Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Assumptions

Valuing Human Differences

Immigrant Entrepreneurs
in Chicago

assumptions

One bright June day, I had several errands to accomplish before joining my husband for dinner. Lots of driving around, popping in and out of stores. I grumbled about traffic with the woman running the bakery. I marveled at the glorious weather with the couple who owned the cleaners. I laughed with the pharmacist about neighborhood politics. These hard-working people were lively and engaging. I found myself wanting to be more like them somehow. How could I be more connected to the people who lived and worked around me? And how could I attain the sense of purpose and ease they exhibited?

Six months later, I quit my marketing job and started my own business! Finding freedom in self-employment meant I could take time to interact with other business owners. From the beginning, I concentrated my efforts on supporting other small businesses and not-for-profit groups. I also entered DePaul's School for New Learning graduate program to give myself a framework in which to increase my expertise in these special areas.

I elected to explore "immigrant entrepreneurship" for the program's Valuing Human Differences seminar for two reasons: to relate the project to my own experience as a new entrepreneur and to learn more about the actual experiences of small business owners from very different backgrounds. I am a white (British plus Finnish plus other), utterly middle-class woman, college-educated, and a life-long Midwestern American. I was curious about how my business experience would be similar to and different from people who had immigrated to the United States from Europe, Asia, and Africa. (I was unable to complete an interview with an Hispanic restauranteur within the seminar's timeframe.)

So, what were my assumptions about immigrant entrepreneurs?

Starting and running a small business is hard work.
Immigrants face financial obstacles based on their ethnicity or appearance when starting and running a small business.
Immigrants face different levels of bias and obstacles depending upon their ethnicity or appearance. (For example, Caucasian European immigrants may face less racial hostility or barriers than African immigrants.)
Immigrants who open small businesses in the U.S. either owned a business in their country of origin or always fostered an entrepreneurial dream.
Immigrants may have family or social connections in the enclave community that facilitate raising money and starting their business.
Immigrants may feel restricted by stereotypes in what types of businesses they open and operate (i.e., restaurants versus professional services).
All small business owners will have a passion about their work or their desire to be independent.
All small business owners could benefit from applying innovative promotion strategies.

By exploring some relevant research on immigration and ethnic entrepreneurship and personally interviewing five immigrant business owners, I set out to test these assumptions. I learned quite a lot about these people. And I learned something about myself in the process.