Integrating Cities IIMilan, 5-6 Nov 2007

WS 1 Migrant entrepreneurs

Daniel de TorresComissioner for Inmigration and Intercultural Dialogue

Barcelona City Council

Outline1. Some information about BCN

2 . Contribution of migrants to the cities’ economic development

3. Political strategy

3.1 BCN Activa

4. Main challenges

1. Some information about the city

Barcelona context

Foreign immigration is a quite recent social phenomena since late 90s: Importance of Hosting policies

Barcelona has been historically a city of immigration. The growth of the city since the industrial revolution has been thanks to great arrival of immigrants.

Immigration Plan of Barcelona approved in 2002 with political consensus

Demographic description

January 2000 the number of foreign resident registered was 53.000 (3,5% of the total resident population)In January 2007 the number was 250.000 (15,6%)

By continents, 51% of the immigrants residents in Barcelona come from the American continent, while there is a 23% from Europe, basically from European Union. In less proportion from Asia (16%) and Africa (9%).

Importance of family regrouping (5.700 requests last year)

Despite some concentration in Ciutat Vella: Towards a more homogeneous distribution

Main nationalities

Equator Bolivia Italy (50% Argentina) Peru Morocco Pakistan Colombia China France

2 . Immigration Contribution to the city economical growth

Immigration global impact

• Great increase of number of employed people in the last 5 years

• Foreign employees: from 3% to 12% of the total (construction, restaurants and catering trade, housework... and sectors with intensive need of labour work )

Positive impact in growth GDP (surplus in social security and State Budget in Spain)

Immigrants are young and healthy (only 2,6% over 65 years) in a context of an ageing process and low birth rates

The number of economic activities in the city has grown 8% in the last 5 years

New entrepreneurs

Despite the short experience as a city of new immigration, migrants’ business are transforming the productive structure of the city

2.736 business with a foreign owner in 2006

17% related to commerce, 16% repairing industry, 15% restaurant, hotels..13% construction, 9% tourist industry…

Migrant business in Ciutat Vella.1

• 584 business in 2005

• 70% ruled by Asian citizens

• 37,3% from Pakistan

• 20% from India

• 11,6% from China

Migrant business in Ciutat Vella.2

• 15% supermarkets

• 9,7% telephone areas

• 9,2% restaurants

• 8,7% bars

• 7,9% clothes shops

• 7,3% hairdresser’s

• 4,8% halal butcher’s

Main business characteristics

• Small dimensions

• Long working days

• Not many employees (family and same nationality)

• Concentration of small business by type of trade, by nationalities and by residents area (although they are spreading all around the city)

Reasons to set up a business

1. Some immigrants just bring the entrepreneurship culture of their country of origin (Pakistan, China…)

2. For others, to be a self-employed is a way to avoid the structural limitations of the labour market (low qualified jobs, low salaries, precarious conditions..)

these are the “necessity companies”: the strategy for many to reach social mobility

3 types of business

1. Migrants take those markets rejected by the authocthonous because of its low profitability

• these are small, local and traditional business

• many of them are located on neighborhoods with some social and urban deficits

• they are having a crucial role on the boosting these areas

• contradicting the idea of many that identifies them with marginal activities with low value

2. Business of exotic products

• They offer ethnic products and try to make them attractives for the whole population (restaurants, hairdresser’s…)

3. General products with best prices

• Because of the importation and sometimes because of the work conditions, they offer products like clothes or electric appliances with lower prices than the authoctons (chineese clothes business…)

Business strategy

• At the beginning most of them are oriented to satisfy ethnic necessities (food, hairdresser’s, telephone services, halal butcher’s…)

• The lack of a real concentration of people from the same origin in the same urban area, makes this strategy not very profitable

• Studies have shown that immigrants tend to have the same consuming patterns that the authoctons (social class is much more rellevant than origin)

• There is a tendency to open their business to the whole population, searching for more customers

3. Political strategy

Political strategy

• The principle of “normalisation”

• Barcelona does not have specific support services for immigrants except on the first period of their arrival: the reception and hosting policies (information, assessment, language…)

• we try to adapt general services to the social diversity, avoiding the creation of parallel structures

Supporting entrepreneurship

• Our policy to support entrepreneurship is canalized through “Barcelona Activa”

• Barcelona Activa is the local development agency of the city council whose mission is to promote quality future-oriented employment and business

• Offers responses to the more than 100.000 participants who annually come to its premises, coaching more than 1.000 new projects a year

Barcelona Activa.1

Seven activity lines:

1. Boosting entrepeneurship

2. New business consolidation

3. New employment opportunities

4. Access, inclusion and improvement of employment

5. Training and skills improvement

6. Technological skills acquisition and diffussion

7. Promotion of innovation

Barcelona Activa.2

• The number of immigrants that come to BCN Activa to get support to create their own business is growing every year

• 27,9% of the participants to the activities of “boosting entrepeneurship” line are immigrants

• Between the 50 and 60% of the business projects coached by Barcelona Activa become a company by the end of the first year (2,4 jobs)

Barcelona Activa.3

Immigrants profile:

- 48,5% women, 51,5% men

- 74% between 25-40 years

- 52% are actives in the labor market, 48% are not

- 52% have university studies and 30% secondary

Barcelona Activa.4

• Last year Barcelona Activa gave support to the consolidation of 1.182 recently created business

• 372 projects were promoted by immigrants

19% catering trade (restaurants…) 18% small business (local shops…) 14% services to people (social care…) 11% distribution and commerce trade 9% new technologies

Barcelona Activa.5

Programmes and resources:

• “Becoming an entrepeneur with BCN Activa is easy”• Resource Centre for Entrepeneurs• Entrepeneur’s portal BarcelonaNETactiva• The Online Business Plan• “What you need to know to become an entrepeneur”• Tailor-made programmes• “BCN Become an Entrepeneur in Equality”

Barcelona Activa.6

Examples of business promoted by immigrants (Equal

programme “BCN become an entrepeneur in equality)

- “La Nonna MonGini”: argentinian food specialities in a local market

- “BARNAPERÚ”: import trade of a peruan vegetable

- “Dos Delicias”: cake and bread shop

- “Otman Chenuf”: arab clothes dessign, who has increased its business with a new shop that combines clothes and different kind of teas

Barcelona Activa.7

Regarding the Access, inclusion and improvement of employment line

• To adapt the professional profiles of the people looking for work

• 6.200 immigrant participants

• BCN Activa offers labour orientation, training, inclusion programmes and work experience

4. Some challenges

some challenges1. Regarding accessing the labour market

Family grouping

They come with residence permit but not work permit (1 year)

They are men, women and minors (16-18 years)

we are supporting a specific programto facilitate their integration in one neighborhood working with families even before the arrival of the relative

Will be one of the main projects of the next 4 years

2. Regarding the future of the labor market

• We are in an expansive economic period

• Many immigrants are working in sectors very vulnerable to the economic changes (construction, services…)

• We need ambitious policies for continuous training to adapt the skills to the necessities of the labor market (BCN Activa) and take better advantage of migrant human capital. (there are an important number of migrants with university degree)

3. Avoiding excessive concentration of migrant / ethnic oriented business

• Some concentration of one type of business is natural

• We favor the mixture as one of the main political principles of the city (at school, in the neighborhoods, also in shops..)

• Too much concentration (monofunctional areas) is bad for social cohesion

• We have approved local plans restricting some kinds of business in one area (not only typical immigrant business like telephone services, or souvenirs shops, but also music bars…)

4. Integrating immigrant business in general networks• At the beginning, immigrants do not integrate into local trade

associations

• Also local business see with distrust the new competitors

• We foster the creation of organisations integrating both local and

immigrant business (neighborhood shops organization, or specific

branch trade organizations)

• Good experience in the Poble Sec neighbourhood (the result of a

mediation work)

• They understood that had common interests

• Lots of stereotypes are broken

• We do not support community oriented business organizations

5. Fighting negative perceptions

• New immigrant small business are quite successful• There are rumors about their link with illegal activities• Locals also think that the administration supports

immigrants more than to them• It is very important to explain the truth (immigrants

also pay taxes!)• And it is very important being very demanding on the

observance of the same rules for everybody (open timing, labor conditions, products for sold..)

6. Social mobility is crucial for social cohesion

Self-employed immigrants show better position than

employees (more economic resources, better

educational results of their sons…)

We still don’t have many information to evaluate the

global process of Integration, our policies or the

importance of discrimination

The evolution of second generations will tell us

much more about our policies…and about us