We are all similar.

When you're getting to know someone, you don't see it right away. Differences are the first thing you notice. A different coat, a different language, or a different opinion. It's only later, when you spend more time together, that you realize how much we are alike.

Most people want roughly the same. Our wishes are modest. We want a good enough life for ourselves and something better for our children. We want to contribute and participate. But it's not easy to achieve this. It's especially difficult for people who find themselves in a new environment.

I had to discover this for myself.

I didn't really know anyone with a refugee background until I met a friend who worked for the city of Amsterdam with status holders. He introduced me to four people. I was particularly moved by the story of one the female status holders who had managed four hundred people in Syria, but wasn't able to find a job here in the Netherlands. I found that very strange.

Jan Princen, co-founder of Motopp