A new report by a major Australian insurance company has found that migrant small business owners are entrepreneurial, innovative and ambitious and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Australian economy.
The survey by CGU Insurance, part of the giant IAG group, notes that one in three of all Australian small businesses are owned by migrants and that migrants to Australia are ‘very enterprising….resourceful, demonstrate grit and build internal resilience’ in their decision to move to a new country for a new life.
The Chairperson of the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA), Mary Patetsos, said today: “This report confirms what we have always known, that the determination of migrants to make a better life for themselves in a new land makes them great, hardworking contributors to Australia.”
“In identifying the contribution of migrants to Australian business and society, CGU Insurance has produced hard evidence showing the ongoing success of the immigration program which has produced our vigorous multicultural society,” Ms Patetsos said.
The CGU survey of 900 business owners finds that:
- Eight out of ten migrant business owners stated their first business venture after moving to Australia;
- One in every two migrant business owners is aiming for higher revenue in the next five years (47pc compared to 38pc of non-migrant business owners);
- A quarter of the businesses are training young people (25pc compared to 19pc of non-migrant business owners); and
- One in every three migrant business owners is planning new hires (33pc compared to 25pc of non-migrant business owners).
“This report finds that migrant business owners lead the way in optimism, foresight and new ideas,” Ms Patetsos said.
“There are over 620,000 migrant-owner businesses in Australia and they employ over 1.41 million Australians. We congratulate CGU in conducting this objective assessment of their contribution to our society.”
Ms Patetsos said that CGU had found that ‘Our research helps challenge perceptions that our migrants are taking more than they are giving, and we’re keen to share this story–one of successful, hardworking and innovative migrants and the impact they have on our business community.’
“Here at FECCA we couldn’t have put it any better” Ms Patetsos said.
The full CGU report can be found here.
FECCA is the national peak body representing Australians from CALD backgrounds. FECCA’s role is to advocate and promote issues on behalf of its constituency to government, business and the wider community.
Contact: 0403 044 216 / emma@fecca.org.au