Diversities of entrepreneurship: LGBTIQ* migrant entrepreneurs in Poland
There is a call to consider further diversity dimensions, including on the intersectionality of different minority entrepreneurs. Increasing mobility and migration flows have been accompanied also by an increase of anti-LGBTIQ* and anti-migration movements, questioning the experiences of entrepreneurs at these intersections. While minority entrepreneurs have been identified as key actors of economic integration and leading figures for social cohesion (Mwaura et al. 2018), little is known about those who are at the intersection of gender minority and migrant communities. Minority entrepreneurs generally find support in their specific communities. However, the intersectionality of LGBTIQ* migrant entrepreneurs poses questions on their access to resources, availability of different capitals and marginalization in their own ethnic communities, and thus, how their support systems are impaired by their intersectionality. We focus on the Eastern European case of Warsaw (Poland), where the entrepreneurial context has drastically changed in the last decades with the post-socialist transformation and the accession to the EU free market accompanied by novel institutional support systems emerging for entrepreneurs and most recently by stronger anti-immigration and anti-LGBTIQ* polices. Furthermore, the recent arrival of 3.5 million refugees in the country is challenging perceptions of diversities and in the everyday experiences of populations concerned. Focusing on LGBTIQ* migrant entrepreneurs in Warsaw, we aim to capture the experiences of these intersectional entrepreneurs and their multi-level contextual embeddedness to inform academics and practitioners on how to better incorporate issues of diversities in support policies for entrepreneurs in light of also socio-political disparities in Europe.
This project addresses inequalities in entrepreneurship through exploring the barriers to support for diverse entrepreneurs in Wales. We highlight the ways in which diversity is interpreted within contemporary entrepreneurial policies and interrogate how this impacts diverse entrepreneurs’ access to formal and informal support mechanisms. Within this empirical work, we regard diverse entrepreneurs as those who self-identify as not conforming to binary identities and/or bodies. For these entrepreneurs – often from under-represented groups in society – support may be available but perceived as inaccessible. Therefore, through our year-long research project, we aim to better understand how diverse entrepreneurs perceive and access support, enabling us to develop recommendations to enhance policy and future support provision.