From Survival to Sustainable Growth: Supporting Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Finland

Immigrant entrepreneurship is an important part of local business life, but the journey is often challenging. This article discusses how immigrant entrepreneurs can be supported beyond the start-up phase by focusing on daily business challenges, trust, networks and long-term sustainability.

Authors: Sadia Jafrin & Sajal Kabiraj

Immigrant entrepreneurship is more than starting a business

Initiating a business in a new country is not just a matter of having the motivation or a great idea. For many immigrant entrepreneurs, the real challenge begins after registration. The business environment is stable and well organised in Finland but can also be complex for those who are still getting to know the local law, language and business culture.

A recent thesis study on Bangladeshi immigrant entrepreneurs in Finland reveals that the outcomes of entrepreneurship are not just success or failure. Some businesses continue under pressure, some survive without growth, some adapt slowly, and some scale down or exit after long-term stress. Entrepreneurship should therefore be understood as a process, not only as a final result (Jafrin 2026).

This matters for teachers, business advisors, policymakers and support organisations. Many immigrant entrepreneurs are challenged not only by the lack of effort, but also by multiple barriers: language, money, networks, new rules and slow building of trust.

Structural barriers continue after the start-up phase

Often the support is targeted towards launching a business. However, many business owners require assistance once the business is already established. While they are able to register a business, they may find themselves in difficulties with taxation, permits, reporting, labour, accounting, rules applicable in the particular sector and communication with authorities.

This is particularly crucial for small businesses where the owner is working alone and doing almost everything. A restaurant owner might need to handle customers and employees along with hygiene guidelines, book keeping, inspections and marketing simultaneously. Regulation is not just paperwork for small entrepreneurs. It takes time, focus and energy.

Language is much more than communication as well. Trust, confidence and credibility are frequently fostered by Finnish or Swedish skills. English is appropriate in some cases, but local language skills enable the entrepreneur to grasp rules, negotiate more effectively and to look more professionally established. In this regard the language support must also be considered as business support.

Trust is a hidden business resource

Trust is at the heart of business. It could take immigrant entrepreneurs longer to develop it with customers, suppliers, banks, and partners. They don’t necessarily experience rejection outright, but they might experience an initial lack of confidence, more questioning, and delayed responses.

This impacts on customer relationships, access to market and growth over the years. In professional services, trust is related to credibility. In the restaurant, the café, construction and trade sectors, it is associated with quality, reliability and reputation.

That is why, immigrant entrepreneurs require more than just the technical advice. Recognition in other business networks in Finland is also needed. Reducing the trust gap can be achieved through mentoring, networking events and local partnerships.

Community support helps, but it is not enough

Ethnic communities, family and friends can be significant resources. They can offer first customers, information, labour and emotional support. This support is crucial for a lot of business owners and is a steppingstone to starting and sustaining their businesses.

But it can be restrictive for growth to be based solely on a close community. A café, restaurant or service business may have to rely on customers within the community but may not be able to gain access to the wider market. The business continues to operate with moderate to low growth.

There has to be both bonding and bridging networks. Bonding networks support survival within the community. Bridging networks link entrepreneurs, wider markets, Finnish customers, institutions, business associations and financial organisations.

Stagnation should be taken seriously

A key takeaway from the research is a need to focus on stagnation. Business support systems are normally targeted at start-up, growth, or closure. However, there are plenty of small immigrant businesses in the middle. They are not closed; they are not really growing.

This can be exhausting. From outside, the business may look stable but inside, entrepreneurs can experience fixed costs, long working hours, risk of debt, limited customers and uncertainty within the business.

Business advisors should not only question about the business operation. They need to also inquire if it is a financially sound company, if the customers are increasing and if the business plan is viable.

What kind of support would help?

Immigrant entrepreneurs require effective and focused assistance. While general advice is helpful, it’s not sufficient. The needs of a restaurant owner, consultant, construction entrepreneur and trader are different. The support needs to be relevant and specific to the sector and to real-life businesses.

Multilingual instructions would be beneficial to entrepreneurs understanding the tax, permits, work and employment regulation and financial responsibilities. The focus of business language training should be on communication with the authorities, banks, customers and suppliers. The financial sector also could do more to evaluate entrepreneurs lacking a long credit history in Finland in a more comprehensive manner.

Having a mentor also helps, as immigrant entrepreneurs partner with established entrepreneurs, who provide networks, credibility, confidence and business knowledge.

Success for immigrant entrepreneurs in Finland can be often attributed to combing profit with purpose. Purpose-driven entrepreneurship is a practical framework that connects purpose and links it with enterprises and thereby creates stable value chains. (Fernandez 2025) The intertwining and alignment of these elements creates a long-lasting impact in which the motivation to succeed is more than earning more revenue.

Towards more sustainable immigrant entrepreneurship

Immigrant entrepreneurship is not just about success and failure or resilience. Many business owners are very persistent, but it should be noted that this is not enough to overcome structural challenges.

The realistic approach recognizes the need for equal access to, and individual capacity for, immigrant entrepreneurs’ resources. They must have the language abilities, the financial awareness and business skills, but also have the ability to access institutions, inclusive networks and trust from market.

For Finland‚ support for immigrant entrepreneurship is not only about integration․ It is also about local economic growth‚ employment‚ service diversity‚ and social inclusion․ The transition from survival to sustainability has many positive implications for entrepreneurs‚ and for society as a whole․

References

Fernandez, V. 2025. Purpose-driven entrepreneurship and innovation: the moderating effect of altruism. Sustainable Futures. 10, 100838. Cited 16 May 2026. Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sftr.2025.100838

Jafrin, S. 2026. Navigating Liability of Foreignness: Lived Experiences of Struggle and Failure among Bangladeshi Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Finland. Master’s thesis. LAB University of Applied Sciences. Cited 16 May 2026. Available at https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2026051010710