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Two University of Windsor researchers are trying to promote economic growth in the local region and beyond by helping area immigrants achieve their entrepreneurial aspirations.
Developing a series of workshops, mentoring programs and public legal education clinics will help underserved immigrants pursue their dreams of self-employment, say Law Professor Myra Tawfik and Dr. Francine Schlosser, an Odette School of Business professor.
They have received a public outreach grant of $77,500 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to get their program up and running.
The researchers say immigrants are traditionally disadvantaged in terms of resources and know-how, but they hope to provide them with the tools they need to start their own businesses by focusing on entrepreneurship, culture and communication, as well as intellectual property and innovation law.
“New immigrants often find themselves in jobs that do not match their skill-sets or aspirations,” says Tawfik, founder of the University’s Intellectual Property Legal Information Network. “They come in as skilled workers and they end up doing minimum wage jobs; it has become the Canadian story, doctors coming over here driving cabs.”
Getting immigrants to launch new enterprises will go a long way towards diversifying the region’s economy, Tawfik and Schlosser say. They add that the results of the initiative can offer a model to enable other similarly situated communities to enlarge their creative class and their economies.
The program kicked off with a series of workshops on understanding Canadian business customs, recognizing opportunities, marketing, product development, financing, business plan development, intellectual property law and internet law. The workshops were followed by a one-day mentoring forum.
Tawfik and Schlosser will engage such organizations as the New Canadians’ Centre of Excellence, the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County and Windsor Women Working with Immigrant Women, as well as international students on campus to attend the workshops.
The project is also supported through additional funding from the Law Foundation of Ontario and an in-kind contribution from the Odette School of Business.
Photo: Business professor Francine Schlosser and law professor Myra Tawfik have won funding for a program to promote entrepreneurship among immigrants.
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