Migrant entrepreneurs supported by mentors. MEnt was a European project aimed at incubating and supporting new entrepreneurial initiatives tailored for people with a migrant background with a business idea to realise. The project was developed in five European countries (Austria, Italy, Germany, Belgium and France), addressing the social and economic importance of migrant entrepreneurship.

Although the role of entrepreneurship is critical to the realisation of migratory projects in the arrival societies, the difficulties of starting a business are considerable, especially for those who migrate to a new social and economic context. Obstacles include increased difficulty in accessing the labour market, language and cultural barriers, obtaining residence permits, the costs of entrepreneurial development, and the social capital that is not always immediately accessible.

MEnt held the relationship between migrants and mentors at its heart. Mentors were selected by a network of experts who, at the same time, provided the participating future entrepreneurs with knowledge and practical advice on how to set up an entrepreneurial activity. Mentors’ knowledge is related to specific productive sectors, local and national contexts.

Codici’s role was to evaluate the mentorship action, coordinating the data collected by the project partners in the different intervention phases carried out in the five European countries.

Photo ☉☉ William Eggleston