Spatial perspectives on migrant entrepreneurship

Abstract

The high mobility of people across borders due to economic, social, and ecological factors, as well as political crises leading to mass movement events, such as the ‘long summer of migration’ in Europe (2015–2017), has contributed to more diverse societies with a high share of people with migration backgrounds and increasing cross-border mobility experiences. Such mobility has an impact on the economies of both the countries of the migrants’ origin and destination. In several countries around the world, migrant businesses are a significant pillar of the economy (Bove & Elia 2017; Sternberg et al. 2022). Entrepreneurship tends to be slightly higher among migrants compared to among the native-born population in most OECD countries (OECD 2010). Whereas in these countries around 12.7 % of migrants of working age are self-employed, this is 12.0 % among the non-migrant population (ibid.). This observation is generally explained in the academic literature by the discrimination towards migrants on formal labour markets (Oskam et al. 2022). Especially the first generation of migrants faces challenges to enter the world of employed work due to the lack of language skills and problems associated with the acceptance of qualifications and work experience (Sultana 2022). Consequently, migrant entrepreneurship is often necessity-driven, meaning that migrant firms are established due to the lack of alternative work opportunities. In recent years, a new trend is emerging: Migrant entrepreneurship is increasingly opportunity-driven. There are manifold reasons explaining this. On the one hand, groups of highly skilled migrants including international students, launch their businesses soon after graduation (Terstriep et al. 2022; Leicht et al. 2017). On the other hand, often opportunity-driven migrant entrepreneurship is not a new experience for migrants in the countries of destination, but a continuation of migrants’ entrepreneurial activities which has already started in the countries of their origin. It means, that already existent business models are re-established and adapted in the countries of residence (ibid.).