More than a million refugees arrived in Europe last year and this great migration has continued this year. There are also millions of migrants in European countries who are not refugees instead they have voluntarily moved in their current country. The main reasons are usually work or personal relationships.
The lack of work is the most common reason for the immigration problems. There are a huge amount of people who are willing to work and adapt in their new country but they cannot find work. They might also possess expertise which would meet the local demand but the local employers do not have courage to employ them due to limited language skills, cultural differences or just some non-specific prejudice.
European Commission has also realised the potential of migrant entrepreneurs. They are one of the main target groups when promoting entrepreneurship:
“Entrepreneurship is a powerful driver of economic growth and job creation: it creates new companies and jobs, opens up new markets, and nurtures new skills and capabilities.
The European Commission aims to support an environment attractive to all forms of entrepreneurship, where also business support services reach all potential entrepreneurs, including those from more vulnerable groups, with the aim to make the EU in its entirety stronger and more cohesive.
Within the EU, migrants represent an important pool of potential entrepreneurs, but can face, as other more vulnerable groups, specific legal, cultural and linguistic obstacles. These issues need to be addressed in full to give support equitable to that received by all other entrepreneurial groups. “
Migrants have been included in EU’s Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan.
The entrepreneurship percentage of migrants is higher than with the EU citizens with non-migrant background. The total amount of micro enterprises in EU is about 21 million. According to the estimates made in Digibalance, over 3 million of them are run by migrant entrepreneurs. Digibalance Limited is actively promoting migrant entrepreneurship in all the EU countries where its AutoAccount bookkeeping service is available.
