a sense of comfort.

What do you think leaders need to think extra about these days?

They need to be more mindful of what people are capable of doing during the pandemic. I know several people who have worked very hard this year. People have been pushing their employees. That’s the wrong thing to do. Expecting big results is wrong when people are on the brink. The pandemic has made us vulnerable. This should be a group effort. Leaders need to pull their sleeves up and help out.

What is your relationship with plants?

I love aloe vera plants. Whenever I moved somewhere new, I always bought an aloe vera plant. It’s a plant that gives life. It has so many uses. It gives life to your house. If I burn my hand, I put aloe vera on it. You can use it for your skin, you can consume it. It’s very versatile!

The stretching

Almost one in five adults (19.2%) were likely to be experiencing some form of depression during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in June 2020 — What can leaders and employers do to combat this?

People should not have the same mindset as before. It’s not business as usual. Slow down, have fewer projects. Just because we are home doesn’t mean we are tired. People need to take care of their kids, their families.

It’s not business as usual. Thinking that is very inhumane.

Any final words you want to share?

Companies need to hire more young people, with a diverse background. People need to take that chance. And leaders should hire people that know more than themselves. Norwegians are different, but they are still Norwegian.

DAQANI was actually inspired by words from the Norwegian king’s speech in 2016.

Harald insisted Norwegians came not only “from north Norway, central Norway, southern Norway, and all the other regions”, but from “Afghanistan, Pakistan and Poland, from Sweden, Somalia and Syria” — The Guardian

See the speech in English here