A Country Called Home: The potential of entrepreneurship to foster the integration of vulnerable populations
Entrepreneurship is an important pathway for newcomers to a country despite perceptions that they are often pushed into it because of exclusion from traditional job markets. I have realised that for many newcomers, entrepreneurship is a desirable career path that can offer many opportunities and benefits. They are slightly more likely than natives to see entrepreneurship as a career choice that comes with status and respect, and that is positively portrayed in the media, because so many immigrant entrepreneur families have a history of business ownership in their country of origin. Through these opportunities, entrepreneurs interact with individuals with many different backgrounds in the host country, gradually moving from being socially excluded to socially included and illustrating the process of local integration. Moreover, most of the time immigrants have trouble getting their qualifications recognised so they pursue a different life path, but everyone agrees that offering kindness is the key to accelerating the integration of immigrants and newcomers.
