Where migration meets enterprise.
Immigrant Entrepreneur Lab gathers research, practical initiatives and an open library on how immigrants start and grow businesses — for founders, researchers and the people who shape policy.
Themes the Lab follows
- Access to finance
- Founder & startup visas
- Diaspora networks
- Refugee entrepreneurship
- Mixed embeddedness
- Transnational ventures
- Women immigrant founders
- Ethnic enclave economies
- Credential recognition
- Language & market access
- Second-generation founders
- Inclusive business support
- Remittances & investment
- Policy & regulation
Immigrants build businesses wherever they settle — corner shops and software firms, family trades and global ventures. Yet what we know about them is scattered across journals, agencies, languages and borders. The Lab gathers that knowledge, tests it, and turns it into something founders, researchers and policymakers can use.
Six ways into one field.
Each part of the Lab answers a different question — what the evidence says, who can help, and what has changed.
From evidence to impact.
Three steps connect the six parts of the Lab: study the evidence, translate it into something usable, and follow what it changes.
- 01
Study
Produce and gather the evidence: original studies, reviews and frameworks, alongside a curated library of the field.
- 02
Translate
Turn findings into plain language and practical tools — articles, leaflets, awareness campaigns and education.
- 03
Connect & measure
Link founders to the support around them, and keep a public record of what the work changes.
New work, as it lands.
Research, insights and initiatives, published as they’re ready.
All insightsThe field, on one shelf.
Books, journal articles, reports and datasets on immigrant entrepreneurship — annotated and easy to cite.
Browse all 10- 2001Journal articleImmigrant entrepreneurs in advanced economies: mixed embeddedness further exploredRobert Kloosterman & Jan Rath · Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 27(2), 189–201
- 1990Journal articleEthnicity and entrepreneurshipHoward E. Aldrich & Roger Waldinger · Annual Review of Sociology, 16, 111–135
- 1990BookEthnic Entrepreneurs: Immigrant Business in Industrial SocietiesRoger Waldinger, Howard Aldrich & Robin Ward · Sage Publications
- 2014BookImmigrant America: A PortraitAlejandro Portes & Rubén G. Rumbaut · University of California Press (4th edition)
- 2004Journal articleRevisiting ethnic entrepreneurship: convergencies, controversies, and conceptual advancementsMin Zhou · International Migration Review, 38(3), 1040–1074
Impact, documented.
Publications, presentations, collaborations and reach — the Lab keeps a public record of what its work achieves.
See the evidence log- research outputs
- 5
- leaflet reads
- 2.4k
- presentations
- 4
- active collaborations
- 3
Made for the people doing the work.
Whether you are starting a business, studying the field or designing support, there is a way in.
Founders & future founders
Plain-language guides, support programs and funding routes for starting a business in a new country.
Researchers & students
Studies, reviews and frameworks, and a curated library of the field’s key literature and datasets.
Working on immigrant entrepreneurship? Let’s compare notes.
The Lab welcomes collaborations, contributions and conversations — with researchers, founders, support organizations and policymakers.
or write to hello@immigrantentrepreneurlab.com