Foreign Entrepreneurship in the District of Municipalities of Catania and Messina: Preliminary Findings

This chapter examines immigrant entrepreneurship in the metropolitan areas of Catania and Messina in Sicily, focusing on foreign-born business owners holding an Italian VAT number. Based on a quantitative survey of 83 cases, the study analyses entrepreneurial trajectories, business characteristics, startup resources, support networks, and relations with the institutional system. The findings show that migrant businesses are concentrated in retail trade, food services, and personal care and are mainly organized as microenterprises and sole proprietorships. Startup capital derives mostly from personal and family savings, while access to formal credit remains limited. Family and community networks play a crucial role in both business creation and daily management, whereas relations with formal support systems remain weak. Overall, immigrant entrepreneurship emerges as both a strategy of socio-economic stabilization and a resource for local development and social cohesion.