Meet Suzan Hourieh Lindberg, the woman leveraging data to create a more diverse and inclusive fashion industry in the Nordics
“Everyone talks about diversity and inclusion but we actually implement it into organisations,” says Suzan Hourieh Lindberg, CEO of The Social Few — the Swedish data and growth impact agency holding brands across the Nordics accountable when it matters the most.
Initially launched as a ThinkTank back in 2016, Hourieh Lindberg and her team made the decision to launch an agency specialising in gathering the research and statistics highlighting the detrimental results of excluding big groups of people and communities as consumers from major brands across several industries, including the fashion world. “In 2015, McKinsey released a report called ‘Why Diversity Matters’ and Sweden, and Scandinavia in general, reacted quite strongly to it because it proved that there was a correlation between growth and diversity and inclusion,” says Hourieh Lindberg. “Because that’s when we react to the importance of inclusion when it affects growth,” she adds sarcastically.
Photo: Daniela Spiroska
Hourieh Lindberg grew up in Malmo, Sweden’s third largest city, to two immigrant parents hailing from Syria and Macedonia. Her own experiences, as well as those in her community — 25 per cent of Sweden’s population have two immigrant parents — has fuelled her need to make a change that sticks. “My parents had academic backgrounds and were still not able to integrate for different reasons and I remember having discussions with them about it and finding it so fascinating,” she says. “In Scandinavia, minorities and underrepresented groups are still seen as quite homogenous for some reason. They see us as a group that don't have buying power and who aren’t educated but numbers actually show the opposite.”
The Social Few works with a roster of brands including H&M, Spotify, Universal Music Group and Marriott hotels to highlight this and ensure the future looks different not only from an ethical and human perspective but from a business standpoint. “I think that numbers can change societies if you know how to communicate them properly,” she says. “My belief is that if we use them with the right intentions, you can show what reality actually looks like instead of what people project, which is what happens a lot.”
Suzan Hourieh Lindberg with The Social Few co-founders David Khabbazi and Zilan Lawan. Photo: Anna Florén
Next month, Hourieh Lindberg will be speaking at Brilliant Minds, an event hosted by the global platform for creative individuals to come together on world changing ideas. She’ll be sharing a stage with the likes of Alicia Keys, Gayle King, Malala, Ben Gorham and Kim Jones of Dior and Fendi, discussing her potential solution to the longstanding issue with the lack of diversity and inclusion in the corporate and fashion world. “The future is now. Companies need to be aware of how Sweden and the Nordics are growing, particularly in fashion,” says Hourieh Lindberg. “The fashion industry is unaware of what their consumers actually look like now. Things are still based on an outdated way of viewing consumers. They’re still talking about 'premium' which is something completely different today than it was in the past.”
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Photo: Daniela Spiroska
She also points out that the fastest-growing group within universities and higher education are Gen Z minorities, meaning that just five years from now, their buying power will increase. “This new generation of consumers are very particular and picky with the brands they shop at. Are these brands simply mainstream names or are they creating awareness about diversity and inclusion and things that matter? These are the questions they ask before choosing to shop and it’s always the latter that holds the weight.”
With the growth of The Social Few, Hourieh Lindberg hopes to be the change the Nordic fashion industry still so desperately needs when it comes to dismantling old systems and creating a business model that actually reflects the diverse world we live in and the consumers in it. “We've been described as Jesus. Everybody knows we exist, but nobody's ever seen us,” Hourieh Lindberg says, with a laugh. An optimist by nature, she stands strong in her stance that an overall inclusive world can be achieved — especially when CEOs and corporate leaders are shown that actually, it is as lucrative as it is a societal necessity. “With will you can do so much,” Hourieh Lindberg adds. “It’s very possible to get there, we just need to do the work.”