17 Migrant Microbusiness Projects in 14 Months
What I’ve Done & Learned in 14 Months of a Big, Unpaid, Perhaps Overly Ambitious Project on Migrants & Microbusiness.
For the last 14 months, I’ve been working on a project that asks this question: how might we1 create a platform for new immigrants to create thriving livelihoods through microbusiness? My goal here isn’t to help a few “special” individuals pursue a great business idea — rather it is to build a system that almost any new immigrant can use to start a profitable business in less than 30 days and less than $500 investment.
Early last year as I was starting this project, New York was seeing the arrival of tens of thousands of asylum seekers per month — many of them housed in former hotels. Thankfully, I managed to get an under-the-radar approval from DocGo, the organization that runs the hotel programs, to meet with individuals and run workshops at a shelter in Newburgh, NY. And so I perched in the lobby, working with hundreds of people over the span of a few months – on everything from drivers’ licenses to bank accounts to food handler certifications to starting businesses.
My conversations and work with these dynamic, capable, optimistic people were incredibly motivating because each person seemed to harbor such sparkling potential to build and thrive. And it seemed that even the smallest supports in doing so yielded immediate effects.
So I tried to move as quickly as possible to build what they (and their new communities as secondary beneficiaries) deserved. Over the past 14 months, I ended up doing 17 projects: each one, an experiment to find the highest leverage, most effective ways in supporting new immigrants in creating thriving livelihoods.
The two things I am utterly convinced of, after working with hundreds of new immigrants:
Immigrants are not more mouths to feed, but more hands to help. If they come here and we support them in starting legal, profitable businesses, they become the lifeblood of our economy, creating new jobs and economic opportunities.
It is absolutely possible to support any motivated new immigrant in starting a business in 10-30 days, with $100-$1000 of investment, that nets them $1,000-$3,000/month.
I’ve also learned a heap of really specific things about what does and does not work to provide that support, what the key leverage points are to make profit quickly, how to provide meaningful training that is actually useful, what types of businesses are best to start, how people want to pay or reciprocate for the services, what skills and assets can be leveraged and translated to a new context, and much more.
Below I’m sharing more specifics about these learnings as well as what I did to discover them… and I intend to continue sharing insights as the project evolves and grows.
Why Migrants and Why Microbusiness
Millions of migrants come to the US every year – fleeing danger and persecution and going through horrific journeys to get here.2 They endure violence, rape, robbery, and terror in the hope that when they arrive they will be able to work hard, thrive, and contribute. But once they get here – too many of these energetic, high-potential people find the obstacles to advancing are impossible to overcome. They languish in low-paying, dead-end jobs and don’t find ways to thrive and contribute in the way they dreamed. It’s a tragic denouement to heroic journeys – and a true waste of human potential.
It doesn’t have to be that way though. With the right support, these folks can skip the years of “gray economy” subsistence and almost immediately start paying taxes, hiring, and contributing to their communities. Microbusiness – because it is accessible to any immigration status, requires little capital, and has unlimited growth potential – can be one of the most powerful tools for immigrants’ thriving.
I know that people are often skeptical of the potential of microbusiness for new immigrants. But in my work3, I’ve pretty consistently found that it’s very possible to support someone, of any immigration status, in legally starting a profitable microbusiness in less than 30 days with less than $500. Obviously, it’s not the right path for everyone. Some immigrants are professionals in their country and need support finding that path here. Some simply intend to get a basic job and stay at it for decades. But many, many people are vibrant, talented, ambitious, generous individuals who can find a leverage point for those gifts in creating and growing microbusinesses.
Where I Started
Last year, right after my younger son turned 1, I felt a strong pull to explore this question of how we might support the potential of people who come to the US as migrants. It’s not exactly an altruistic project – it’s more borne of the frustration of seeing wasted potential and wanting to do the obvious thing to stop that waste. Obviously no one was going to pay me to pursue this so for the last 14 months, I’ve eked out a bit of money for our family from another business I run. And I worked full-time on this project, on an unpaid basis — not so much as a “volunteer” but more with the ethos of a startup founder who is willing to invest “sweat equity” now for results later. I embarked on this as the mom of a then 1-year-old and 4-year old, making do with a household income of less than $25,000/year for that time. I mention that because it can be hard to devote one’s full-time energy on a project that isn’t making any money. But it’s not impossible.
I started in February 2023 with a few things I’d already learned in my work with immigrants, small business, and startups:
ITINs4 are an important leverage point for undocumented people to start legal microbusinesses. Anyone in the US can start their own business, completely legally. And an ITIN number is the starting point.
Most small business education and support isn’t effective. Having been a business advisor at the SBA myself, I can attest that the model is oriented around taking a 15-week course, writing comprehensive business plans, and then getting debt to finance your project. My experience and the data has shown this model to be less effective than the control group (of no intervention), especially for lower-literacy folks, English learners, or people with lower abilities to pay down loans once they get them.
Lo-hi businesses are powerful vehicles: those with low capital investments, low overhead costs, low regulatory requirements, and high potential. That’s where I wanted to focus with Briico.
The world needs small business to thrive. The future is driven by their innovation, community building, ethics, and renegade nature. There are 30 million small businesses in the US, employing almost half of the country: they are the lifeblood of every community in America.
17 Projects in 14 Months
Over the past year or so, I’ve tried to stay really close to one thing: learning as quickly as possible what the most effective, fastest ways are of supporting new immigrants in creating thriving livelihoods. The reason for that is simple – that is what the vast majority of new arrivals want – and it is what their new communities need from them. I wasn’t even necessarily married to the idea of using microbusiness as a tool, although that remained a powerful hunch. So that looked like “experiments” or small projects exploring different aspects of this. My goal with all of these experiments was to provide something of value to the people I was serving at the same time as I learned how to be even more effective in the future. And I wanted to move through that work as fast as possible. The less time spent on iterations, the more time I could spend on delivering the thing or things that worked.
These are the projects created over the past 14 months:
Research & Discovery Period.
Did ~30 interviews with aspiring small business owners ; Reviewed 100+ academic papers and Randomized Controlled Trials relating to small business support and teaching entrepreneurship.
App for Microbusiness.
Wireframed and did user interviews around creation of an App (like Duolingo for immigrant business).
In-Person Microbusiness Workshop Series.
Kingston, NY. Business Boost Workshop Series and 1-on-1 work with participants. The workshop sold out and participants were a vibrant, experienced group with a range of business stages and industries and speaking 4 languages, coming from 6 countries. Business owners are embarking on food businesses, construction and rehab, spice import, product development and retail, cleaning businesses, interior design, specialty grocery, and more.
Albany, NY. Partnered with a nonprofit serving Albany area refugees, RISSE, to create a short workshop on “microbusiness pathways.”
Asylum-Seeker Support in Newburgh, NY Shelter.
Worked at a shelter for newly arrived asylum-seekers. We started with case management to understand the needs of the 100+ people staying there. And developed a set of quickly delivered programs to support them:
Business Pathways training, in Arabic, French, and English
ServSafe Food Handler's Training and Exam (required for food businesses and helpful for many food job opportunities.)
Bank account opening.
Pro bono ITIN applications.
One-on-one microbusiness support. One became profitable in less than 10 days and quintupled their hourly wage.
Resume creation support.
Jobseeking support.
Low-cost Online ITIN Service.
Developed a low-cost, rapid system for helping people get ITIN numbers, a crucial leverage point for undocumented folks to start legal businesses. We developed the knowledge to
WhatsApp Newsletter & CRM System.
Created WhatsApp newsletter and made WhatsApp based customer support systems
FB & Google Ads outreach.
Figured out how to use FB and Google Ads effectively to reach this audience.
County and City Partnerships.
Forged initial partnerships with local county and city government.
Home Services Company model.
Built initial pilot of a home services company that would train, hire, and create entrepreneurial opportunities for people providing services like handyman, cleaning, remodeling, etc.Briico Kits.
An all-in-one 3-week program providing the one-on-one support, training, and framework to start a profitable microbusiness in less than 30 days. Have run weekly cohorts of this program, continuing to refine as we go.
What I’ve Learned About Supporting New Immigrants In Starting Microbusinesses
The learnings from these projects were dynamic, illuminating, broad, and deep. It feels almost impossible to summarize them adequately. And I hope to write more on many of these insights.
Some of what I’ve learned included:
New immigrants are high-potential people, not “huddled masses.”
When I first arrived at the asylum-seeker shelter in Newburgh, I’ll admit I was concerned these new arrivals would be exhausted, traumatized, and needing more immediate care than I could provide. What I found was just the opposite: dynamic, optimistic, capable people, eager to work and contribute. I met Abdullah who knows five languages and ran a 3-location restaurant in his country before being sentenced to death for leaving Islam. I met Omar and Muhammed who were so skillful and motivated that they started their car detailing business - profitably - in less than 10 days with $600 of their earnings from a bakery. I met Guttemberk, who had already started and run an HVAC company in Venezuela when he was 19. My friend Teju Ravilochan said it best, that the work is about a paradigm shift from looking at new immigrants as “more mouths to feed” to “more hands to help.” My experience has been that the vast majority of new immigrants are people with huge potential to thrive and contribute.
Their entrepreneurial plans are dynamic and multifactorial.
They don’t necessarily have “a business idea” but rather are looking at various options and resources and need support that meets that dynamism. Their legal status, other family members’ employment, and other factors are interrelated with their business plans, ideas, and potentials. And, they’re multiskilled, richly backgrounded people and may have many potential options to pursue. They have and want diversified livelihoods (a mix of income sources and projects) -- not a unified pursuit of entrepreneurship. And they tend to work in regional/cultural groups (learning, sharing info and resources, pursuing ideas), not just as individuals.
It’s best to treat them like busy, high-potential, young executives.
One of the most discouraging, deadening realities of many immigrants’ lives is that they are treated as if their time doesn’t matter. In reality, using their time well is sometimes a matter of life and death (as they hustle to generate income to pay for asylum cases)... and always a high-yield opportunity. So we try to approach everything with a high level of responsiveness, urgency, and creativity – a “concierge” approach. For instance communicating entirely on WhatsApp, accepting payment in cash if needed, creating videos in their language, responding quickly and providing quick turnaround on information or support, etc.
“Done for me” services can be important.
Of course, training and capacity building is important. But at some key junctures, it works well to provide concrete, high-touch services (as you might with a busy executive) - just do the thing for them if helpful - rather than providing "advice" in many cases.
People need training at the time they need it, in a way that directly meets their situation.
This is about developing bite-sized and "just in time" education and training videos that are just the tidbit folks need at the moment they need it, rather than a 12-week business course they sign up for 3 months in advance.
It remains crucial to focus on “lo-hi” business opportunities.
These are those with low capital investments, low overhead costs, low regulatory requirements, and high potential – things like cottage food businesses, home services, and the like.
There are three main things people need in order to be successful in starting profitable, high-potential microbusinesses.
It all boils down to: seeing what’s possible, know exactly what they need to do to achieve that (given their unique situation), and support taking those steps.
What’s Next in 2024
Despite the pace and depth of the past months’ progress, I still feel a lot of urgency to move forward as quickly as possible. If I’m being completely honest, I sometimes feel the personal financial pressure of working so long on an unpaid project without a firm business model — and I feel very acutely the extreme waste caused by so many people being unsupported in the ways they deserve. But ultimately, I’m happy with the pace at which I’m moving towards strong solutions and the strong execution and deep human caring with which its happening.
I’m especially excited about the directions we’re moving in over the rest of 2024, which build on what we’ve learned and push as quickly as possible to deeper insights and more effective supports.
Briico’s 2024 Projects and Focuses:
Running cohorts of people through our Briico Business program. This online 3-week program (managed largely via WhatsApp) focuses on showing folks what is possible with low-capital, high-potential businesses… providing personal, daily bite-sized education and support… and providing high-touch services at key leverage points. The goal here is to get better and better at supporting people in starting profitable businesses in 10-30 days by analyzing cohorts and doing microexperiments within the program.
Focusing on home services businesses and cottage food businesses. We’ve found that many folks bring a skill and interest in either home services (painting, cleaning, construction, etc) or in small food businesses that can be run without a commercial space (often called “cottage food” businesses). And by using that skill as a starting point, folks can jump much more quickly into the profitable phases of their business. These businesses also meet our standards as “lo-hi” businesses — those with low capital investments, low overhead costs, low regulatory requirements, and high potential.
Creating a local buying club for cottage foods. On an individual basis, it has proven to be very useful for new entrepreneurs when I can connect them with a handful of concrete sales opportunities at the start of the business. I’m curious about approaching that a bit more systematically by organizing consumers into buying clubs for these new businesses and products. The vision is to work with groups of new immigrants to start or grow home-based food businesses, and then set up a group of families who want to get weekly "baskets" (like a CSA) with a set of those goods. For instance, if you signed up, maybe you'd pay $40/week and get 4 tamales, a loaf of whole wheat bread, a Guatemalan stew mix, an Afghan desert, and 4 arepas. And each week, we send out recipes and stories of the entrepreneurs, the foods, and the cultures they come from.
Piloting a “pay it forward” business model in which we provide the program for free (along with a small grant to cover startup costs in many cases)-- and then once the entrepreneur is profitable, they contribute a small percentage of profits to pay for others to go through the program.
I’m really grateful for the encouragement, collaboration, partnership, bits of funding, and discerning questions that so many people have helped me with along the way. It’s such an honor to get to do this work.
It’s easy to think the journey is somehow discretionary. Or as someone put it to me recently “aren’t they just coming because it’s the thing to do?” There are exceptions and some travelers manage to get to the US without hardship. But the vast majority experience a series of profound traumas and crimes. And they know that’s the reality before they leave. I think it’s hard to fathom just how horrific the journey is because we can’t conceive of embarking on something so brutal. But one datapoint by way of illustration: because 80% of women and girls are secually assaulted on their way to the US, women will often take contraceptive pills if they can as a safeguard against pregnancy. Or for a more vivid snapshot, this Daily episode was a useful anecdote that aligns with many people’s experiences. This is also a pretty good depiction of some of the initial legal hurtles that asylum seekers go through, once they do cross the border.
Context on me, in case it’s helpful: I’m a mission-driven social entrepreneur that has focused on immigrant and Latin American communities and entrepreneurship. I’m the founder at Wholesale In a Box and Briico. I was also Founder & CEO of Liga Masiva, a "global farmers' market" connecting organic farmers in Latin America directly to consumers in the US (and doubling farmer incomes in the process.) I also have both corporate and government experience to complement the entrepreneurial perspective. I ran Latin America Special projects for a financial services consulting firm and helped optimize operations at the largest low-income mortgage servicer in the world, based in Mexico. Finally, I’ve served as a Business Advisor to immigrant businesses at the US Small Business Development Center in New York City.