In search of ethnic entrepreneurship opportunities in the city: a comparative policy study

The rapidly rising inflow of foreign migrants confronts policymakers with m any socioeconomic problems. The negative externalities of uncontrolled immi gration are well known and often hard to cope with. Recent years have seen the appearance of many policy initiatives based on self-reliance principles for ethnic groups. Against this background, ethnic entrepreneurship has be come a popular strategy as it stimulates and encourages migrants to look af ter themselves with only limited support from the government: such policies are becoming increasingly important in many large cities. In addition to t he conventional educational support and training programmes, such strategie s need to implement policies aimed at self-employment. An emphasis on ethni c entrepreneurship is an attempt to exploit the economic potential and oppo rtunities of foreign migrants, instead of focusing on the problems which mi norities encounter when entering the labour market. In ethnic entrepreneurs hip this potential can be utilised in a creative way, especially if well-or ganised projects and initiatives are set up. The authors compare various assistance programmes and urban policies in sev eral European cities, which are aimed at favouring ethnic entrepreneurship, with the aim of drawing lessons for effective labour-market policies. Thei r approach is to employ a systematic information base concerning self-emplo yment strategies in the cities under investigation. A newly developed compa rative statistical method for categorical information, namely, rough-set an alysis, is used in order to identify critical success factors. The results suggest Chat utilisation of social networks is most helpful in enhancing se lf-employment among ethnic minorities. The authors offer some lessons for t he establishment of sociocultural and ethnic networks, for strategies for i mproving training and education, and for improving access to facilities and financial resources.