Mexican Entrepreneurs in the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA), Canada

Geographers in Canada have made relatively few attempts to study the structure and development of ethnic entrepreneurship among Latin American immigrant groups, and in visible minorities particularly. The purpose of this paper is to add to the empirical understanding of Latin American immigrant entrepreneurship in the city of Vancouver and its suburbs (GVA). Specifically, the paper aims to investigate: (a) the barriers and challenges experienced by Mexican entrepreneurs in the establishment and operation of their businesses, including the impact of COVID-19 on their practices/performance, (b) the coping strategies used by immigrant entrepreneurs, in particular through ethnic social networks, and (c) the issue of race/ethnicity in entrepreneurship. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey administered to 40 Mexican immigrant entrepreneurs in the Greater Vancouver Area. The evidence indicates that Mexican entrepreneurs often encountered major barriers in starting and/or operating their current business, particularly when it came to adapting/adjusting from the profession they held before entering into entrepreneurship, grappling with rising rent costs, staffing issues and funding. According to study participants, the impact of Covid-19 on Mexican entrepreneurs in the GVA was profound and multifaceted, reshaping the landscape of their businesses. To overcome the barriers/challenges they encountered, this group of entrepreneurs relied extensively on their own ethnic social networks of immigrant friends and relatives. And yet despite the numerous barriers they face, Mexican entrepreneurs are optimistic about the future of their businesses. Mexican entrepreneurs point to the “demographic revolution” taking place in Canada, and particularly in the Greater Vancouver Area—with the arrival of important contingents of immigrants from all over the world, including a steady increase in Latin American immigrants—as a major reason for their optimism regarding the growth of Mexican/Latin American entrepreneurship in Vancouver and its culturally diverse suburbs.