With 37.5 million foreign residents, the European Union remains a popular destination for international migrants, offering a diverse set of abilities and skills that frequently serve as the foundation for exciting entrepreneurial goals. Foreign-run businesses not only contribute significantly to the EU’s economic growth, exerting an impact “by induction” on the generation of additional businesses and employment opportunities, but they also enrich the continent’s social and cultural fabric, often acting as “transnational bridges” between countries of arrival and origin, allowing fruitful intercultural exchanges and interconnections. However, despite the great entrepreneurial potential of the EU’s heterogeneous immigrant population, a lack of tailored assistance measures, as well as the persistence of legal, cultural, and linguistic barriers, are impeding the full growth of foreign-sourced business. Italy – home to one-sixth of the foreign self-employed workers surveyed in the European Union – the Immigration and Entrepreneurship Report, which was edited in collaboration with CNA by the IDOS Study and Research Center, emphasizes the consistent growth of immigrant entrepreneurship, even during periods of economic downturn. This stands in contrast to the tendency of domestic companies to stagnate or even decline. Between 2011 and 2022, while enterprises managed by Italians fell by 5.0%, those run by migrants surged by up to 42.7%. This growth increased the overall number of firms managed by migrants to 647,797 in 2022, accounting for 10.8% of the national total, up from a modest 7.4% in 2011. Immigrant entrepreneurship is thus reaffirmed not just as a pillar of the Italian economy, but also as a model of dynamism and resilience, making significant contributions to the country’s social and economic development.
