The Informal Practices of Transnational Migrant Entrepreneurs in Barcelona: Three Contrasting Cases

In recent academic literature, transnational migrant entrepreneurs are represented as active agents capable of mobilizing resources situated in different countries to develop businesses. Mobility, however, is an unequally distributed resource, and restrictive migration regimes limit the possibilities of individuals to become entrepreneurs. An ethnographic study in Barcelona highlights the obstacles that different groups of entrepreneurs face, and the strategies they develop to circumvent them.

Migrants are not equal when it comes to becoming entrepreneurs. While some of them are favorably positioned with regard to the legal and social norms of their place of residence, others are hindered by them and start engaging in informal entrepreneurial activities. This article focuses on the role of informal practices in the business strategies of migrants. It draws on a broader research project on transnational migrant entrepreneurship, whose first results have recently been published in a special issue of the journal Migration Letters. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Barcelona, the article argues that, in a context of unequal access to formal resources, resorting to informality is crucial for many entrepreneurs as it enables them to sustain their livelihood, expand their options for social mobility, and achieve personal goals that would otherwise remain unreachable.

Barcelona – an Attractive City for Entrepreneurs

Barcelona is a vibrant city renowned for its touristic offer. In recent years, it has also become an attraction pole for self-employed people from all over the world interested in developing a business while enjoying the lifestyle of the Catalan metropolis. Many of these newcomers are highly mobile well-educated young people from rich countries, who occupy a socially privileged – although sometimes economically precarious – position within a city that offers a broad array of services to “creatives”, “start-uppers”, and suchlike. They meet in co-working spaces, attend courses and workshops, and participate in social activities that aim to build entrepreneurial “communities” in which to find connection, information, and support. As a young Swiss female academic, I could easily join events such as barbecue and beer evenings in green inner courtyards, after-work parties on rooftop terraces, and gatherings in fashionable open spaces as part of my ethnographic fieldwork.

I observed that many of the people attending these events correspond to the image of an entrepreneur that the authorities and private-sector actors in Barcelona aim to attract. They can therefore rely on various forms of formal support to develop business activities. Nevertheless, they also rely on informality – defined here as something “characteristic of or appropriate to ordinary, casual, or familiar use” (Merriam-Webster 2020) – to build a sense of “community” and “family” among like-minded people, and access new business ideas and collaboration opportunities through networking.

Developing Strategies to Navigate Obstacles

Besides this category of entrepreneurs, Barcelona has long been a destination for migrants with less privileged backgrounds coming from countries such as Pakistan, China and Ecuador. Many of them own transnational businesses, although they had to overcome legal and economic obstacles before becoming entrepreneurs. Some had to accept exploitative working conditions in the informal economy for years until they could regularize their situation and save enough money to start their own business. Being excluded from most formal training and funding schemes for entrepreneurs, they relied instead on family ties and co-ethnic networks to access financial support and information.

One of my interviewees, for instance, managed to exploit a market niche for Chilean products after having worked undeclared in Spain for years. Once he obtained a stable Spanish residency status, he mobilized people who regularly travel between Chile and Spain to import products in their suitcases. He now runs his own shop but still relies on the informal labor of his partner and close friends to help him with his business.

Due to their nationality and social status, some transnational entrepreneurs are disadvantaged by the norms in place, in particular Spanish migration and labor market regulations. Improving their social position and reaching official entrepreneurial status involves in many cases developing informal – and sometimes illegal – strategies at both local and transnational levels to navigate obstacles. In this context, informality takes a different form than in the previous case. It becomes a livelihood strategy to make ends meet (Fradejas-García 2021, Halperin 1990) and gain a sense of social mobility.

Fighting for Recognition

Walking along the main tourist streets of Barcelona, one cannot miss the sight of large groups of young men, mainly from Senegal, who sell clothing, accessories, and other items directly on the ground. My interest grew when I heard about a project led by street traders who import t-shirts from England and fabric from Senegal to create products that provide additional revenue and contribute to raising awareness about their situation.

Street traders occupy a particularly marginalized position in Barcelona. Although many engaged in the activity before their arrival and see it as a decent way to survive, street vending is illegal in Spain and having a police record can prevent regularization (Alford et al. 2019). The mobility regimes in place offer few pathways to legal residency for street traders, trapping them into long-term informal economic activity characterized in this case by illegality.

Despite this difficult situation, some street traders engage in transnational business activities. The case of the t-shirt business mentioned above is particularly illustrative of entrepreneurial spirit, as it led to a successful crowdfunding campaign and the launching of the brand, Top Manta, using the slogan “legal clothing made by illegal people”. Through these activities, the project instigators gained visibility and attempted to reclaim their public image. Yet their irregular status continues to prevent them from being treated as lawful residents and entrepreneurs.

Different Situations – Different Entrepreneurs

Achieving a socially recognized status as an entrepreneur can be an obstacle course for certain people. The normative environments in which individuals are embedded shape their options and create unequal opportunities based on social markers such as class, nationality, gender and ethnicity. While some people fit the criteria for accessing the support structures in place, others need to actively fight for recognition. In this context, informality – whether understood as networking, a livelihood strategy, or an illegal practice – can become a valuable resource to navigate obstacles and fulfill personal aspirations.

This text is based on an article entitled “Localizing Informal Practices in Transnational Entrepreneurship” that has been published as part of a special issue of Migration Letters on “Transnational (Im)mobilities and Informality in Europe” edited by Ignacio Fradejas-García, Abel Polese, Fazila Bhimji.

Laure Sandoz works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Geography, University of Neuchâtel and she is a member of the nccr – on the move. Her research focuses on the spatial mobility capital of transnational entrepreneurs in Europe and Latin America. She obtained her PhD from the University of Basel in May 2018 for her project on the mobility of the “highly skilled” towards Switzerland.

References:

– Alford, M., Kothari, U. & Pottinger, L. (2019). Re-Articulating Labour in Global Production Networks: The Case of Street Traders in Barcelona, Environment and Planning: Society and Space 37(6), 1081–1099.
– Fradejas-García, I., Molina, J. L. & Lubbers, M. J. (2021). (Im)mobilities and Informality as Livelihood Strategies in Transnational Social Fields. In: A. Polese (Ed.), Migration, Labour Mobility and Precariousness. Why Informality Ends Up Replacing and Supplementing the State for the Invisible and the Vulnerable. London: Palgrave.
– Halperin, R. H. (1990). The Livelihood of Kin: Making Ends Meet “the Kentucky Way.” Austin: University of Texas Press.
– Merriam-Webster. (2020). Informal: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/informal
– Sandoz, L. (2021). Localizing informal practices in transnational entrepreneurship, Migration Letters 18 (2).