Formalising new arrival enterprises: challenges of new ethnic entrepreneurship for business support policy.

There has been little research carried out on ethnic entrepreneurship and the informal economy, especially among new and emerging ethnic minority business communities in the UK. Informality is however estimated not only to be an important phenomenon among these groups but seems also to underlie the existing gap between entrepreneurs and business support policies. This project identifies, localises, and characterises the new and emerging ethnic minority business communities in London. It then critically examines the nature of informality among these groups and the challenges that this poses to enterprise policy. The research methodology comprised a review of existing literature and case studies of new immigrant entrepreneurs (50 in total) and community-based organisations and business advisors (15 in total). Primary data was collected using semi structured interviews, field observations, and casual encounters with entrepreneurs and key informants.