Dr Neri Karra Sillaman is an immigrant entrepreneur, Oxford academic, sought-after speaker, prominent business consultant and award-winning author, who was recently nominated for the Thinkers50 Radar Award for the best new management thinker of 2025. She is the founder of the Neri Karra leather goods firm that works in partnership... Read more
Dr Neri Karra Sillaman is an immigrant entrepreneur, Oxford academic, sought-after speaker, prominent business consultant and award-winning author, who was recently nominated for the Thinkers50 Radar Award for the best new management thinker of 2025. She is the founder of the Neri Karra leather goods firm that works in partnership with several major Italian fashion brands, and is recognised as a leading voice on business sustainability and longevity.
Born into a persecuted Turkish ethnic minority in communist Bulgaria, Neri was forced to flee her home country with just a few days’ notice. At just 11 years of age, she and her family initially settled in a refugee camp in Istanbul, eventually going on to start up their own fashion business. Twenty-five years later, Neri Karra is a multimillion-dollar, B Corps certified, global luxury brand that sells in 14 territories around the world.
Neri’s latest critically acclaimed book, Pioneers: 8 Principles of Business Longevity from Immigrant Entrepreneurs, explores the inspiring stories of the immigrants who created some of the world’s top companies and asks what lessons we can all learn from their disproportionate success in the business world. It was named by FT Readers as one of the best books of 2025.
Drawing on personal experience and extensive research, Pioneers highlights how immigrants’ commitment to building cross-cultural bridges, creating communities, championing sustainability and generating positive social change leads to long-lasting impact on business. Pioneers was named as one of the best business books of the year by the Next Big Idea Club and Thinkers50, and led to Neri being nominated as the Best Author at the 2025 Women’s Business Awards.
In addition to her success as an author and entrepreneur, Neri holds a PhD in Management Science from the University of Cambridge. She has taught at many leading educational institutions in Europe, including LSE, Imperial College London, the London College of Fashion, the Royal College of Art and IESEG School of Management. She is currently an Entrepreneurship Expert at Said Business School at the University of Oxford. Her writing has featured in the Harvard Business Review, Newsweek, Fortune and Fast Company, and her views are regularly quoted in such publications as The Financial Times, Bloomberg Business, and Forbes.
Neri has delivered keynotes at many world-leading companies and academic institutions, including Apple and the University of Cambridge. She is a three-time TEDx speaker and regularly addresses conferences and events internationally, on a wide range of subjects, including sustainability, resilience and immigrant entrepreneurship. Her speeches combine moving and inspiring stories with actionable, evidence-based insights into how to build better businesses and live.
First- and second-generation immigrants make up only 27% of the US population, but they have founded 46% of the companies on the Fortune 500 list, and 80% of billion-dollar startups have immigrants as founders or senior leaders. This inspiring talk asks what lessons we can all learn from that success...
For decades, aspiring entrepreneurs looking to build businesses that last have been taught myths based on the experiences of once-successful companies that actually failed in the long term. This iconoclastic talk exposes those harmful myths and argues for a new definition of business longevity focused not on the money you...
Traditionally, we are taught that resilience is an individual quality, epitomised by those single-minded individuals who “go it alone” to deliver their own vision. But this insightful talk explores the reality of resilience and how it must be rooted in community connections, collective strength and a willingness to adapt to...
Drawing on Neri’s academic and hands-on expertise in the glamorous world of the fashion industry, this entertaining talk highlights the lessons that all entrepreneurs can learn from the careers of iconic figures such as Coco Chanel, Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent, whose businesses were built on the most crucial...
Inspired by Neri’s own journey and her grandfather’s homespun wisdom, this thought-provoking talk shows how doing the right thing and prioritising sustainability over chasing quick profits is the key to long-term success in business and life.