Frere Enterprises Asks: Why Are Immigrants So Entrepreneurial?

Traveler in Front of Statue of Liberty

What do Arianna Huffington, Sergey Brin and Elon Musk have in common? The founders of Huffington Post, Google and Tesla and SpaceX all came to America as immigrants. Huffington grew up in Athens, Musk in South Africa and Brin in the Soviet Union. According to a Harvard Business Review study, immigrants have many qualities that entrepreneurs require, such as motivation, adaptability and creativity. Brandon Frere, CEO of Frere Enterprises and other ventures, understands that enduring long, sleepless nights, dealing with self-doubt and being willing to take on a steep learning curve are some of the characteristics shared by immigrants and entrepreneurs.

"Traveling and living in other countries, I have come to appreciate the challenges and joys of living in other cultures," said Frere. "Though I don't know what it's like to move to another country out of necessity, I see how the entrepreneurial spirit marks immigrants as people who are able to navigate and persevere when encountering new ways of living and thinking."

Though I don't know what it's like to move to another country out of necessity, I see how the entrepreneurial spirit marks immigrants as people who are able to navigate and persevere when encountering new ways of living and thinking.

Brandon Frere, CEO of Frere Enterprises

Immigrants are twice as likely to become entrepreneurs. Though they represent about 13 percent of the population, they make up 27.5 percent of new entrepreneurs. One reason this might be true is that cross-cultural experience may increase an entrepreneur's ability to see promising business ideas. With knowledge gained from exposure to other cultures, immigrants may see solutions that people immersed in their own culture cannot.

The immigrant experience, according to the study, may also stimulate creativity. Cross-cultural exposure allows immigrants to combine diverse ideas, solutions and customer problems in unique and innovative ways. For example, Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz observed truck drivers in Thailand drinking a cheap energy drink. He decided, rather than simply copying it, he would combine this idea with an opening in a market he had observed in the clubbing scene. By adapting this product and integrating it into an emerging market, he came up with a distinct and ultimately highly popular product.

"To be a visionary, you need to see things from a larger perspective than the view taken for granted by insiders," said Frere. "The immigrant experience, with immersion in two cultures, gives these folks the entrepreneurial vision to see new solutions to existing challenges. It takes courage to make a one-way trip to a new home, the kind of courage an entrepreneur needs to persevere after setbacks."

About Frere Enterprises

Run by CEO Brandon Frere, Frere Enterprises is a California-based company with a global vision based around the usage of special financial technology, or SpecFinTech, with a current focus on financial wellness and productivity.

He has designed and created multiple companies to meet the ever-demanding needs of businesses and consumers, alike. Frere's website, www.FrereEnterprises.com, is used as a means to communicate many of the lessons, fundamentals and information that he has learned throughout his extensive business and technological endeavors. Through Frere Enterprises, he aims to apply those lessons to other business opportunities.

Frere Enterprises' mission is to acquire traditional businesses and digitally transform them to meet and exceed modern day demand. This mission seeks to transform such businesses by developing the newest and most evolved technologies to speed up the evolution of financial services in order to meet the demands of the modern consumer and exceed the potential of the modern era.

FrereEnterprises.com

Source: Frere Enterprises

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