Flujos relevantes

Irrelevance 14 Non-entitlement 6 Awareness 3 Costs 3

Issues with mentors 2

Timing 2

Communication 1 Male dominated 1

Unclear 1

Table 5.3: Factors influencing participants’ negative experiences of business supports in the RoI and NI.

Peter, Zofia and Omar all questioned the competence of some of the people involved in providing business support. Omar, the owner of the start-up support business in Dublin, claimed that:

you need to know the right people, it still comes down to. Because you can lose yourself in a big agency... there are strong people to talk to and there are weaker people to talk to... there are fantastic aggressive ambitious development advisers and then there are those who clock in the hours, because they need a job.

For Omar it was therefore important to have the right connections within support agencies, in order to know who to approach. He implied that there are personnel who are not in an advisory position because of their talent or ambition, but simply because they view it as another job, and that these people are to be avoided. Peter, a pharmacist from northern Africa in Waterford, echoed these sentiments:

to be honest with you... from my experience I would be able to train them, I don't think a lot of people… They have the theory but not the practice. Like I mean... I genuinely think there is a lot of amateur... people running these organisations. There are some good people I can’t deny. But some of them is just a job. And I… I am probably much better than them... in advising people. Like I advise a lot of people in business.

Zofia is eastern European and planned to offer start-up support services in NI. She also believed that she is more competent than some of the training providers, highlighting the following example from a social marketing course she took:

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I went to one of the social media events, last year. It was a branding agency. And their slides were not even branded with the logo... I recognised straightaway the material they have. It was copied and pasted from the website. When I challenged the speaker on his knowledge he hadn't had a clue how to respond to my questions. It was me actually that was doing the event and that's how I won two businesses... we don't even know what company he was from because the slides were not branded. Pure white...

Related to this sense of amateurishness, some participants felt that there might be a high opportunity cost involved in taking part in training. This was most evident in the case of Noah, a North American who formerly worked on his own account as a business consultant in Dublin, who claimed that:

...the local enterprise offices, I just think they dumb it down too much basically... Just setting up a business 101... I like to plan my schedule and I don't want to spend 5 days in a classroom learning to do excel.

Aadya was from eastern Asia and sells art in the RoI. She was less critical of business training, but claimed that it still might use time that would be better spent on another part of her business. Julia, the former English language school owner from western Europe, was positive about certain aspects of the training, but claimed that she did not pursue more help for other areas of business as she became distracted with running the school. She stated that: “I would have liked to have more time and support with that but as I said I'm still split with working here... It's really busy now”.

One of these struggles was with bookkeeping, and Julia felt more could have been done to address this. Other participants also felt, with hindsight, that elements of the courses could have been improved to provide more effective preparation for self-employment. Emily, the return migrant and specialist training provider, argued that a lot of emphasis is put on the process of starting-up, and that more support is needed to help keep people in business. Camila, the cosmetologist in Antrim, received business training as part of a college course she took in NI, but felt that involved too much reading and writing and that the material was not adequately explained. Charlie was a return migrant in NI, and he formerly offered specialist travel agent services to wealthy individuals and organisations, drawing on his connections from similar employment abroad. He felt that the young entrepreneur training in which he participated should involve additional aspects. These included the

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opportunity to shadow a business owner for a short period, more information on setting up websites, and more real-life stories of business struggles, as he felt the information provided was too abstract. He also believed that the organisers should not leave it to the course participants to ask for a mentor, as young people can be hesitant when it comes to asking for help.

Finally for ‘irrelevance’, Eliska and Jakub did not feel that some business networks met their needs. For Eliska, the fashion designer from Eastern Europe in Galway, some of the groups that she engaged with were comprised mostly of established business people. This caused problems as she felt that they could not identify with or understand her:

...people who are well... established… they do run this business because their fathers and grandfathers... or their families owns it... so for them it is very hard to understand that you are that crazy that you are starting from zero with no contacts, with no capital allowances... they won't get you... And at the beginning all that you are looking for, it's not a support, it's more or less understanding, you know and then... this is the second thing you are looking for, support…

Jakub is also from Eastern Europe and offered ICT solutions in NI. He claimed that one of the purposes of the networking group he joined was to encourage members to act as customers for one another. Jakub felt that he did not get much business out of this because of the nature of his activity, arguing that:

...maybe because our products are so difficult to sell and so… You know like if I was a gardener yeah… Well yeah that's easy to sell, because you know what I do, don't you? If you were... dentist... that’s easy to sell. If you are selling insurance, yeah that’s easy... If you’re financial adviser, they do well. If you are a real estate agent, yeah… But with our stuff. Much more difficult to sell. So I think that's why those business groups didn't kinda work for us.

Another theme associated with the negative experiences and perceptions of business support was ‘non-entitlement’, although this was less common than ‘irrelevance’, arising in 6 cases (see table 5.3). This is the situation where a participant perceived themselves not to be entitled to business supports. Omar, the owner of the start-up support firm in Dublin, claimed that many migrants are impeded by a sense of non-entitlement to supports, although I did not find evidence of

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this among other participants. Noah, the business consultant from North America in the RoI, did not attempt to go to Enterprise Ireland for support, as he was not creating jobs or exporting and was not within their remit:

Enterprise Ireland will help companies that are gonna employ ten people and be export from day one. I was servicing the indigenous Irish market place so I wasn't able to... I mean I knocked on their door as an agent for some of the start-ups I was working with, sure, but not for my own business.

Ahmed was from northern Africa and at separate points owned two shops in the RoI. He approached Enterprise Ireland, but because he was in retail he was also rejected. Mamadou came to the RoI from western Africa, and owned a medical device company. He also struggled to obtain support, but for different reasons. He was full-time employed while starting and running his business part-time, and when he approached a local partnership for business supports he was informed that the supports were reserved for those who were unemployed. This was sometimes reflected in the timing of the courses:

…you know a lot of people lost their jobs so they are trying to get those who are jobless, you know, back. So the timing of those kind of training was very difficult so usually you know, maybe, between ten and two o clock or something like you know

Mamadou seemed to be implying that the timing of relevant training, during standard working hours, excluded those who were already in employment.

Louise is from western Europe and was in the process of starting a translation and interpretation service in Cork when we met. In terms of the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA - see chapter 4), she claimed that she was not entitled to this support due to her past role as a director in her ex-husband’s closed business. Mia, the business consultant in the RoI from western Europe, supported this claim, stating that the need for an additional director when registering a company means that spouses are often listed nominally. This has repercussions should the business fail, as in the case of Louise, who was unable to access the BTWEA. Eliska, the eastern European fashion designer, also struggled to access BTWEA, although this was because she wanted it in order to open up her business immediately after becoming unemployed, and there is a mandatory waiting time of a year:

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when I lost my job... I didn't know what to do. I was in middle of worst recession, there were no jobs around in Galway. I wasn't ready to go back to home... and I had this dream job in my head... design things and make things so I start... bridal… But I think this is important because I wanted to start straight after I lost my job but I have been told that I can't do it, that I have to be unemployed for a year to start my own business. I could start my own business but I wouldn't be getting anything, I wouldn't be getting social welfare which I found a little bit unfair after 5 years working here... that doesn't make any sense to me especially when you know that there are no jobs around.

As I demonstrated in chapter 4, the Short Term Enterprise Allowance scheme was introduced in 2009 as a response to the recession and growing unemployment, which does not have the year-long waiting time. Eliska did not mention this, and it is also possible that the shortened period for which she would have been entitled to her benefit payment (156 or 234 days) was a deterrent.

Table 5.3 highlights a number of other, lesser-occurring themes associated with negative experiences or perceptions of business supports. Three participants highlighted issues with the costs of supports. Noah declined participation in a bi-lateral business networking and lobbying group based on the membership fee, while Olivia also attested to the high cost involved in joining some networking groups. Ali, the co-owner of an ICT services business in Dublin, claimed that the standard of free enterprise training is “next to nothing”, and that some of the trainers demand a fee for more advanced guidance. Issues with the ‘timing’ of supports during the day were also highlighted twice. I already mentioned this in the context of Mamadou’s attempts to get business training, and Olivia stated that the timing of business network meetings in the morning might be problematic for her, as she brings her children to school. She also voiced the concern that these meetings might be ‘male dominated’ (see table 5.3).

Despite these concerns, 15 participants also reflected positively on their experience of engaging with business supports, which is not insignificant compared to the 19 which had negative experiences. Many of those who were positive about the supports available were referring to the standard of training and mentoring. Sometimes participants did not have business experience prior to becoming self-employed, and therefore found the training useful. Aarav, the owner of the biotechnology business in the RoI, compared the training on the New Frontiers programme to a brisk MBA degree. The owner of the language school, Julia, claimed that training provided her with

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business sense, something which was also noted by Emily and Oliver. Emily claimed that she would not have survived without her incubation centre, where she received training, mentoring and also support from other self-employed persons. Omar was also positive about the standard of what he termed “education facilities”, referring to enterprise training supports, while Charlie claims that many of the businesses started by people on his programme were still running three or four years after they completed it.

Business training and mentoring also helped some participants to decide that they were going to take the step of becoming self-employed. Grace, a return migrant in the RoI, owned a consultancy company which worked with international clients. Following training and a chance to present her idea to a panel of representatives from Enterprise Ireland, she was told that she was ready to start her business. Louise, the western European who offered translation and interpretation services in Cork, was also positive about the business training provided from her LEO, noting that it was run by the owner of a training business. She also claimed that the training and mentoring she received helped her decide to become self-employed. Beyond training and mentoring, Mia was a consultant in Mayo and claims she has also witnessed many others become self-employed through the BTWEA.

Of those participants who did express concerns about business supports, the majority of the issues raised could conceivably impact non-migrants as well as migrants. Some other factors arose, which were potentially more relevant to migrants, but these were less common. In terms of ‘non- entitlement’, Omar claimed that migrants often falsely believe that they are not entitled to the same supports as non-migrants. I could not gauge the extent to which this is an issue, and it did not arise in the other interviews. ‘Awareness’ referred to knowledge among migrants of the business supports available to them, but was discussed by only three participants. Omar claimed that awareness more generally was an issue among migrants and that signposting is needed to direct them to the appropriate business services. It was also evidenced in the interviews with Ahmed and Julia. I noted in the last section that Julia, the language school owner, was confused regarding the process of starting a limited company, and did not know which supports could help her. Her reference to this process being “messy... here” implies that in her experience it is more straightforward somewhere else, and she then goes on to tentatively link this with being a migrant:

It’s just a bit messy... to set up your own company here as... I’m not very much aware of where to get the support and how to get it... how to work with the government and how to... go about certain things in my company, I haven't a

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clue. The infrastructure is... not very clear to me. Maybe that’s because I'm an immigrant, I don't know.

Ahmed, the retailer, was unemployed at the time of our interview and claimed: “... if I could find training now I would do it, if I would find any help now I would do it. I hate waking up in the morning and doing nothing”. This suggests that he was not aware of the free enterprise training which would have been available to him, although the extent to which this lack of awareness is as a result of being a migrant is unclear. Omar highlighted one more issue, which is the language used to communicate the supports (see ‘communication’ in table 5.3):

Immigrant entrepreneurs speak a different language from local entrepreneurs. So you tell a local entrepreneur about grants and schemes and accelerators, those words mean stuff to local, Irish entrepreneurs, people who have grown up in the Irish educational system and all of that. Immigrant entrepreneurs, no clue, those things don't mean much. And if they’re thinking grants and schemes, they’re thinking more along the lines of life-support and those kind of things as opposed to entrepreneurship support. So we are talking the wrong language, and there needs to be adaptation so when a Chinese immigrant reads something it makes sense. When a Indian immigrant, when a immigrant out of South America read something it makes sense. So language is an issue.

Omar therefore believed that the language used to communicate business supports needs to be that which migrants can understand. Again, while this may be a significant issue, it did not seem to arise elsewhere in the interviews.

It therefore does not appear that business supports can explain the low level of migrant self- employment. First, despite the significant number of participants who had negative experiences relating to business supports, there were also a considerable number who had positive experiences. Second, most of the negative experiences related to the relevance and usefulness of the supports, as opposed to their accessibility. Most participants who wanted training, for example, were therefore able to obtain it. When an issue did arise with accessibility, it was not related to being a migrant, but the nature of the business activity or the timing. Aarav was able to access the New Frontiers programme, with training which he compared to a brisk MBA, because he had the potential to create employment and export. Others did not have access to such supports. Earlier I highlighted Ahmed’s claim that he was not eligible for Enterprise Ireland support because he was in the retail sector. Noah

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and Amelia made similar points about not being able to access Enterprise Ireland support because of their activities. In the next section I turn from business supports to prominent challenges experienced by participants relating to competition and costs.

5.4 Challenges doing business

5.4.1 Competition

Table 5.4 presents the most prominent challenges experienced by the participants in the study. The first two, demand and finance, are central to chapters 6 and 7 respectively, and therefore mentioned only briefly at this point. To a much lesser extent, participants also discussed issues with, for example, taxes (ten cases), employing staff (seven cases), paperwork (four cases) and internet and phone access (two cases). The focus in this section will be on the third and fourth most significant challenges, competition and costs, respectively. Although these were influential challenges, there is little evidence to suggest that they are related to the experience of migration. This final substantive section will therefore lead into the following chapters, where my focus will be on consumer demand and access to finance.

Challenge cases Demand 31 Finance 26 Competition 20 Costs 17 Taxes 10 Employing 7 Benefits 4

Regulations and planning 4

Paperwork 4

Location 3

Transition from welfare 2 Internet and phone 2

Administrative 2 Opportunities 1