Indians among top migrant entrepreneurs in UK: report

Young Indian entrepreneurs are among top five nationalities whose citizens have set up companies and created jobs in Britain, partly challenging the anti-immigration rhetoric in public discourse in recent years.

Young Indian entrepreneurs are among top five nationalities whose citizens have set up companies and created jobs in Britain, partly challenging the anti-immigration rhetoric in public discourse in recent years.

A new report by the Centre for Entrepreneurs and financial technology company DueDil says that 32,593 Indians set up companies with turnovers between £1 million and £200 pounds as of September 2013.

The report says that migrant entrepreneurs are on average younger than British entrepreneurs and twice as entrepreneurial as Britain-born working age population. The top five nationalities are Irish, Indian, German, American and Chinese.

Migrant entrepreneurs are behind one in seven of all UK companies. Nearly half a million people from 155 countries have settled in the UK and launched businesses, the report says and adds that in the SME segment, migrant-founded companies are responsible for creating 14% of all jobs.

Entrepreneurial activity amongst the migrant community was found to be nearly double that of UK-born individuals, with 17.2% having launched their own businesses, compared to 10.4% of those born here. They are also, on average, eight years younger than indigenous entrepreneurs at 44.3 years-old compared to 52.1.

This is despite the extra challenges they face including access to finance and cultural and language barriers, the report titled Migrant entrepreneurs: Building our businesses, creating our jobs says.

London benefits disproportionately, with 20 times the number of migrant-led businesses based here (188,000) than Birmingham, the second most popular location with 19,000.

Centre for Entrepreneurs chairman Luke Johnson said: "The majority of the public appreciate the value of migrant entrepreneurs, yet our politicians and media send out negative signals that risk alienating this vital group of job creators."

"Given the huge contribution of migrant entrepreneurs, we are calling upon the media and politicians to join us in celebrating those who come to our country and launch businesses," he added.