- Are you an immigrant who used to run your own business in your country and want to have a similar opportunity in Sweden?
- Are you a person who came up with a great business idea after you came to Sweden?
- What stops you from making your dream a reality in Sweden?
Not knowing from where to start, wondering about financing of your startup, uncertain about the Swedish law and regulations, and a lot more.Good news is that You are not alone! Most immigrant entrepreneurs face one or several of those kinds of challenges before and after they start their company in Sweden.
Sweden receives immigrants from all over the world. Ahmed is one of them. Ahmed was born and educated in Syria. He came to Sweden as a refugee in 2014. He used to run his own business in Syria. He was happy and working hard. After he settled in Sweden he started thinking to start his new company,however, his little knowledge about the Swedish market, laws and regulations in general became an issue. Even if he could speak basic Swedish that only be enough for dealing with his customers. He will still need to learn a lot about rules and regulations before he can start his business.
Despite the fact that Ahmed has a great experience and knowledge on how to run his business he says that he needs help. He needs help to understand and build the market. He also needs help to connect the gap of his knowledge about how to prepare financial statements in Sweden. On top of that, he has some small savings but he is searching for financial support to be able to start his business.
Ahmed is one of many. Like us, like you. Many immigrant entrepreneurs encounter such hurdles when it comes to getting in contact with banks and other financial institutes or when they look for investors to raise money for their business. This happens mostly for various reasons. Main reasons could be language and cultural differences and limited knowledge of rules and regulations in Sweden. This will in many cases lead to unsuccessful presentation of their business idea and business plan to banks and investors thus losing the opportunity to follow their dreams.
We have seen many times that language and cultural differences, combined with limited knowledge of the regulations, which are super important factors for an entrepreneur in Sweden, can make starting a company harder for an immigrant. These are in most cases the main reasons for not being able to get financing required to start their business in Sweden.
Furthermore, sometimes understanding the language and the culture of Sweden by itself is not a guarantee for a good immigrant entrepreneur to build up her/his business. Abigail is another example for this.
Abigail was born and educated in Ethiopia. She moved to Sweden in the end of the 80’s. She started her business with her own savings and family support in addition to a small loan. She has ran her successful business for more than 8 years with many customers and several suppliers. She has a good knowledge of the banking and financial system in Sweden about which she has learned in several years.
It is not an easy task to get financial support as an immigrant entrepreneur. It requires excellent references and personal contacts.Abigail, cosmetics store owner in Stockholm
Are you wondering how you can overcome these challenges as an immigrant entrepreneur in Sweden? Are you thinking where you can find help?
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