Mind your own business - and help the country

Mind your own business - and help the country

Rafael dos Santos, an award-winning entrepreneur and senior university lecturer, looks at what it takes to be a migrant entrepreneur. He describes himself as “Brazilian by birth, British by choice”.

“Ask your God to help you, but if you stay on the sofa, he will not.”

Brazilian entrepreneur Rafael dos Santos has a way with words, even in English — a language he didn’t speak when he arrived here 23 years ago. He learned quickly. It’s the first thing to do as a migrant entrepreneur, he says: “Once you master the language, you are yourself again.”

After you grasp the language and at least some of the culture, which is an ongoing learning process, next on his list of barriers are lack of knowledge and of people who can help, which leads to fear, and fear paralyses people: “The people changing the world are those who are not scared of trying, not scared of failing.”

You need to be curious, he counsels, “and curiosity leads to knowledge, and knowledge leads to power — power in many ways. You become powerful so people can’t take advantage of you.”

He believes people are naturally curious, “but when you move countries, fear takes over and you become more frightened of doing things because you don’t know how people are going to react; you don’t know what’s going to happen. If you have knowledge, that kind of fear disappears. Knowledge is power."

He recalls how frightened he was the first time he sued one of his clients: “I was scared to death to go into a courtroom.” Some time later it was his turn to be sued and he thought, “Oh, I’ve been there; I know what it’s like to stand before a judge. I had lost my fear of being in a courtroom."

Similarly, after writing his first book, Moving Abroad One Step At A Time, he had to record a two-minute publicity video: “It took four hours because I was mortified at being in front of the camera. I cried. I didn't like my voice. Because of the experience of being bullied at school, I felt people would laugh at me or wouldn’t like my voice. All those feelings came back. I was feeling the fear of judgement.

“When I learnt to get over it, I did the video in four minutes. 

“Now my approach is, ‘If you don't like my video, don’t watch it.’” Since 2018, dos Santos has recorded hundreds of videos and mentored clients on how to use Instagram and record themselves.

The lack of network and trust are also barriers.

Migrant entrepreneurs need to build a network of people ”because if people don’t know you, they aren’t going to buy from you, and it takes time for you to win people's trust.

“In your own country, that network is ready-made: your parents have built it, your grandparents have built it; you don’t even think about it. You are born into a network; everybody knows you. When you move countries, you have to build that network again.”

Another hurdle is learning local laws and following rules, guidelines, and protocols. For example, “It still baffles me that the UK financial year is from April to April, a system that started on 25 March 1752. Why can’t this be changed to follow most countries? Why not start on 2 January and end on 31 December?”

Despite the problems facing migrant entrepreneurs, he emphasises that the biggest barrier is mindset. Success depends on the individual and determination: “There’s no alternative to a positive outlook.

“I did all the courses available from local governments: accountancy, marketing, planning; I learnt about HR and how and when to pay tax. It opened the doors. These days local knowledge should no longer be a barrier to starting a business."

Positivity and a willingness to learn are how he built several businesses in Britain; how he recovered from a £70,000 loss when an investor pulled out of his company because of Brexit; how he created a successful tech PR company with 250 clients; how he established the Best of Brazil Awards for Brazilians abroad, which has been nicknamed the “the Brazilian Oscars".

Dos Santos became an entrepreneur “because no one employed me in marketing, which was my aim, so I started an estate agency instead.”

He quotes research that “14 per cent of businesses are owned by migrants in the UK, and they employ millions of people, making a significant contribution to the UK economy.

“Migrants don’t steal jobs;” he points out,  “they do jobs that locals don't want to do. They aren't more 'entrepreneurial': they start businesses to have a better life."

The £25bn boost

Ethnic minority businesses contribute about £25 billion a year and a million jobs to the UK economy, according to the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship.

The £25 billion figure is higher than the gross added value of a major British city such as Birmingham or an industry such as agriculture,

In addition, migrant businesses are disproportionately engaged in exports and innovation, which are regarded as priority areas for the economy.

This huge and often overlooked contribution of migrants to the economy could be four times higher – £100 billion a year – if changes recommended in the report were implemented, the Centre says.

The businesses that contribute to this often overlooked economic boost range from small to very large: of the UK’s 100 fastest-growing companies, 39 have a foreign-born founder or co-founder, according to Job Creators 2024, a report compiled by Fragomen for the Entrepreneurs Network.

“These immigrant founders come from across the world – with America being the most common origin country, followed by Germany and India,” it says.

“We believe this shows the critical contribution that international talent makes to Britain – without their effort and vision, our economy would be less dynamic and competitive … all of our research has found that immigrants play a disproportionate part when it comes to starting some of the most dynamic, promising and influential companies in the British economy.”

As the recent Museum of Migration exhibition, Taking Care of Business: Migrant Entrepreneurs and the Making of Britain, pointed out, “From the food we eat to the clothes we wear, the apps on our phones to the products in our homes, our lives wouldn’t be the same without migrant entrepreneurs.”

The exhibition, viewable online, tells the stories of some 70 pioneer migrant entrepreneurs, from Stelio Stefanou of Accord (born in Egypt to Greek Cypriot parents), through Michael Marks, born in Belarus and co-founder of M&S, to Trinidad-born Winifred Atwell, one of the biggest pop stars in 1950s Britain who went on to create the first Black hair salon in central London.

Photo credit: Rafael dos Santos