The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), an organization dedicated to ensuring immigrant integration into the community, established the New Americans Integration Institute (NAII) in 2012, which among other aspects, aids the economic success of immigrant entrepreneurs.
According to MIRA’s website, immigrants are twice as more likely to start new businesses than native-born residents. In 2012 alone, immigrants founded 61% of all new businesses. Despite these impressive numbers, immigrant entrepreneurs still face many barriers such as “limited English language proficiency, poor credit history, lack of technical support and access to information, and structural barriers to lending.”
To help overcome them, NAII provides immigrant entrepreneurs resources addressing these barriers to facilitate their entrepreneurial ventures. NAII is creating an online Business Resource Center, a part of which is already active on their website, with information regarding relevant organizations and services available.
NAII has also developed a comprehensive guide that “provides an overview of the many resources available in Massachusetts for business owners who are just starting out to help them plan, create and finance a new venture” according to the online Business Resource Center.
MIRA also has strong relationships and partnerships with over 130 organizations that it can harness in building stakeholder relationships. The institute is seeking to develop relations between lenders, immigrant entrepreneurs, non-profits and other institutions to expand immigrant access to capital.
With establishing the Massachusetts’ Immigrant Entrepreneurship Month and other events and media activities, NAII is promoting the successes and efforts of immigrant entrepreneurs across the state. NAII is working diligently to increase immigrant entrepreneur visibility all across the state and to aid immigrants in their entrepreneurial endeavors.
