Buzz words in the immigrant-entrepreneurial community:
Accent ceiling: “A situation when a minority immigrant's accent, skin colour, dress or other marker of minority status leads to them being penalized in the labour market because of an apparent inability to communicate or fit in. Many minority immigrants are employed in jobs below their level of human capital and see a small business as an opportunity to escape this downward employment mobility and to escape the social relations of the work force.”
Dr. Jock Collins, Australian immigration expert
Ethnic enclave: “There is some research on what's called the ‘ethnic enclave' – Chinatown, Greek areas – that's almost seen as identical to the small self-employed business, but there the question is: ‘Do immigrants, when they arrive, and they are in this transition phase, and they are trying to get re-established, does working with fellow ethnics in an ethnically owned business facilitate their integration or retard it?' There's a huge debate around that.”
Dr. Monica Boyd, University of Toronto immigration expert
First-generation immigrant: Someone who has come from another country to Canada.
Second generation: You're born in Canada, but you have at least one parent who's foreign born, but most likely both are.
Third generation: You are born in Canada and your parents were born in Canada.
“The 1.5 generation:” Children were born outside of Canada, but arrived at an age to go through the Canadian school system and grow up here. Dr. Monica Boyd said “1.5” and second-generation immigrants are often lumped together in studies as “immigrant offspring,” but they're not the same children: “I find you really need to distinguish the 1.5 and the second generation. It's the second generation that's really doing the best,” she said of their educational pursuits and mobility.
Familialism: Just because a second-generation immigrant has chosen to go to university and become an engineer, doesn't mean she's no longer supporting the family business. Immigrant students may be working part-time not just to support themselves at school, but also to can contribute to the family pot: “Among immigrant families, there's a strong sense of the family project. Part of it is that some of these families come from areas where the centrality of the family is emphasized. With familialism, the family is central in your life. It's also a financial support system,” Dr. Monica Boyd said, noting familialism is popular in, but not limited to, South Asian, Italian, Greek and Portuguese families.
Estate planning: Different than succession planning. Just because a business leader has a will, does not mean he or she has decided how the company is going to be run in the future and who is going to control it.
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A Canadian immigrant family wants its son to go to university, but he wants to take over the business one day. A comprise would be to study family business at a university:
• Major or minor in entrepreneurship and family enterprise at the University of Alberta.
• Stetson University in Florida has programs in family business.
• Kennesaw State University, near Atlanta, offers an executive MBA in families in business.
• University of Jyvasykla in Finland has a family business masters program.
• Bond University in Australia offers a family business masters program.
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There are three main categories of immigrants in Canada:
Family class: Sponsored by close relatives or family members in Canada. Includes spouses and partners, dependent children, parents and grandparents.
Economic class: Skilled workers, business immigrants, provincial and territorial nominees and live-in caregivers.
Refugees: “Since 2002, Canada's immigration program has been based on the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and its regulations. IRPA replaces the Immigration Act of 1976 and defines three basic categories of permanent residents, which correspond to major program objectives: reuniting families, contributing to economic development and protecting refugees.”
2008: Facts and Figures: Immigration Overview, Permanent and Temporary Residents
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Where do most entrepreneurs come from?
