Immigrants are not just participants in the American economy—they are drivers of innovation and entrepreneurship. Over the past two decades, they’ve launched countless small businesses and founded over half of all U.S. unicorn startups valued at over $1 billion—half of them with only immigrants at the helm.
Our latest research sheds light on this phenomenon. Drawing on data from multiple sources and advanced econometric techniques, we explore what motivates immigrants to become entrepreneurs—and how certain factors empower them to do so.
Unlike previous intersectionality research that generally focuses on innate factors like gender and ethnicity, we explore the intersection of our non-innate identities (e.g., tennis players, diligent dads, passionate social workers, etc.), as there is so much more to us than what we are born with.
In other words, without discounting the significance of structural barriers that many of us face, we highlight intersecting identities that can help us overcome our challenges. For example, we find that the intersectional identity of the “educated immigrant go-getter” creates a unique disposition for entrepreneurship among immigrants. We also show how formal institutions and cultural “mindmaps” work together to enable or constrain immigrant entrepreneurship.
💡 What does this mean for policymakers? It means we can do more than celebrate immigrant success. We can build environments that cultivate it. That includes policies that attract, retain, and support immigrant entrepreneurs through training, mentorship, and inclusive infrastructure. In times when hope can feel scarce, immigrant entrepreneurship reminds us that ambition, resilience, and innovation know no borders.
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