Your Business: Immigrant entrepreneurs - Berlinda Chin, Office of Ethnic Affairs

Berlinda Chin, director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs.

Berlinda Chin is the director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs.

What are some of the challenges that face immigrant entrepreneurs?

There are about three themes that generally come through and these are relevant not just in New Zealand, but in many other OECD countries as well. The first one is around cultural networks. For people who weren't born here or haven't grown up in New Zealand, they can struggle due to a lack of networks and having access to people who can vouch for their credibility and reputation in business.

The second is a lack of understanding - perhaps it could be labelled more optimistically as ignorance or naivete - around legislation and the regulatory environment. It's a lack of knowing the implicit cultural ways that Kiwis undertake business transactions, what processes here look like and how to behave in business contexts and environments.

One example might be how some Kiwi businesses like to have a Friday drink to wind down from the working week. But some people, depending on which country they're from, either a, don't drink alcohol or b, socialise more with family and friends or c, get the social drinking part but are just not sure if that leads to a deal being done. So it's about the marrying of expectations.

The third challenge is negotiating the financial landscape: how can I go about securing a successful lending term with a financial institution?

Some immigrants are even unsure about the difference between the different types of institutions, and the basic requirements for going into conversations with them.

What are some of the strategies people employ to overcome these challenges?

For some it's just about learning the hard lessons and going through the school of hard knocks. Because they're migrants they've made a conscious decision to build a new life in a foreign land, so they want to push forward and survive. So they'll do whatever they need to overcome these challenges. That also relates to having a mindset of resilience, which helps many face these kinds of challenges.

For some others they quickly pick up on the networking side of things and think 'okay, how do I extend my network?' Language plays a part in this, because local and international research concludes that those who speak English well enough will generally work their way through and come out better in the end, whereas those who have mediocre English can continue to struggle.

How about some of the advantages of being an immigrant entrepreneur?

Obviously there's the current state of things, where if you've got people who are multilingual, or who understand two worlds or maybe more depending on their backgrounds, that offers great insights and opportunities across markets.

But if you look at the bigger picture for the future, I think immigrant entrepreneurs give New Zealand a sense of the potential of building a pool of entrepreneurial-minded individuals. I talk to many ethnic people in commerce and trade and a lot of them come from countries we'd call Third World. For them the situation they had in their home country has provided them with permission to be entrepreneurial because if you want to have a better life you've got to go out and find it yourself. No one's going to put it on a silver platter for you.

I think if we can imagine a future where more of us are equipped to be comfortable with that mindset and enable that mindset to grow, we'll have many more innovative ideas than we ever thought possible coming from a small country in the southernmost part of the world.

What are some particular resources or sources of support that can be useful for immigrant entrepreneurs to tap into?

There are lots out there, but one I'd cite first is the Business.govt.nz website. What I'd particulary like to signal for new migrants is their mentoring services page, because one of the really useful opportunities for new migrant entrepreneurs is to consider a Kiwi mentor.

The second is the many different ethnic business councils that are around. For example, I know of a few of quite active ones, like the ASEAN New Zealand Business Council, the India New Zealand Business Council, and the more recently established group NZ Asian Leaders.

And, of course, there's our ethnic people in commerce website, Epic, which is a networking platform to connect ethnic and mainstream businesses to help them build networks and opportunities here and offshore.

Coming up in Your Business: I've been hearing about a few interesting local jewellery brands lately and it's got me thinking, what does it take to build a small business in this area, particularly if you're taking your brand offshore? If you've got a story to tell, drop me a note: nzhsmallbusiness@gmail.com.