ABSTRACT
Although immigrant entrepreneurial activities have always been present in Europe, three historical circumstances have rendered them more visible in recent decades. The increase in immigration flows and the concentration of immigrants in urban contexts stimulated the creation of a different type of demand associated with immigrant communities. Also, the economic growth and expansion of several markets during the 1950s and 1960s produced a decline in native small and medium enterprises, leaving opportunities for immigrants in certain traditional sectors. Finally, the oil crisis in 1973/1974 had substantial impacts in terms of the increase in immigrant unemployment. Within this framework immigrants found in entrepreneurship an alternative to economic integration in European societies. They were therefore responsible for the increase in rates of entrepreneurship between 1970 and 1980 (Light and Rosenstein, 1995: 12–13; Waldinger et al., 1990: 80).
