Belonging and Becoming: How Migrant Entrepreneurs Are Reshaping Our Economy

Belonging and Becoming: How Migrant Entrepreneurs Are Reshaping Our Economy

Migrant entrepreneurs are driving innovation and growth, yet they remain overlooked in economic policy and support systems. Many don’t just start businesses to survive, they do so to rebuild identity, create belonging, and realise untapped potential. So, how do we create environments where migrant entrepreneurs can truly belong and thrive, not just adapt?

Across Australia and beyond, migrant entrepreneurs are playing a growing yet under-recognised role in revitalising economies, fostering innovation, and strengthening social cohesion. Yet the systems that surround them - policy frameworks, cultural narratives, and institutional supports, often fail to reflect the full complexity and potential of their journeys.

Entrepreneurship among migrants is frequently viewed through a narrow lens of necessity: a fallback option when conventional employment pathways are blocked. But emerging evidence reveals a far more dynamic reality. Migrants are not just starting businesses out of survival, they are using entrepreneurship as a deliberate, strategic choice for rebuilding identity, pursuing purpose, and contributing meaningfully to their new societies.

A Journey of Identity Reconstruction

For many migrant entrepreneurs, starting a business is deeply intertwined with the reconstruction of personal and professional identities disrupted by migration. This process involves letting go of former roles, forging new identities, and sometimes realising aspirations previously left unfulfilled. Importantly, these shifts are not linear; they unfold concurrently, shaped by individual resilience and structural conditions.

Where identity reconstruction is strong, migrant entrepreneurs tend to build forward-looking, purpose-driven ventures. Where it is fragile, entrepreneurial activity is often constrained by uncertainty and social exclusion. Supporting this process of reinvention requires more than business training; it demands an ecosystem that recognises and nurtures personal transformation.

The Resilience Behind the Enterprise

Resilience is a hallmark of migrant entrepreneurship. Despite systemic barriers - limited networks, linguistic hurdles, and cultural biases, migrant entrepreneurs display extraordinary adaptability and tenacity. They navigate unfamiliar landscapes, build from limited resources, and innovate in ways that reflect their unique lived experiences.

But resilience is not just a precondition; it is also an outcome. The entrepreneurial journey itself strengthens problem-solving capacity, builds confidence, and creates new forms of social capital. Recognising this dual role of resilience is key to designing effective support structures.

Moving Beyond Necessity: Enabling Opportunity-Driven Ventures

While necessity often catalyses entrepreneurship, focusing solely on survival-based business models risks limiting the potential of migrant-led enterprises. Opportunity-driven entrepreneurship, where migrants pursue ventures aligned with their skills, passions, and ambitions, unlocks far greater economic and social returns.

To enable this shift, entrepreneurial ecosystems must be tailored to the specific realities of migrant life. Access to mentorship, funding, professional networks, and sector-diverse pathways are essential. Without such targeted support, systemic constraints, not lack of ambition, will continue to shape outcomes.

The Gendered Dimensions of Migrant Entrepreneurship

Women migrant entrepreneurs face a complex set of challenges. Cultural expectations, family obligations, and societal stereotypes often channel them into low-status or gendered sectors such as care work, handicrafts, or ethnic cuisines. These pressures create what some call a “triple jeopardy” - where ethnicity, gender, and social expectations converge to limit both opportunity and recognition.

Understanding the role of family embeddedness, the influence of familial responsibilities, and cultural norms, is vital in designing inclusive policy responses. Enabling women to move beyond traditionally “feminine” sectors requires dismantling structural barriers and challenging assumptions about what migrant women can and should do.

'If we are serious about building inclusive, resilient economies, migrant entrepreneurs must be seen not as peripheral actors but as central partners in progress.'

 

From Margins to Centre

The entrepreneurial journeys of migrants are not just stories of individual grit, they are testaments to the structures that either constrain or enable human potential. When those systems offer support, recognition, and opportunity, migrants do not merely adapt; they lead, innovate, and transform. Their ventures create jobs, drive innovation, and weave new threads into the social fabric.

If we are serious about building inclusive, resilient economies, migrant entrepreneurs must be seen not as peripheral actors but as central partners in progress. In doing so, we recognise migrant entrepreneurs not just as survivors of adversity, but as agents of economic innovation, social cohesion, and cultural vibrancy. It is only by acknowledging and nurturing this potential that we can build more inclusive, resilient, and thriving societies.

Authors: Professor Afreen Huq and Dr. Ashenafi Biru.

12 May 2025

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12 May 2025

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