| abstract
| - Summary of Udiex Alep workshop on enterprise development Amsterdam and Rotterdam 2004 The workshop on Enterprise Development shared ways of assisting targeted groups to develop their own businesses/social enterprises. It was held in Amsterdam and Rotterdam from 25 to 28 November 2004 Erol Poyraz, from Cross notions Business Consulting Agency prepared the orientation paper: 'Minorities in Europe' and the Workshop report: 'enterprise development for socially discarded groups' as well as the case study report on which the case studies listed below are based. The workshop concentrated on enterprise development and self-employment amongst ethnic minorities and women. As well as looking at issues around entrepreneurship and self-employment the workshop also explored the role that regeneration can play in improving the local economy and the role that entrepreneurs from ethnic minorities and among women can play in revitalising these zones. In this way it can be seen that supporting enterprise among women and ethnic minorities can become a virtuous circle that benefits society as a whole and disadvantaged areas in particular. This workshop aims to help have more insight in how to assist minority groups and women in entrepreneurship by understanding the problems they face and finding solutions for these problems. Some of the problems faced include difficulties accessing finance, lack of appropriate business support, the need to help entrepreneurs to break out of overcrowded markets (for example retail and restaurants for ethnic minorities and beauty industries for women). Europe has encountered several waves of immigration due to its colonial history and the emergence of migrant workers. Minority groups face stereotyping and discrimination when trying to enter the labour market. These problems can include lack of recognition of qualifications and experience, that often results in recently arrived ethnic minorities being trapped in low waged insecure manual work. It is often said that migrants drop two social classes when they go to another country. As a result there is an advantage for some ethnic minorities to become entrepreneurs and although the results are quite varied there are many examples of minority groups having higher levels of entrepreneurial activity than the host community. Despite these tendencies it is important to recognise the diversity of ethnic minorities. Some came to Europe with highly developed entrepreneurial cultures. East African Asians are a good example of such a group. Others came from more impoverished rural farming backgrounds and had no experience in commerce or manufacture. As well as the huge differences that exist between ethnic groups there are also great differences within groups - particularly as a result of gender differences but also arising from class and caste distinctions. Thus significant numbers of African Caribbean women in the UK have become successful entrepreneurs, but relatively few of the men have succeeded despite having high levels of aspiration. For a range of reasons ethnic minority groups often live in the poorest parts of Europe's cities - inner cities in some Member States (e.g. UK,Belgium, Germany) and the suburbs in others like France, Italy and Portugal. These areas also suffer from poor housing conditions - often the reason why they became available to ethnic minority newcomers in the first place. Ethnic minority communities may also agglomerate for positive reasons - because an area is able to support specialist shops and religious facilities serving the community, but also for reasons of fear and the difficulty of breaking into previously white only housing areas where racist attacks may be common. Ethnic minority enterprise often follows these location patterns although there are some sectors such as food and convenience stores where ethnic entrepreneurs operate outside the concentrations. Ethnic enterprise therefore offers an opportunity to benefit some of the poorest and most disadvantaged places because supporting these enterprises can bring wealth to the areas and generate employment. The INNER CITY 100 is a good example of how dynamic business can be found in the most surprising locations, in fact this project set out to prove that this was the case. In time many of these areas go through a regeneration cycle and become the new cool haunts of the gentrifying middle classes, which can bring new benefits to the businesses.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)