Policies to Support Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Policymakers around the world are aware of the economic and social benefits of attracting and supporting immigrant entrepreneurs, who are often more likely than the native-born to start a business and create jobs, revitalize declining neighborhoods, innovate, and integrate other immigrants into the labor market. At the same time, immigrants face major obstacles to starting a business due to a lack of language proficiency, professional networks, knowledge of local business systems, start-up capital, and credit history.

In Policies to Support Immigrant Entrepreneurship, Maria Vincenza Desiderio outlines a variety of policies that seek to remove these obstacles and promote success among immigrant entrepreneurs. She suggests, for instance, that these policies rely on public-private partnerships to ensure sustainability. London's own Silicon Valley known as Tech City, for instance, grew out of a private initiative that eventually garnered government support. By clustering co-working spaces, start-up incubators and business accelerators, the partnership was able to offer targeted local support for high-tech entrepreneurship. The author also suggests that programs rely on both mainstream (open to all residents) and targeted (open to immigrants) business-support measures. In the economically disadvantaged German city of Dortmund, city authorities partnered with banks and the European Union to launch a credit union that facilitates easy access to credit, tailored counseling and assistance, and mentoring and network-building initiatives. The author concludes that Initiatives like these ought to be embedded in a broader policy strategy to create an entrepreneurship-friendly environment. 

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