Language, superdiversity, and self-employment

Self-employment is an important economic activity for new migrants. Often faced with obstacles as they attempt to enter the labour market, migrants may open businesses as a means of economic survival. However, we know relatively little about the everyday experiences of new migrant business owners, and how these businesses operate in practice. In this chapter, we consider the dynamics of self-employment as an economic activity for migrants. Following a historical overview of recent scholarship, we focus on a specific example of a small business in Birmingham, UK, as a migrant couple tell their story of setting up a business on a market-stall in a city centre meat market. We also encounter the couple and their family as they discuss possibilities for economic expansion, and display their entrepreneurial orientation to the future. This empirical example illustrates our broader finding that when migrants set up small businesses, they often do so with determination and a strong work ethic, but also with creativity and resourcefulness.