Leveraging migrant entrepreneurship: voices of inclusive engagement

Despite making up less than 15% of the UK population, migrants account for around 39% of founders behind the UK's fastest-growing firms. More broadly, an estimated 250,000 ethnic minority and migrant-linked businesses already contribute around £25 billion annually to the UK economy.

Our latest research project - Leveraging migrant entrepreneurship: Voices of inclusive engagement, funded by the University of Leeds’ Maturing Impact Fund (a subset from Research England’s Higher Education Innovation Fund) and Leeds University Business School’s Impact and Engagement Support Fund - extends Dr Deema Refai’s earlier research on migrant entrepreneurship through the projects Migrant Women in Business – A Focus on West Yorkshire (funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority through the Enterprise West Yorkshire Development Fund) and A Better Future - Understanding Refugee Entrepreneurship (BFURE) (funded by a British Academy Leverhulme Small Research Grant).

Putting migrant women’s voices at the centre of policy discussions

Building on our focus on female migrant entrepreneurs in Yorkshire, our project adopted a participatory approach that positioned migrant women as knowledge co-producers rather than passive research subjects. Using a “bottom-up” approach, we launched an advisory group of eight migrant women entrepreneurs, to hear about their lived experiences and have them at the heart of discussions and debates with regional and national policymakers and practitioners.

The advisory group consisted of the following migrant entrepreneurs:

• Roula AbdulKarim, Founder, Artisan

• Razan Alsous, Founder, Yorkshire Dama Cheese

• Rose Djedje, Founder, Rosesboutique

• Myriam Dridi, Founder, Delicia café

• Eve Maloba, Founder, Complete Woman CIC

• Joyline Mudavanhu, Founder, Joyline Clothing

• Anna Mykhalchyshyna, Founder, EdUkraine CIC

• Agatha Shek, Founder, Craftha

Throughout the six-month project, the advisory group met with policymakers from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network (TERN) and regional business support organisations. The group members shared their entrepreneurial experiences, identified systemic barriers to business support, and, working with the stakeholder organisations, collaboratively developed evidence-based recommendations for improving provision.

The entrepreneurs were also provided with access to optional capacity-building activities, including public speaking training and business coaching.

The project aligns with the strategic priorities of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, aiming to deliver inclusive and sustainable economic growth that benefits all parts of the region. This also directly feeds into the regional implementation of national priorities, particularly the Levelling Up agenda and Industrial Strategy, which seek to address spatial inequalities by boosting productivity, skills, and high-quality employment across all parts of the UK

The “Missing Middle”: key findings from the project

A key reflection from the project is that success for migrant women entrepreneurs cannot be measured by business growth alone. Success also means increased confidence, reduced isolation, greater visibility in mainstream business networks, and meaningful rather than tokenistic participation in decision-making.

The project also highlights that the challenges facing migrant women entrepreneurs stem not from a lack of capability or ambition, but from a misalignment between individual potential and the policy frameworks meant to support it. The project introduces a system framework showing how outcomes are shaped by the interaction of three levels: entrepreneurial experience, the structural environment, and policy and system design, rather than by any single factor or actor.

A central finding is what the project terms the “Missing Middle.” Migrant women entrepreneurs are not a homogeneous group, and their needs shift as their businesses develop, from survival in the early stages, to sustaining the business in the mid stages, to influencing systems once established. Many entrepreneurs outgrow early-stage support before they can access the finance, investment, or institutional backing needed to scale, leaving a gap in provision precisely at the point where businesses are ready to grow.

The project sets out priority areas for closing this gap by focusing on simplifying and integrating business support systems, expanding access to finance and professional services, investing in networks and ecosystem development, embedding cultural competence in business support, improving data and visibility, and ensuring fair participation and recognition for migrant women entrepreneurs.

Sharing insights, shaping change

The project's findings were shared at a policy-focused closing event - “Migrant Women Entrepreneurs: Voices of Inclusive Engagement” - held on 9 July 2026 in Leeds City Centre in partnership with Migration Yorkshire. The event moved beyond description toward action, bringing together academics, policymakers, and practitioners to generate concrete recommendations for policymakers, business support organisations, and higher education institutions.

Attendees heard from keynote speakers: Professor Kiran Trehan (University Executive Board, University of York), Aqila Choudhry MBE MBA, member of the West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, Abeer AbuGhaith (Tech entrepreneur and Director of Systemic Change at The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network (TERN)), Steph McKay (Inclusive Economy Manager, West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA)), Michelle Richey (Working Group Chair and interim coordinator of the Refugee Entrepreneurship Network (REN)), Niall Hayes (Deputy Dean, Leeds University Business School), and members of the Advisory Group.

Alongside this, the event included two valuable video endorsements by Alison Lowe OBE (Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime in West Yorkshire) and Fatimah Khan-Shah (previous Inclusivity Champion for West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Community Impact and Systems Change Advocate, and Chair and Non-Executive Director at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust).

We are now developing a policy brief that brings together recommendations from the advisory group, project activities and closing event. The brief will be published on the project webpage and will support ongoing conversations about creating a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem for migrant women.