Was it your choice? : a study about ethnic entrepreneurs in Möllevången

• Main Authors: Hamed, Abber, Keblawi, Amal
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Högskolan Kristianstad, Sektionen för hälsa och samhälle 2012
• Subjects: Ethnic entrepreneurship; Möllevången; Push & Pull theory; The Classical model; Gibbs and Ritchie’s model
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-9731

Entrepreneurship among immigrants is steadily increasing in Europe and is playing an increasingly important role in the social and economic structure of European cities. In Malmö, Möllevången the ethnic businesses are continuingly thriving in the Swedish society. They fill a versatile and in many ways unique feature. They also fill gaps in the market; help to give new life to downturn urban areas, offering new products and services. But the questions are, are these immigrants forced to become entrepreneurs or have they chosen to be? What factors lie behind? How did they start their business in the beginning? To answer these questions, a qualitative method was used, where the semi- structured interviews with 5 respondents from different backgrounds were recorded, such as Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Poland and Serbia. The analysis and conclusion of this study showed that ethnic entrepreneurs both chose and were forced to enter self-employment. The five respondents mentioned several factors that had motivated them to self-employ, which are language barriers, discrimination, traditions, low wages, education and to be your own boss. The respondents did not follow theories used in this study about how entrepreneurs start their own business, but instead followed other stages that we call “Stages of starting your own for ethnic entrepreneurs”.