ELIE Project
Work-package One Report
9/5/2011
University of Salford
Carolyn Downs
Executive Summary
The ELIE project takes the emergence (across the EU) of a myriad of successful entrepreneurs in
cultural settings different from those they originate in (Kloosterman & Rath, 2001) as an opportunity
to capture the lived experience of immigrant entrepreneurs in order to synthesise key features of
their into learning frameworks for entrepreneurship in a cross-cultural environment. This report
details the approaches used and results of the ELIE project in its first year and sets out how the next
part of the project will be developed. It provides the first detail of the exciting findings of the ELIE
team and shows how the use of taxonomies of immigrant entrepreneurship can be applied to help
potential entrepreneurs fit their skills to new markets.
We have used a range of qualitative approaches for data collection within the ELIE project,
most significantly the innovative KETSO approach for our workshops (www.ketso.com). Data
has been investigated through content analysis and extensive group discussion across the
team to identify common themes and trends across the project. As a result of our work so
far we have developed a European categorisation of international entrepreneurship that will
be discussed in an academic article, have made two major conference presentations, have
applied lessons learned in ELIE to the development of teaching Work-based Learning and
have produced several significant reports that will be available via our website www.elieproject.eu by mid-October 2011
We have many positive findings that highlight the significant benefits immigrant entrepreneurs bring
to their new country including investment, jobs, cultural awareness and innovations. Our key
findings include that there are institutional barriers to entrepreneurship amongst immigrants that
could be overcome with relatively simple and cost-effective initiatives.
Key Recommendations include developing short courses for immigrants interested in
entrepreneurship, and delivered via their community places, so that they can learn business
planning skills, access business networks and receive help applying for business start-up grants. We
also recommend that language learning within schools and HEIs focus on developing excellent
speaking skills as even where individuals had prior school-level qualifications in the language of the
country they were moving too this was reported as being inadequate for entrepreneurship.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
2
Contents
1.0
Introduction
4
2.0
Aims and Objectives
4
3.0
Approaches
5
4.0
Interviews
6
5.0
Workshops and Focus Groups
7
6.0
Who are the ELIE entrepreneurs?
8
7.0
Developing the ELIE taxonomy of International Entrepreneurship
9
8.0
The ELIE Taxonomy of Entrepreneurship
10
9.0
Categories of Entrepreneur
12
10.0
Application of the Taxonomy
13
11.0
Cultures of Entrepreneurship
14
12.0
Institutional Settings for Entrepreneurship
17
13.0
Social Factors and Entrepreneurship
22
14.0
Skills, Learning and Entrepreneurs
25
15.0
Conclusions and Recommendations
27
16.0
Next Steps
32
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
3
1.0 Introduction
The ELIE project has at its heart employability through entrepreneurship and mobility. These are
important policy areas for governments. The movement of people within the European Economic
area is at the heart of the free trade ideals that were a significant element of the formation of the
initial six founder countries into first the European Coal and Steel Community and then the European
Economic Community.
UN figures show that about 200 million people; 3% of the population of the world, live in a country
different to that where they were born (UN, 2009). Within the EU migration is not limited to
movement within the now 27 member states. Migration from outside Europe for family reunion, as
a result of conflict or for economic reasons is a feature of European life. However, there are barriers
to non-EU migration to the EU, which are member-state-specific and affect the make-up of migrant
populations within individual member states. Clemens (2011) argues plausibly that that one of the
reasons why governments in richer countries should be encouraging migration is that place-specific
influences increase productivity of individuals; a factor highlighted in the findings of the ELIE project
(WP1) and detailed within this report.
Recent work by Clemens (2011) illustrates that removing barriers to labour mobility leads to
economic gains in the destination country. Certainly the work of the ELIE project provides a
qualitative account of motivations, methods and impacts of immigrant entrepreneurship and shows
significant economic gains in destination countries for individual entrepreneurs and the wider
communities within which immigrant businesses are working. This report details work-package one
of the ELIE project ‘Capturing the Lived Experience of Immigrant Entrepreneurs’
2.0 Aims and Objectives
The overall aim of the ELIE project is the development and piloting of a learning framework that
facilitates Employability and Entrepreneurship in a Cross-Cultural Environment with particular
emphasis on providing knowledge and skills sets for SMEs and students in accessible informal and
formal settings. In order to ensure the utility of our deliverables we work closely with a wide range
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
4
of people from SMEs, immigrant groups, students and colleagues across the EU in pursuit of our
objectives.
2.1 The aim of work-package one: Exploring the Lived Experience of Immigrant
Entrepreneurs was to: Develop a comprehensive understanding of lived experiences of
immigrant entrepreneurs in cross-cultural settings and then use this knowledge to inform
small-medium enterprises, students and immigrants who are seeking opportunities in the
global market place.
2.2 The objectives of work package one were designed to allow a qualitative approach to
achieving the aim that would be sufficiently detailed to provide a wide range of experiences
while being flexible enough to respond to local conditions in each partner country, the needs
of participants within ELIE for and to ensure that a successful learning framework could be
developed based on the material gathered in work package one. Our detailed objectives for
this part of the project were as follows:
1) Identify 50 immigrant entrepreneurs (in each country) as participants in focus
groups and case studies.
2) Develop a semi-structured interview matrix likely to include personal data &
experiences, business overview, start-up process and cultural & institutional
implication in an immigrant context
3) Conduct interviews and develop 10 case studies in each country
4) Using data from the interviews as framework, run knowledge café style focus
groups in each country with immigrant entrepreneurs to establish commonalities of
experience
5) Run knowledge cafes with students to establish barriers to cross-cultural
entrepreneurship
6) Analyze all qualitative data and report
3.0 Approach
The qualitative approach used in gathering data allowed the project team to acquire an in depth
understanding of the processes involved in immigrant entrepreneurship. This included developing
knowledge about support structures used to manage effectively across cultural divides, impetus for
entrepreneurship and personal explanations for success or failure. A range of methods were used to
help generate knowledge including knowledge cafes and Ketso-based workshops.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
5
3.1 Knowledge cafes are a development of focus groups that acknowledge the expertise of
participants and allow knowledge to be shared through conversation. Ketso is a toolkit
allowing diverse groups to engage creatively with issues and problems; sharing ideas on a
basis of equality. This technique reduces power imbalances allowing diverse voices to be
heard.
3.2 These additional methods were selected to support interview data, to encourage user
engagement, to help develop informal networks of entrepreneurs and to act as a means of
triangulation of interview data.
3.3 In addition, material from HE students on barriers to cross-cultural working will ensure
the subsequent development of the learning framework is focussed on key issues impacting
on decision-making processes of a social group (graduates) who might otherwise be a highly
skilled addition to cross-cultural SME development.
4.0 Interviews
There are many reasons for migration, and many reasons why migrants might seek employment
through entrepreneurship. Our interviews would form a significant data set and provide material for
the successful completion of subsequent stages of the project.
4.1 It was important that we took account of the difficulty of sample selection within our
target group of immigrant entrepreneurs. Whilst our Greek partners had a large, legally
required and publically searchable, database of immigrant entrepreneurs no such resource
existed in Poland, Finland or the UK. In Greece it was possible to see which countries
provided the largest groups of immigrant entrepreneurs and to ensure that the sample
broadly reflected this. However, this level of sampling detail would not be possible across
the whole study.
4.2 Similarly, the lack of a central source of data made recruitment of immigrants more
difficult. The design of the project required first-generation immigrants. Within the UK many
business owned by British Asian and British Chinese entrepreneurs are second or third
generation, making recruitment from these ethnic groups who represent a significant sector
in BAME business something of a challange.
4.3 It was decided that although the sample would be necessarily non-representative of the
exact ethnic make-up of the immigrant entrepreneur population as no data was available to
enable the project team to establish the exact structure of this population this short-coming
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
6
would not be detrimental to our work as we would ensure instead that we had a balance of
business types based on size, length of time established and type of business.
4.4 Documentation used in the interviewing process were a project information form a
participant consent form and a data collection sheet (appendix 1)
4.5 The project team considered that preliminary data collected via a simple data collection
form would enable some broad comparisons to be made across our sample of 200
entrepreneurs (appendix 2).
4.5 In order that our interviews were comparable an interview instrument was developed
(appendix 3). The grid approach and a selection of portmanteau questions were used in
order to reduce the risk of simply ‘reading out’ a prescriptive interview matrix. As our aim
was to understand the lived experience if immigrant entrepreneur it was essential that our
interviews were ‘conversational’ and allowed for interesting topic to be explored as they
arose.
5.0 Workshops and Focus Groups
These took place with groups of higher education students and immigrant entrepreneurs. The events
with entrepreneurs were designed to allow time for network development; accordingly a networking
lunch took place prior to the workshop. The entrepreneur event was also designed to lead to
opportunities for triangulating information noted within the interviews. The student events were
planned as informal events offering benefits for students in enabling them to learn about running
workshops through participation as well as helping the ELIE project gather useful information about
the perceptions of entrepreneurship and migration held by students.
5.1 Participants in both groups of workshops were self- selecting. All entrepreneurs who
agreed to interview were invited to attend a workshop. Students were invited through the
global email system in the institutions where the events took place.
5.2 Participation of students in some workshops was lower than would have been liked as a
result of our later-than-planned project start; this meant that the workshops coincided with
the summer vacation for some of our partners. Nevertheless, a large amount of valuable
information was produced.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
7
6.0 Who are the ELIE entrepreneurs?
Definitions given at workshops held by the ELIE project, with participants from more than 30
countries, tended towards media-related interpretations of entrepreneurship. They commonly
included ideas such as innovator, risk-taker, investor, hero, leader and visionary. This led participants
to conclude that entrepreneurs were a different type of person, ‘Not like us’.
6.1 The extensive literature on entrepreneurship provides a wide range of academic
definitions (Cole, 1969; Gartner, 1988, 2001; Carland et al, 1988; Hébert and Link, 1989,
Howorth et al, 2005; Mckenzie et al, 2007) ; so wide that Wennekers and Thurik concluded
entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship to be, ‘an ill-defined, at best multidimensional,
concept’ (Wennekers and Thurik, 1999:29). They further noted that one reason for the
problem of developing definitions of exactly what an entrepreneur is lies with the personal
nature of entrepreneurship to each individual (Wennekers and Thurik, 1999:30). Brockhaus
and Horwitz went even further, stating emphatically that, ‘The literature appears to support
the argument at there is no generic definition of the entrepreneur’ (Brookhaus and Horwitz,
1986: 281); indeed, even the utility of developing definitions in an area of research that is
‘characterised by dynamism, ambiguity, discontinuity, uniqueness and innovation’ is
questioned by Howorth et al (2005:25).
6.2 Within the ELIE project the definition of entrepreneur took account of the difficulties
outlined above and allowed for the inclusion of any individual who was not paid a wage by
an employer but supported themselves through their own labour and initiative to take part
in the study as an entrepreneur. As we were also concerned with SMEs, and particularly
interested in what might be considered as micro-businesses we did set an upper limit on the
number of employees entrepreneurs within the study should have. This was capped at 50
and in all bar one case this stricture was applied. The exception to the rule is included within
both the ELIE project and the case studies here because it mirrors exactly the stages that
many of our entrepreneurs are at and illustrates neatly a pattern of progression through
entrepreneurship that can be taken.
6.3 A recent definition of international entrepreneurship is provided by Oviatt and Phillips
McDougall (2005) as; ‘the discovery, enactment, evaluation and exploitation of
opportunities across national borders to create future goods and services’ (Oviatt and
McDougall, 2005:30). In the past research into international business has generally
concentrated on large multi-national companies who may have multiple international facets.
However, more recently international business research has begun to turn its attention to
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
8
entrepreneurial firms working in an international context (Phillips MacDougall and Oviatt,
2000). One of the reasons for the increasing focus on the internationalization of small
businesses is because studies have noted an increase in SMEs working in an international
context (Simon, 1996).
6.4 Following the work of Giamartino, McDougall and Bird (1993) the term international
entrepreneur within the ELIE project has several facets, allowing it to reflect the varieties of
entrepreneurial experience. We have worked mainly with people who are entrepreneurs in
a country not of their birth. However, we have also included entrepreneurs whose work is
international in its scope and a small sample of people whose initial business is based still in
the country of their birth but this has expanded into a new country. So for the ELIE project
international entrepreneurship relates to i) moving to a new country to live and becoming
an entrepreneur in that country ii) remaining in your country of birth but expanding your
business to include overseas bases iii) having an international reach for your business
(whether you were born overseas or in the country where the business is based
7.0 Developing the ELIE Taxonomy of Entrepreneurship
There is a significant body of literature that has worked on identifying common features of
entrepreneurship. These taxonomies for entrepreneurship are a feature of work by Scheinberg and
MacMillan (1988) Dubini (1988) Blais and Toulouse (1990) Birley and Westhead (1994) Manimala
(1996) amongst others.
7.1 There are advantages in the use of categories where the ultimate aim of a project is to
develop learning materials as they allow the project to identify and focus on key features
that can be incorporated into the learning materials. However, there were some difficulties
in applying existing taxonomies to the ELIE project.
7.1 Taxonomies concerned with motivations for business start up tended to have a minimum
of seven characteristics (see for example Scheinberg and MacMillan, 1988 and Birley and
Westhead, 1994), many of which were not evidenced as discrete motivations in our
qualitative findings. After careful discussions at partner meetings and by email it was felt
that the three categories suggested below covered the experience of the entrepreneurs
within our study. In many respects though, several of the categories proposed by other
academics (such as Scheinberg and MacMillan’s “Need for Independence,” “Need for
Personal Development,” and “Welfare Considerations,”) are subsumed within the work-life
balance route that we have used as one of our categories.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
9
7.2 There were similar problems with existing taxonomies of entrepreneurial type. One
interesting example is the excellent work of Manimala (1996). He divided entrepreneurs into
two groups; high and low innovation with a total of thirteen sub-types between groups;
concluding that the over-arching similarity between all subtypes and groups was that all
entrepreneurs were innovators; albeit with some innovating considerably more than others.
The sub-types identified by Manimala are useful in thinking about all entrepreneurs and
could have formed the basis for an analysis of the international entrepreneurs within the
ELIE project but it was felt that the thrust of Manimala’s taxonomy was too generic for some
of the patterns of entrepreneurship that were found to be common across the four
countries of ELIE and also that many of the ELIE entrepreneurs would fall into the ‘nonpioneer niche-holder’ category and that this would not do justice to their diversity and
difference of experience.
7.3 One key feature of the ELIE project concurs with the observation of Lafuente and Salas
(1989) that; ‘Personal characteristics of entrepreneurs, and especially their motivations and
work experiences, are therefore relevant factors in the study of entrepreneurship’ (Lafuente
and Salas 1989: 18). The personal and life experiences of the ELIE entrepreneurs were a
significant feature in how their entrepreneurship occurred and developed and these were
not well served by the majority of categories developed in more general settings and for
purely academic purposes.
7.4 The interviewing stage of the ELIE project uncovered clear trends in the entrepreneurial
life-courses of participants that have enabled three routes into entrepreneurship and
distinct categories of international entrepreneurship to be developed. Some of these
categories are also clearly applicable across entrepreneurship more generally, and offer
generalised lessons for those seeking to support or develop entrepreneurship themselves or
as a tool for economic growth within a town, city or country. Other categories noted in this
research seem to be are particularly common amongst immigrant entrepreneurs. It is also
the case that some individuals fit across routes and categories and these categories are by
no means exhaustive.
8.0 The ELIE Taxonomy of Entrepreneurship
The ELIE Taxonomy was conceived after extensive academic discussion between partners, and with
careful reference to the literature and our findings, as an organising category for our data. The clear
result of our meeting in Turku was that it became plain that existing taxonomies of
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
10
entrepreneurship, while have much to commend them, did not fit the primary need of the ELIE
project; designing an effective learning framework. Furthermore, existing models of
entrepreneurship made little reference to the significance of routes into entrepreneurship; yet for
the immigrants in our study the underlying motivation for entrepreneurial activity was noted as
being central to the subsequent direction and scope of the business.
8.1 Routes into entrepreneurship (Motivation) were clearly delineated within the interviews
and the three categories of entrepreneur were agreed by the partners to be applicable
across all interviews.
8.1.1
The Reluctant Entrepreneur: this group had arrived in their destination
country with expectations of finding paid employment. There was a broad
spectrum of existing skill levels within this group: graduates, professionally
qualified people (nurses, midwives, teachers), crafts people (hairdressers,
carpenters) and people whose work experience was generally in semi or
unskilled areas (taxi drivers, factory work) . All of the people in this category
articulated that they had no option but to become entrepreneurial as they
had been unsuccessful in gaining paid employment or a family member
required their assistance in the establishment of an enterprise or they
needed an income quickly and saw entrepreneurship as a stop-gap until
they became more established in their new country. This group of
entrepreneurs would often also invest money or time but were clear that
had other choices been available then entrepreneurship would not have
been selected as a means of earning an income. Many who were reluctant
entrepreneurs were then very successful indeed in their entrepreneurship,
and were pleased with the results of their decision. Some reluctant
entrepreneurs were successful but articulated that they regretted having
been pushed into business.
8.1.2
The Work-life Balance Entrepreneur: Participants in this group often moved
from paid employment into entrepreneurship, seeing it as a solution to
problems such as caring responsibilities, the desire to fulfil artistic or
creative ambitions while also earning a living or as a means of reducing work
pressures through becoming their own boss. This group were very positive
about their experience as entrepreneurs, but often considered they were
not particularly entrepreneurial; they looked at the stereotypical image of
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
11
an entrepreneur and did not see their own experience reflected. Again,
many in this group were very successful in their efforts, and reported
pleasure and delight in the success of their ventures, often going on to
employ people themselves, allowing this group to juggle their work-life
balance even more effectively.
8.1.3
The Investing Entrepreneur: This motivation for entrepreneurship was
clearly the most similar to the media interpretations of how entrepreneurs
functioned. Within ELIE the investment could be savings, borrowed funds or
income and in many instances was time and personal effort. This category of
entrepreneur would often describe having spent time planning their
business, or of dreaming for many years of owning a business. Investing
entrepreneurs were more likely to express their experience in terms of
entrepreneurial behaviour and to consider their business as something to
grow and to develop over a long timeframe.
9.0 Categories of Entrepreneur
These eight categories sit alongside the routes into (motivation for) entrepreneurship. They will
allow our learning framework to build tools that relate closely to the entrepreneurial
experiences of immigrants, who often have to think creatively to apply their skills, knowledge
and experience to the task of earning a living in a new country. This requires the ability to create
a personal decision tree that can evaluate a wide range of different options for entrepreneurship
in order to develop a model that will work for the individual entrepreneur in the place where
they find themselves.
9.1 The Portfolio Entrepreneur: Developing a varied business (or multiple micro-businesses)
based on a range of skills, knowledge, interests and networks. This type of entrepreneur
may combine traditional paid employment with freelance work, consultancy, production
and sales of goods. These types of entrepreneur may ultimately develop one element of
their business over the others.
9.2 The Social Entrepreneur: Not-for-profit community or social enterprises developed by
immigrant entrepreneurs sometimes in the service of their own community initially but
also to serve the wider community. These include support and advice services,
education services and health services.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
12
9.3 The Creative Entrepreneur: Music, artistic and other cultural activities/skills used as a
basis for a business and includes freelance musicians, public relations, advertising,
jewellery design, graphic designers, painters, sculptors, dance teachers, music teachers
and similar.
9.4 The Language Entrepreneur: Business based upon use of language skills and knowledge.
Translating, teaching, coaching, setting examinations and owning language schools.
9.5 The Knowledge Entrepreneur: Very highly skilled people with professional qualifications
such as accountants, architects and lawyers and also people with degrees / higher
degrees often working in technical areas such as green technologies, water engineering,
design engineering and etc.
9.6 The Skilled Entrepreneur: People who use a trade or skill such as furniture making,
building, plumbing, carpentry, car mechanics, driving instructor, taxi driving,
hairdressing, tailoring as the foundation of their business
9.7 The Ethnic Entrepreneur / Ethnic Food Entrepreneur: This group make use of their
background as the foundation for a business. There may be an argument for setting
ethnic food as a separate category. The types of business within the food category
include takeaway food, restaurants, ethnic food supermarkets and wholesalers and
importers of ethnic foods. The wider category includes retailers of ethnic clothing such
as Islamic dress (for own community), henna artists, ethnic hairdressing, Chinese
medicine, martial arts schools and etc.
9.8 The Web-enabled Entrepreneur: This group of entrepreneurs could be based anywhere
in the world that has good and reasonably priced internet access. They use the internet
as their main means of marketing, networking and doing business, often working in
several countries. These web-enabled businesses are not restricted to those working in
technologies, although these were well-represented within the category. The grouping
also includes graphic design, ethnic and consultancy firms
10.0
Application of the Taxonomy
Given the issues with recruitment and selection of our sample, plus the diverse geographical
locations in which the ELIE project was working there were some expectations of extremely
diverse experiences amongst our 200 immigrant entrepreneurs. This would have made the
development and application of any taxonomy challenging and might well have led to a different
approach to the organization of our material. However, there were very many striking
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
13
similarities of experience and motivation across all four countries. Differences of experience
often related to issues that were country-specific; regulation, taxation and recruitment being the
key areas of variation noted within interviews – all of which aspects could be expected to be
country-specific and which had no impact on the application of the taxonomy to our findings.
10.1
The ELIE case studies were developed after content analysis of all interviews and
prior to the development of the taxonomy. This ensured that there was no selection of
case studies in order to fit the taxonomy.
10.2
Each case study (appendix 3) has both a motivation and category appellation. This is
to allow for development of learning framework materials that take account on the
impact of motivation for entrepreneurship in the development of the individual
business.
11.0
Cultures of Entrepreneurship
Culture may be understood as the manifestation of attitudes, values and beliefs shared by groups in
society. In the 21st century cultures are increasingly fluid and dynamic as 24/7 global communication,
patterns of migration and multi-cultural societies develop. A slightly narrower definition, applicable
within the field of economic endeavour, was developed by Guiso et al (2006) and specifies that
culture refers to : ‘those customary beliefs and values that ethnic, religious, and social groups
transmit fairly unchanged from generation to generation’ (2006, p.23). Within immigrant
entrepreneurship cultural influences have been viewed by many researchers as significant and this
has encouraged studies that focus on the place of immigrant culture within the decision to become
entrepreneurial and the nature of entrepreneurship undertaken. Within the ELIE project there has
been an interest in cultural features of immigrant entrepreneurship but this is placed alongside
economic, institutional, individual and global influences on entrepreneurship choices.
11.1
Max Weber (1905), and later R H Tawney (1926) famously cited the development of
reformed Christianity; Protestantism, as central to the development of capitalism and
individualism. Both Tawney and Weber focused on the work-ethic and spirit of rational
individualism fostered within Protestant cultures. More recent scholarship that explores
cultural aspects of immigrant entrepreneurship includes the work of Hofstede (1980,
1983, 1986, 1991; 1994) and Hofstede and Bond (1984; 1988) on culture in international
business which has some significance in delineating the place of culture within
entrepreneurship. Other relevant work in this area is that of Basu and Altinay (1998;
2000) which focused on cultures of immigrant entrepreneurship by ethnicity. Rath
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
14
(2000) working on immigrant entrepreneurship in Holland. Consideration of cultures of
entrepreneurship was further enhanced when Light and Bhachu (2004) edited a wellreceived collection of essays on the topic. However, studies of the impact of culture on
entrepreneurship are somewhat hindered by the lack of a coherent approach to the
collection of data about entrepreneurship and the social origins of entrepreneurs across
the EU.
11.2
Currently there are only estimates of the numbers of immigrant-led businesses
across the European Union. Some black and ethnic - minority led businesses will also be
immigrant led but calculations of the numbers of BAME businesses can only indicate
that these are increasing; making up about 7% of all SMEs in the UK for example; such
figures do not provide much useful evidence for the prevalence of immigrant led
businesses.
11.3
In the UK the Office for National Statistics found rates of 12% for white ethnic
groups, compared to 19% for Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups and 18% for people of
Chinese ethnicity. The ONS did not provide data for Turkish and Turkish Cypriot selfemployment rates but a study by Basu and Altinay (2000) estimated around 1 in 5 of
Turkish origin in the UK were self-employed. These figures, according to Basu and
Altinay (2000), suggest that some ethnic groups may be more culturally disposed
towards entrepreneurship than others.
11.4
A cultural propensity towards entrepreneurship may be one reason for immigrants
to establish businesses in their new country, but the literature proposes a range of other
motivations. Jones et al.,(1992) and Ram, (1994) argued persuasively that difficulties in
overcoming prejudice, problems with language acquisition and lower wages for
immigrants were principle motivations for entrepreneurship amongst immigrant groups.
These negative motivations were present for some of the ELIE cohort, but were not
common.
11.5
The earliest definition of entrepreneurship was developed by Cantillon (1736) who
suggested that for those not holding land entrepreneurship was a practical means of
fulfilling a profit motive, albeit associated with a willingness to accept the risk of an
unknown return and Marx (1865) later developed this view further. The desire for profit
as a motive for entrepreneurship amongst immigrant and non-immigrant communities
has always been tempered by other motives, as specifically addressed by Papanek
(1962), and many others since his seminal article. The argument has been further
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
15
developed by Zavirovski (1999) who noted that profit seeking is a ‘culture-specific
institutional incentive’ to entrepreneurship and is not an intrinsic or even necessary
characteristic of entrepreneurial individuals. Within ELIE profit as a motive for
entrepreneurship is part of a complex picture of motivations that are illustrated by our
taxonomy and case studies.
11.6
One common route for immigrant entrepreneurs; developing an ethnic- food-based
business does not appear to be culturally based within the interviewees of the ELIE
project. Rath’s argument that the entry barriers for this type of business are relatively
easy to surmount, plus the obvious opportunity to apply specialist knowledge (of native
cuisine) to an easy to enter market make this a fairly obvious choice for immigrants and
this motivation was found amongst the ELIE interviewees. Indeed, it may mark out a
reason why few food-based entrepreneurs develop their business in the way that one
ELIE interviewee did; although the early entrepreneurial career of the most developed
ethnic food entrepreneur was markedly similar to that of people following the same
route.
11.6.1 Within the student focus groups food / hospitality based entrepreneurship
was seen as a sensible first step for participants if they were starting out in a
new country. Students commented; ‘I would open a chip shop’, ‘you don’t
need much cooking skill for that’ and ‘English or Irish pubs are popular in
Spain’ were comments made. Similarly, interviewees who had opened a
restaurant commented on the utility of the choice. For example, in one case
while a couple had at first sought employment as a teacher and telecoms
engineer, when that failed they looked at the local area and realized there
was no Greek restaurant in the town. Taking advice from an accountant and
retired restaurateur encouraged them to open a restaurant rather than
continue to try to capitalize on their skills in engineering and teaching. The
interviewee pointed to her ability to produce home-style Greek food rather
than that experienced in tourist hotspots but explained that she had also
employed a chef able to make the meals people would be familiar with from
Greek holidays. She saw her role as in part one of education of customers
into a wider variety of Greek cuisine.
11.7
A capacity for hard work and determination to succeed may be culturally embedded.
Many entrepreneurs described working long hours in order to develop their business.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
16
However, similar dedication to ones business can be seen amongst indigenous
entrepreneurs. The work of Guiso et al (2006) develops and applies a culturally -based
model to economic analysis of outcomes more generally, basing their model on aspects
of culture they consider to be heritable and stable over time. They conclude that cultural
background has a strong correlation with the decision to become an entrepreneur
(Guiso et al, 2006, p.36) and supporting the findings of sociologists and anthropologists
such as Salamon (1992) and Richardson and Boyd (2005) that culture has an effect on
economic behaviours. However, the aspects of culture that may have an impact are not
solely confined to immigrant groups and this issue, a correlation is not causation and the
nature and extent of the relationship is much more complex than can be addressed in
this project.
11.8
Within the ELIE project there did not appear to be particular cultural trope that
predicted entrepreneurship in the terms set out by Guiso et al as ‘those customary
beliefs and values that ethnic, religious, and social groups transmit fairly unchanged
from generation to generation’. However, there were familial entrepreneurial traditions
and cultural expectations of hard work and dedication. Further work would be needed
to establish the extent to which these influences affect different ethnic, religious and
social groups.
12.0
Institutional Settings for Entrepreneurship
Placing institutional factors after cultural ones in the structure of this report fits with the work of
North (1990) who posited that that; ‘At its most general, an institution is any predictable pattern
of behavior, including “culture”. Institutional factors such as government policy, regulation,
infrastructure, knowledge dissemination routes, local, regional and national networks, labourforce availability, financing mechanisms and structures and other external factors. These were
often seen as key issues amongst interviewees and even where not specifically identified by an
interviewee the general trend of the interview would highlight institutional factors that had
impeded or assisted the entrepreneur. Thus the impact of institutional factors on decisions to
become entrepreneurial, on the likely success or failure of a venture, on motivation to expand
and develop a business and as an attraction for inward migration of entrepreneurial individuals
seems to be central and of at least equal importance to the individual characteristics, skills,
knowledge and abilities of the entrepreneurs within ELIE. Within the EU it was thought there
would be significant commonality of experience with regard to institutional factors, given the
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
17
priority entrepreneurship receives through EU wide legislation such as the Small Business Act for
Europe (2008) which applies to all independent companies which have fewer than 250
employees: 98% of all European businesses, but in fact there are significant institutional
differences between member states and these have the capacity to encourage and to hinder
immigrant entrepreneurs in their efforts to start and then sustain a business.
12.1
One common feature across the EU is of more recent genesis; the current reluctance
of financial institutions to finance SMEs. Comments such as, ‘If I wanted to start up
today I wouldn’t get funding’ or ‘It’s difficult to expand as funding has dried up’, and
amongst recent start-ups in the investing category, ‘I am lucky that I had capital or I
couldn’t have started; the banks are not lending to new businesses’ were found in all
participating countries. Many within the ELIE project started businesses that required
little capital. For those requiring capital there were a number of issues
12.1.1 Start-up grants or support were often limited to people who had lived within
a country for a set period – three or five years residence were common
stipulations
12.1.2 Banks also required at least three years residency before being prepared to
consider a business start-up loan
12.1.3 The most common solutions to these problems were finance borrowed from
compatriots at a relatively high rate of interest. Capital brought with
immigrants from their home country. Money borrowed from family and
friends who were still based in the home country. This suggests that
significant inward investment comes from immigrant entrepreneurs but a
more comprehensive quantitative investigation would be needed to
establish the full picture.
12.1.4 In contrast Finnish immigrant entrepreneurs felt more supported. There
were still issues with banks but a structure for start-up grants exists and also
has associated support mechanisms to assist with planning and provide
mentoring and support for immigrants who wish to start a business.
12.2
Many entrepreneurs in Poland and Greece commented on the complications of
business registration and the need to visit different offices; often set at some distance
from each other. They noted that a good command of the local language was necessary
in order to manage the form filling required and many within the ELIE study required the
assistance of a spouse for this or paid an accountant or lawyer to undertake these tasks.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
18
12.3
Within all project countries the need for a good command of the local language was
highlighted as essential for progress as an entrepreneur. It was also found that although
many entrepreneurs did manage to start micro-businesses, often food-related or
catering entirely to their own community, with limited or no command of the local
language, such businesses were unable to expand or develop and often only provided a
very basic level of income for the individual or family working within it. The only
exception to this was a Polish entrepreneur based in the NW of England who had
invested a considerable amount in buying small shops and houses in a deprived area of
the town where he was based. He uses one shop for a Polish delicatessen that he runs
and lets out the other shops to fellow- Poles who then provide him with free translation
support. This businessman had extensive experience as an entrepreneur in Poland and is
the only example found within the ELIE project of considerable success and expansion
without language skills.
12.3.1 Problems with accessing language classes were seen as a barrier to
entrepreneurship. Issues cited included timing of classes, costs, that classes
were conducted entirely in the language being learned, lack of suitability of
vocabulary taught for the purposes of business, lack of signposting to other
services that might help immigrants become entrepreneurial.
12.4
Lack of language skills was an issue for regulated businesses (especially in the food
and beverage sector). Failing to understand rules and inadequate comprehension of
official notifications led to participants having problems with health and employment
regulations with the potential to cause businesses to close down.
12.5
Lack of translation services for immigrant entrepreneurs was also cited as a barrier.
Several participants within ELIE offered informal translation help for compatriots starting
up businesses. They felt that there was a need for official documents to be available
(perhaps online) with a translation.
12.6
Immigrant entrepreneurs establishing businesses in the UK often commented that
they had found it simple to set up as a consultant or to free-lance. All that was required
was a telephone call to the local tax office and then at the end of each year to fill in a tax
return. This was contrasted with their own or relatives experiences in other EU
countries.
12.6.1 It was noted by ELIE UK participants that in France, Portugal, Sweden and
Spain it was difficult to work free-lance. In these environments younger
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
19
people were not seen as responsible enough to have a business, that
freelance working was seen as a failure to find employment and signified
lower ability.
12.6.2 Other issues that were cited were regulatory requirements outside the UK
that prevented working from home and required a registered office,
investment requirements for registration as a business, the need to pay tax
on an ongoing basis regardless of what was earned over a month and
difficulties of penetrating established markets.
12.6.3 Several Turkish respondents claimed that relatives in Germany found it very
difficult to establish businesses and also some immigrants in Germany were
discouraged from doing so by relatively generous welfare payments. The
difficulty of doing business in Germany as a freelance was cited by a Greek
respondent who has since established her business in the UK with great
success. She identified social norms; an expectation that technological
services would be provided by large corporations or long-established
businesses as barriers.
12.6.4 The veracity of these claims has not been checked by the ELIE project, and
regulations and social norms in the countries cited may have changed since
the participants left. However, there was a very prevalent comment that it
was easier to be entrepreneurial in the UK than in the home country of
many participants. This finding also fits with comments made by participants
in Greece and Poland that they found bureaucratic barriers to starting a
business.
12.7
The Finnish immigrant entrepreneurs often spoke highly of the support available to
them. This included opportunities to learn the skills of business planning, advice on a
range of business start-up issues, availability of grants to help with starting a business
and mentoring.
12.7.1 A lack of advice and information for immigrants interested in
entrepreneurship was cited in the UK and Polish context. There was no one
point of contact.
12.7.2 In Greece there is an obligation to register with the Chamber of Commerce
and a wide range of advice and information is provided and the availability
of information is well signposted.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
20
12.7.3 This contrasts with the experience of a number of native-English speakers
who on immigration to the UK and establishment of a business found it
difficult to find advice and support and all of whom failed to find out that a
Chamber of Commerce existed within their town or city. If it was difficult for
native English speakers (arriving from the USA, Australia, New Zealand and
Hong Kong) to find information then non-native speakers may face a
significant problem.
12.8
Regulation of businesses could act as a barrier to immigrant entrepreneurism but in
general this aspect was coped with in all countries by consulting a local accountant.
Accountants were a great asset to immigrant entrepreneurs. The best offered extensive
advice on a range of topics including employment laws, networking opportunities,
sources of finance, business regulation and taxation. They were often cited as a valuable
business resource.
12.8.1 The potential of independent, local accountants to help implement the
principles of the European Small Business Act (2008) appears to have been
overlooked.
12.8.2 The potential of independent, local accountant could be harnessed to
develop dissemination of the aims of the ESBA and act as a signposting
service for immigrants interested in entrepreneurship
12.9
The institutional setting of most assistance to immigrant entrepreneurs was the
availability of a fast, secure and stable connection to the Internet. Broadband enabled
entrepreneurial mobility and development. Skype enabled excellent communication
with suppliers and clients and allowed the building of business relationships. Linkedin
and Facebook were found to be engines of entrepreneurship both directly and indirectly
while online retail and wholesale were also areas of significant opportunity taken by ELIE
project immigrant entrepreneurs. Highly skilled software development was also a
business that featured within the ELIE cohort of participants and this type of high-value
entrepreneurship has enormous potential to assist in growth within the EU. Many of the
web-enabled entrepreneurs were trading beyond the EU, with China, India and
Australasia markets for goods and services provided by ELIE participants;
12.9.1 Some entrepreneurs lacked skills to take advantage of the Internet and
commented that they felt left behind. These were often older people or
from less developed countries in Africa or Asia.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
21
12.9.2 Accessing appropriate training in ICT helps develop entrepreneurial skills
especially when it is linked to advice and information about the potential of
the Internet to support business development.
12.10 Racism or prejudice as a barrier to entrepreneurship was not cited very often, and
the types of prejudice experienced by immigrant entrepreneurs were not necessarily as
expected.
12.10.1 Some migrants maintain an accent of their homeland even when fluent in a
new language. This had led to a perception that they were not sufficiently
skilled to undertake the work proposed.
12.10.2 Some migrants had changed their name to make it similar to those in their
new country, citing business reasons for this.
12.10.3 Where grants for business start-ups were available there was a perception
that migrant-led enterprises might be less successful in gaining support than
indigenous owned businesses. We have no way of assessing whether there
is any truth in these perceptions.
12.10.4 Similarly, where regulations were required to be enforced some migrant
business owners wondered if their business was being targeted more than
non-immigrant businesses. Examples offered by interviewees included
inspections for hygiene or visits from the police checking the immigration
status of employees. We have no way of assessing whether there is any
truth in these perceptions.
13.0
Social Factors and Entrepreneurship
The social milieu in which an individual operates and his or her position within that social
structure has an identifiable impact upon the decision to be entrepreneurial, upon how the
business might develop and upon the type or nature of a business (Jenssen et al 2002; Greve and
Salaff, 2003; Stuart and Sorenson, 2005). Network theory posits that an individual’s place in
their social structures are significant in providing access to economic and other opportunity as
well as potentially acting as a barrier to economic benefit and opportunity (Seidel, 2000). The
finding that high levels of social capital are associated with entrepreneurial success (Baron and
Markman, 1997) ties into work on the importance of social networks for all entrepreneurs.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
22
13.1
Social networks may include family, friends, work colleagues, local communities,
fellow students, and business contacts. As can be seen through an examination of online
social networks, these may amount to a very large social circle (between 150-500 being
common on social networking sites) although the social ties for many of these contacts
may be relatively lose (Downs, 2010; 2011). More traditional social networks are smaller
than those in online communities but offer a similar diversity of contacts with family
tending to be the social network that is the most influential in decision-making
processes (Stuart and Sorenson, 2005).
13.2
Maintaining and developing social networks has been found to be critical to success
in a wide variety of diverse areas of life including health and wellbeing, education,
employment and entrepreneurship (Seidel, 2000). Thus social networks are important to
everyone and a consideration of the role of social networks in international
entrepreneurship is important.
13.3
Within entrepreneurship social networks have been seen as significant in the
decision to start a business with potential entrepreneurs seeking information and taking
advice from their social networks during all stages of their business, but particularly
during the planning phase (Greve and Salaff, 2003), again this is common to all
entrepreneurs, not only to those setting up a business in a new country.
13.4
As a business develops the entrepreneur often needs to access or develop wider
networks in order to develop new opportunities for the business, gain insider
information (as in in-group / out-group) or access specialist resources. This development
and change of social networks is common across all types of social networks; within
entrepreneurship-related social networks this fluidity and the ability to develop their
social network assists the entrepreneur in identifying resources, gaining knowledge,
accessing distribution or supply networks and utilizing support (Teece, 1987; Hanson,
1995, Kilduff, 2003). Thus social networks are a resource for entrepreneurs.
13.5
The work of Wellman (1999) was significant in establishing that social network
structures were similar in different countries. Research by Downs (2010, 2011) also
illustrates a degree of homogeneity across online social network practices and structures
between countries. Social networks that support entrepreneurship have been found to
have comparability between countries in the work of Greve and Salaff (2003).
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
23
13.6
The experiences if immigrant entrepreneurs within the ELIE project made reference
to social networks as supportive or central to their entrepreneurial endeavours in most
cases.
13.6.1 Family support was most commonly cited with a spouse or cohabiting
partner, even if not acting as a partner in the business endeavour, often the
source of local knowledge, translation services and negotiator of
bureaucracy (where one partner in a relationship came from the country
where the businessperson was the immigrant).
13.6.2 Wider family support was also cited. The wider family offering support did
not necessarily live in the same country as the entrepreneur. Support could
be general encouragement, specific advice, useful introductions or providing
access to networks or capital. Specific examples included providing an
example of entrepreneurship that could be learned from, offering
encouragement, lending or giving capital for start-up, using their own
contacts or expertise to help. One interesting example is a small retail outlet
where the owner’s cousin has a successful security staff training company.
This allowed the retailer to access knowledge about in-store security that
could not otherwise have been afforded.
13.6.3 Networks developed through education were also mentioned. This was
more commonly through higher education and particularly where the skills
gained in HE provided the foundation of the business. These networks were
often national and international, indicating the mobility of people through
gaining higher education. Official alumni networks did not feature in this
discussion and that may be an area for development. There were several
examples of people who had scattered across several countries after
studying together but who maintained contact and developed similar lines
of business as a result of studying for the same degree; this allowed for
shared market knowledge and provided advantages in business
development.
13.6.4 Wider traditional business-oriented networks such as Chambers of
Commerce, Business Groups and formal business networking organizations
were seen by many as having utility. However, there was a shortfall of
knowledge regarding these institutions, even where ELIE participants had
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
24
good language skills. A number of our immigrant entrepreneurs had taken
part in formal networking groups and found these beneficial in the early
stages of their business. They generally cited the cost of membership and
shortage of time as reasons for failing to maintain membership.
13.6.5 Online Social Media-based networks and informal online mentoring
networks were the most creatively used networks. These included physical
networks developed from online networks such as a creative industries
group numbering over 1000 members, businesses that based their entire
organization, marketing and sales structure on Facebook pages, businesses
using Linkedin and especially the groups and discussion features of this
network very proactively, so that they did not need any other form of
marketing in order to develop their business. The potential for
entrepreneurship networks and indeed, for entrepreneurship itself to be
developed via online social networking is an area that requires research and
development in order to better exploit its manifold opportunities.
13.7
An extremely interesting feature of this work was the understanding of community
amongst these entrepreneurs. There was often a very strong identification with the
country in which they were based. The people in the local area around the business
were generally seen as being part of the individual entrepreneur’s community in terms
of both personal and business relationships.
13.7.1 ELIE entrepreneurs accordingly often took active steps to interact with that
wider community. We found examples as diverse as donating significant
monuments to the community, developing links with local schools to
support language teaching, providing scholarship funds to support migrants
or community members, volunteering in a wide range of civic areas and
acting as mentor to individuals seeking to set up their own business.
14.0
Skills, Learning and Entrepreneurs
Immigrants arrive in their new country with a range of skills and abilities. If they do not speak
the local language and have little cultural awareness they will find it very difficult to get work or
to do very well as an entrepreneur. The importance of learning, and learning fast, the local
language and culture was highlighted by most ELIE participants.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
25
14.1
ELIE participant attached great significance to planning their business before start-
up. A number of participants were able to access planning help and support via official
government schemes, especially in Finland; this type of education was highly valued.
14.2
Very few participants outside of Finland had received formal training in business
planning; this was a skill that was ‘picked up’ and very few had received formal
mentoring, although mentoring from family or friends was more common.
14.2.1 The group most likely to have accessed services specifically targeting
immigrants was the Finnish cohort. However, many of our participants had
accessed learning through Chambers of Commerce, local universities
engagement activities and informally via the Internet.
14.2.2 Furthermore, some entrepreneurs had registered for part-time
undergraduate or post-graduate degrees in order to gain formally skill they
believed would help them develop their business. The types of courses
varied from Business Management to arts-related and health-based
qualifications relevant to the business.
14.3
There was a demand for accessible and relevant CPPD from entrepreneurs at various
stages of their businesses and this might not be particular to immigrant entrepreneurs.
Some accessed useful CPPD via local Chambers of Commerce, immigrant support groups
or through a local university or FE college but knowledge of how and where to gain CPPD
was patchy. One area of demand was in developing the business nationally, other areas
of interest were in internationalizing the business and in franchising the business.
14.3.1 The potential for HEIs to offer short courses to SMEs or potential
entrepreneurs should be explored.
14.4
Accountants were mentioned often as a source of planning and business advice. This
advice could be very diverse, ranging far beyond financial matters to such issues as
market research, sourcing supplies, vetting trades people and locating premises.
14.5
Surprisingly there was little mention of banks supporting the business planning stage
although two UK entrepreneurs collected a brochure of advice on business planning
from a local bank; subsequently failing to access capital via the banks. Some people had
looked online for advice on planning.
14.6
Many immigrant entrepreneurs cited time wasted in the early days of their
enterprises as they searched for information about things that were relatively simple in
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
26
retrospect but were not clear to them as either recent immigrants or new entrepreneurs
or both.
15.0
Conclusions and Recommendations
Our interviews showed that immigrants who take up entrepreneurship within their new country
are an asset to that country; they employ themselves, they often also employ their family and
people from the surrounding communities. They provide goods and services that are in demand.
Many are highly skilled and bring new ideas and techniques to a country. Immigrant
entrepreneurs also may bring funds with them, and invest considerable amounts of their own
money in setting up their venture. The international entrepreneurs within the ELIE project might
have applied their skills differently in different settings but wherever they had settled they
would be an asset to that country.
15.1
Language Skills: Almost without exception language skills were found to be essential
for successful entrepreneurship. This is not to say that people without language skills do
not become entrepreneurs or sustain their business. However, it was clearly seen that
for success a reasonable grasp of the language was generally required for businesses to
develop and expand. Those businesses where the owner did not speak the native
language were generally reliant on others (their children, neighbours, and friends) to act
as intermediaries with suppliers or the authorities and to provide translation services.
This led to a general lack of progression within the business. The one instance in the ELIE
project where a good level of success had been generated without language skills was an
unusual case where the individual provided services (a delicatessen) mainly to his own
community and expanded his business through buying shops and houses that he could
then let out to compatriots who themselves spoke good English; this person had also
been a successful entrepreneur in his home country and brought a large amount of
money to invest.
15.2
Language skills were an issue for many entrepreneurs in the early stage of their
businesses where official forms had to be filled in or regulations complied with. In many
cases the entrepreneur had a good standard of spoken language but found this was not
adequate for coping effectively with bureaucracy. There were a number of cases where
ELIE participants noted that they could only manage the bureaucracy because their
spouse or life-partner was a native speaker of the language.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
27
15.3
Language classes for immigrants were valued where these were available. However,
there were comments that conducting language teaching entirely in the language to be
learned slowed down acquisition of language for many migrants. They were not able to
ask questions
15.4
ELIE participants also included a number of people who were multi-lingual and these
had made good use of their skills. The obvious areas of entrepreneurship were language
teaching and translation. However, within the ELIE cohort there were also creative
application of language skills including the development of language networks
(promoting the learning of foreign languages) consultancy services, taxi services for
tourists and other more unusual uses.
15.5
Recommendations for languages:
15.5.1 Policy: Many immigrants have school leaving examinations in the language
of the country they eventually live in. These were found to be inadequate
preparation for life in a new country. School-based language teaching
should develop a greater focus on conversational skills to improve
confidence and fluency.
15.5.2 Policy: Availability of volunteer translators (maybe via a Skype network) for
the various bureaucratic processes linked to entrepreneurship would be
helpful. In some organizations based in towns with large immigrant
populations official documents are sometimes made available in several
languages but there are many people who require assistance
15.5.3 Policy: Centralized, signposted and accessible information is needed to
resolve problems of access to language teaching.
15.5.4 Pedagogy: Language teaching for immigrants could be modified to include
some sessions with volunteer immigrant entrepreneurs available to help
migrants with asking questions about business start ups.
15.5.5 Other strategies such as specialist phrase books might also be a possible
approach to help develop capacity for entrepreneurship in the early stages
of settling into a new country.
15.5.6 ELIE Learning Framework and Toolkit: There should be an accessible form of
skills mapping and identification so that migrants can assess the
functionality of their language skills
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
28
15.5.7 ELIE Learning Framework and Toolkit: There should be an accessible form of
advice as to the wide range of potential entrepreneurial application of multilingual migrants.
15.6
Cultural Awareness: There was consensus that cultural differences were important
for immigrants, both in assisting with assimilation into society but especially for ensuring
the success of a business venture. The types of difficulties encountered could be simple
to resolve, such as finding out about cultural references (problems with this were
encountered by the graphic designers and marketing businesses) or as complex as
inadvertently breaking a law because of failure to understand cultural differences. One
ELIE participant runs cultural awareness groups for the children of immigrants. She finds
that where migrants fail to learn the language and remain immersed in their home
culture via satellite TV and the Internet then even though the children might have
excellent language skills they are not part of the wider culture of their peers at school.
Many of the children she works with have parents running fast food takeaway
businesses that she noted were unable to expand or develop due to the owners’ lack of
language and cultural skills.
15.7
Recommendations for Cultural Awareness:
15.7.1 Policy: Schools should ensure that teaching of cultural awareness and
diversity is part of PSHE / Citizenship lessons.
15.7.2 Pedagogy: Language lessons generally include cultural awareness sessions
but these might need to be better targeted towards business cultures
15.7.3 ELIE Learning Framework and Toolkit: A set of links to useful websites for
gaining cultural awareness might be useful
15.7.4 ELIE Learning Framework and Toolkit: A strategy for developing cultural
awareness with hints and tips might be useful.
15.8
ICT Skills: These were found to be critical to the success of immigrant entrepreneurs
in a number of areas. There were several issues with this that included previous
exposure to ICT, availability of ICT training, language use when accessing ICT, ICT as a
business opportunity, ICT as a support for business development, obtaining information
and access to advice and information.
15.8.1 Previous Exposure to ICT: Immigrants arriving from countries where ICT
infrastructure and access were poor were at a disadvantage in using ICT.
Where ICT classes were available, for example at the local library, these
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
29
were inaccessible unless the individual had relatively good language skills.
Lack of ability with ICT was cited by entrepreneurs as hindering their
business. People were either not aware of training opportunities or had no
time to take these up.
15.8.2 ICT in Business: A number of migrants used ICT as a business opportunity,
either through the development of software (a very specialist area), as a tool
that allowed them to work anywhere in the World (publishing, design,
consultancy) as an virtual marketplace, as a forum for networking and as a
means to promote and develop their business. There is still a need to
promote awareness and knowledge of the multiplicity of online and ICT
based business activities. There is also a need to promote ICT training,
especially with language support for migrants.
15.8.3 Online Language Choices: One issue that was noted was that ICTs were both
an opportunity to embrace cultural opportunity and a route through which
people could maintain their birth culture. This can be an advantage. Skype
allowed free contact with family and friends on the other side of the world
and reduced homesickness and anxiety. own-language links via ICT also
offered business opportunities and allowed networks to develop and be
supported. However, the availability of online services based in their home
country also encouraged some people to sideline the culture and language
of their new country in preference to conducting many daily interactions
such as email, reading newspapers, watching TV and even shopping via
websites based in their home country.
15.9
Recommendations for ICT
15.9.1 Policy: Training opportunities in ICT should be publicized as widely as
possible in community access points that are within immigrant communities.
There should be more training in ICT made available via immigrant and
refugee welfare organizations; this is in place but can be limited once out of
large centres of population. Centralized, signposted and accessible
information is needed to resolve problems of access to ICT skills training.
15.9.2 ELIE Learning Framework and Toolkit: ICT skills assessment tool would be a
useful addition to allow people to decide what type of ICT training they need
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
30
might be useful especially if accompanied by links to national sites with links
to training (such as Direct.gov in the UK).
15.9.3 ELIE Learning Framework and Toolkit: Mapping the myriad of opportunities
available to entrepreneurs with ICT accompanied by overview of means of
exploiting these.
15.9.4 ELIE Learning Framework and Toolkit: Training or advice in use of online
networking tools (such as Linkedin)
15.9.5 ELIE Learning Framework and Toolkit: Links to useful freeware for
businesses to use such as project management tools, business planning
tools, Cloud Computing, free web hosting, web design software, freeware
for document production and invoicing etc.
15.10 Business Start-up Training: Where such courses were available these were greatly
valued. In some cases attendance on a course acted as a gateway to applying for startup grants and this linkage increased take up of such useful learning opportunities.
15.11 Recommendations for Business Start-up training:
15.11.1 ELIE Learning Framework and Toolkit: begin the development of a set of
links to such training offered by existing umbrella bodies
15.11.2 Policy: Provide funding for business start up training to be developed by
range of providers who can access the community places of immigrant
groups.
15.12 Networks: Entrepreneurs with good networks or the ability to build networks were
often those most able to develop their business effectively. The use of online networks
compliments the use of more traditional networks. There was a lack of knowledge of
such organisations as Chambers of Commerce and other umbrella groups. Entrepreneurs
themselves can establish a new umbrella group if one does not exist, such as the
Cultural Industries Network Group (CING) in Manchester, which numbers over 1000
members having been started in response to an entrepreneur seeing that there was not
a formal mechanism for knowledge exchange in the cultural industries.
15.13 Recommendations for Networks:
15.13.1 Policy: One-stop listing of business umbrella organisations and advice and
support groups that is publicised and easily accessible to entrepreneurs and
potential entrepreneurs.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
31
15.13.2 ELIE Learning Framework and Toolkit: Section of advice on network building
activities plus 15.12.4 above.
15.14 Accountants: These are an important and very significant support to many
international entrepreneurs. There does not seem to be a formal mechanism for
accountants to be kept up-to-date with the latest sources of advice, help and support for
entrepreneurs, but certainly some individual accountancy firms develop and disseminate
high levels of accurate and useful knowledge to support their entrepreneurial clients.
The specialist knowledge of accountants was highly regarded by entrepreneurs within
the ELIE project
15.14.1 Policy: Consideration of the development of a knowledge dissemination
strategy related to entrepreneurs and SMEs to be routed through
accountants. Knowledge from governments at local, regional and national
level, third sector organisations and also SME umbrella bodies.
16.0
Next Steps
The development of the ELIE Learning Framework and associated toolkit will take into account
findings of Work-package one and build on them to provide a platform that is accessible and
useful across the EU to students, immigrants, entrepreneurs and policy makers. We will also be
building on the ELIE project by developing a new bid; ELIEMental, which will focus on breaking
down barriers to entrepreneurship amongst hard-to reach groups. Our dissemination and
engagement strategy has already borne fruit, and our project website provides an up-to-fdate
account of all developments within the ELIE project.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
32