Motivation to become an entrepreneur in Finland : the case of Bangladeshi immigrants

Abstract

This paper describes the motivations in the starting of own business, difficulties and challenges faced by the Bangladeshi immigrant entrepreneurs in Finland and support services available for immigrant entrepreneurs in Finland. This thesis aims to capture the distinctive essence and identify the factors that motivate immigrant people to start their own business in a foreign country.

There are several factors that motivate Bangladeshi immigrant entrepreneurs to the start their entrepreneurial activity: job dissatisfaction, lack of employment opportunity, independence and autonomy desire, supporting family, monetary gain, better living standard, social status, being own boss, flexibility. There are some remarkable challenges for immigrant’s entrepreneurs are: lack of trust from the host country, absence of networking, high operating cost, com-petition in the market, insufficient funds, employee shortage. Finnish Enterprise agency provides business counselling, mentoring, training services for entrepreneurs. TE Office provides start-up grants for entrepreneurs. The ELY Centre provides funds for developing business idea like development of the business operations, production process. Moreover, Tekes, Finnvera, Finnpartnership, Finnfund also provide financial support for entrepreneurs.