Wed 20 May 2009
Small Business Week: Immigrants in Business
Posted by Megan Dorn under Entrepreneurship, Small Business
Immigrants are 30 percent more likely to start a business than non-immigrants, according to an in-depth Small Business Administration study conducted back in November. Their overall rate of business creation has also increased sharply just in the past year. What makes these statistics so promising is that immigrant businesses are making huge contributions to the U.S. economy.
Though there is no solid research on why immigrants make great candidates for entrepreneurship, many immigrant business owners themselves argue that it comes from the incredibly entrepreneurial upbringings that many of them receive. Immigrants typically rely on values such as being thrifty, avoiding excessive debt and relying on support from family and friends—values that can take them far in this economy—to launch and run their companies. Bootstrapping isn’t such a horrible imposition when you’re used to the idea of going lean. Studies in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have also found that immigrants tend to be more entrepreneurial than native-born citizens.
Immigrant businesses are typically viewed as low- to medium-potential-income types of business. While that is often the case, and the number of immigrant-owned businesses in both of these categories is growing at a high rate, immigrants are actually more likely than U.S. natives to start high-income-potential businesses, according to Kauffman Foundation research.
Immigrants are giving this economy a positive push each and every day. They now own 11.2 percent of businesses with $100,000 or more in sales and 10.8 percent of all businesses with employees. They create jobs, contribute money and are setting an example for others to follow.
May 20th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
“Self selection” explains why there are more immigrant entrepreneurs than natives. If someone was ambitious (and risk taker) enough to move to a new country, then (s)he would be more likely to start a business
May 27th, 2009 at 9:06 am
I completely agree with An immigrant. People who are willing to undergo the change from their home country to another are very motivated people. Plus I think people outside the US just have a higher tolerance for work than many Americans do.
Another factor is that, at least in my experience, immigrants may like to work together. I know a Romanian family that works together in a construction business that they own. Because most of the employees are family and they’re all very good at what they do, it is extremely profitable for them. The owners do extremely well by any standard.
Furthermore, I just saw a video reporting that entrepreneurship courses are taking off in foreign universities. If we get those students into the US, they’ll bring their entrepreneurial training with them (The video’s at newsy.com in case you’re curious).