By Maya Shavit
After both of her parents were laid off from work, Natalia Frois saw how immigrants face challenges head on with an entrepreneurial spirit.
Now, the Brazilian immigrant and CEO of International Business Relations harnesses her parents’ drive into her own business consultant firm for small businesses and a Latino business network.
“What I have noticed is that immigrants, the ones that are small business owners, come eager to work and to have a better life,” said Frois. “Most of the immigrants, when they open up a business, hire other immigrants as well.”
Frois’ lived experience exemplifies a study released Thursday by the Pioneer Institute that focuses on the prevalence of entrepreneurship around New England. The study finds a correlation between the numbers of foreign-born immigrants in an area, as well as low costs to start a business.
It also found that Massachusetts and Connecticut “have environments that are slightly less burdensome than average” for starting a business, and credits that fact with the higher-than-average amount of entrepreneurs over the past several decades.
Josh Bedi, a postdoc in Entrepreneurship at the Copenhagen Business School and the author of the report, said the Bay State’s high levels of immigration is also a factor.
“In places like Massachusetts, even Connecticut, where there are a lot of immigrants, it could be very good for you because you have a support network,” said Bedi.
Low taxes, ease of land development, and employee and employer mobility are some of the factors that contribute to the amount of entrepreneurship in a state. Bedi measured by new for-profit business registrants per capita as well as high-value acquisitions of large companies and initial public offerings (IPOs) per capita. Overall, people in Massachusetts are more economically free than the United States as a whole, Bedi said. New England states that are less free than Massachusetts include Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont, the study finds.
“We know that immigrants are more entrepreneurial than natives, and that’s true in almost every context,” said Bedi.
A resource for entrepreneurial immigrants
Sushil Tuli, CEO of Leader Bank, came to the U.S. in 1978 to begin his journey in the banking industry after receiving his masters from Punjab University in India just a few years prior.
“The supportive environment for small businesses, the presence of diverse and vibrant immigrant communities, and the state’s emphasis on education and innovation all played a pivotal role for my journey in Massachusetts,” said Tuli.
Now, he prioritizes mentorship and hopes to serve as a resource for other entrepreneurial immigrants.
“During the time of the PPP loans program, where people are getting paycheck program loans, lots of big banks or financial institutions said, if you’re not our client, we don’t want your loan. But I said, these are the people like me, whether they have a fund with us, whether they need a loan for $1,000 or 100,000, we’re going to do their loan because the person who needs the smallest loan is the one could need the most help,” said Tuli.
Opening a business does not come without challenges. For immigrants in Massachusetts, the two biggest barriers are complicated occupational license laws and language barriers.
“Some of them are not as fluent, so they’re always depending on someone else to help them to get their business licensing,” said Frois. “Minimum resources are available in their own language.”