The Exodus of Entrepreneurs

Somali Swedish Migration to the UK

ABSTRACT

In the last decade or so a large number of Somalis have left countries like Sweden,

Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands to move on to the UK, where they find it easier to

support themselves through work and entrepreneurship. This article is based on

interviews with 16 Somali Swedes who have migrated (after having spent on average

eleven years in Sweden) to the UK, where they have all started their own businesses. The

advantages and disadvantages of living in Sweden and the UK, respectively, as perceived

by the interviewees, are compared. The main focus of the article is on the prerequisites

for running a business in Sweden and the UK and the main conclusion is that the major

barriers Somalis face in the Swedish context are the bureaucracy involved, not least the

bureaucracy of taxation, and the difficulty in finding suitable business premises. It is

argued that authorities and organization at the local level could do much to remove these

barriers.

KEY WORDS

Somalis, Sweden, UK, circular migration, entrepreneurship

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1. INTRODUCTION

During the last twenty years, a large number of Somali refugees have found their way to

countries providing a centralized and universal welfare system, including Sweden,

Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. The reception they have had in these countries

has, in comparison with many other destinations, been well organized and ambitious.

However, it has since been shown that Somalis have had difficulty gaining a foothold in

these environments, where room for private (or from the perspective of those in the

receiving country strange) initiative is limited. The encounter between Somalis whose

ambition is to build a life for themselves in their own way and authorities whose aim is to

fit newcomers into an established pattern has created confusion on both sides.

Somalis are often regarded as being very mobile, a fact which can perhaps be

explained by their long history of tradition as nomads and traders, and they have chosen

to a significant extent to vote with their feet in those countries where they have not

succeeded (or not had the chance to succeed) in standing on those same feet. After

gaining citizenship but not employment in the country to which they have moved, many

Somalis have, quite simply, chosen to move on to an environment where they believe

they might have the opportunity of creating a future for themselves. The country which

more than any other in Europe has offered such an environment is the UK. Since this has

involved a move within the EU, such secondary or circular migration has been able to

take place quite easily while passing, in the eyes of non-Somalis, relatively unnoticed. An

interim report produced by the Swedish Committee for Circular Migration and

Development (Government Official Report 2010:40: 307) states that 2,182 people of

Somali origin, registered as living in Sweden for at least five years and holding

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permanent residence permits, emigrated from Sweden during the years 2000 to 2009, and

that one third of these headed for the UK. This therefore represents approximately 730

individuals. It is possible that the real figure is considerably higher. In Birmingham alone,

800 Swedish citizens were given a National Insurance Number during the years 2002 to

2010, and a large number of these individuals are presumed to have been Somalis. (1)

There are a few studies which have focused on similar Somali migration to the UK

from the Netherlands and Denmark. There are also a couple of dissertations which

provide a more casual description of the way in which Somalis in Denmark and Sweden

view the promise offered in England. These studies, to which we will shortly return,

attempt to explain the reasons behind Somali migration in general. There would seem,

however, not to be any study which looks specifically at the migration of Somali

entrepreneurs or those Somalis aspiring to own a business. This is surprising, since there

is a widely held view that it is Somalis wishing to set up in business who choose to move

to the UK. That this should be the case is not so strange. In Scandinavia, there is very low

employment and an insignificant amount of business activity among Somalis. In the

United States and Canada they enjoy relatively high employment and a flourishing level

of business activity. The UK is situated somewhere in the middle: the Somalis living

there experience low employment yet a flourishing business activity.

The exodus of Somalis wishing to set up in business poses a problem for the

Scandinavian countries. The fact that people spend a number of years in one country,

attend language courses and other forms of training and receive citizenship, only then to

emigrate, is from that countrys point of view a waste of resources. Moreover, it means

that the individuals showing the most initiative in a group of immigrants will take off.

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The group is then depleted of individuals who might be the pioneers, the ones setting an

example or acting as spokespersons, and the ones who create hope for the future within

their group while at the same time changing for the better the way in which that group is

viewed by the surrounding community. Many of those who migrated from countries like

Sweden and the Netherlands to Britain belonged originally to Somalias cultural and

social elites (Aspinall and Mitton 2010: 16).

Against the background just described, this article poses a simple question: why do

Somalis leave Sweden in order to start up a business in the UK? The answer to this is

reached by way of interviews with sixteen Somali Swedish business owners located in

Birmingham and Leicester.

This article begins by providing a brief statistical overview of employment and

business activity among Somalis in Sweden and the UK. It then looks at what the

research so far has had to say about the reasons for Somalis leaving countries with a well

developed welfare system for the UK, and these reasons are summarized in the classic

division of push and pull. The results of the interviews with the sixteen Somali Swedes

are examined, and the article ends by drawing some conclusions.

The aim has been to map the ways in which Somalis experience the differences

between Sweden and the UK. The aim has not been to compare factual differences as

regards, say, the rules and regulations for conducting business between them. If it is the

case that Somali migration from Sweden to the UK is based on perceptions with no basis

whatsoever in reality, it might well take nothing short of an information campaign on the

part of the State to put a brake on this migration. If it is the case, which would still appear

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likely, that these perceptions are based ultimately on ones own or on others experiences,

then Bureaucratic Sweden is going to have to do a bit more soul-searching.

2. EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SWEDEN AND THE UK

There are approximately 50,000 Somalis living in Sweden, counting the children born in

this country. The UK is presumed to be the domicile of the largest Somali diaspora in

Europe. The official figure for 2010 provided by The Office for National Statistics is

111,000 immigrants born in Somalia. (2) This figure is in all likelihood a serious

underestimate of the actual number. Unofficial estimates are close on a quarter of a

million Somalis, with some of the largest concentrations located in London, Birmingham

and Leicester.

The proportion of those born in Somalia and employed in Sweden aged 20-64 years

has hovered between 25 and 29 percent throughout the 2000s. (3) In 2009, however, this

figure fell to a mere 22 percent as a result of a fall in the number of employed at the same

time that there was a rise in the number of immigrants. Employment at this time stood at

27 percent among Somali men and 18 percent among women.

No other immigrant group shows such low levels of employment. In the case of the

population as a whole, employment in 2009 among those aged 20-64 years was

approximately 75 percent. Swedens Ministers for Employment, Migration and

Integration claimed in an article in the spring of 2011 that a discrepancy of 11 percentage

points in employment levels between natives and foreign-born is unacceptable

(Engstrm, Billstrm and Ullenhag 2011). What can one then say about a discrepancy in

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employment levels of over 50 percentage points between the population as a whole

(native and foreign-born) and Somalis!?

In the UK, employment among Somalis lies around the same level as in

Scandinavia. Employment among men (16-64 years of age) was relatively high in 2008 at

41 percent, but among women (16-59 years of age) it was very low at 10 percent. Since

women outnumber men, the average is placed at a mere 21 percent (Khan 2008, tables 1

and 3). In order to be able to compare employment levels among Somalis in Sweden and

those in the UK, we must confine ourselves to the year 2008 and those aged 16-64 years.

At this time, employment in Sweden stood at nearly 25 percent and in the UK, therefore,

at 21 percent.

Self-employment among Somalis living in Sweden has been insignificant up to

now. The number of small business owners did indeed increase from 13 in 2000 to 147 in

2008, but only to fall in 2009. The overwhelming majority of these were men: 121 male

and 25 female in 2009. During the 2000s, these business owners constituted less than one

percent of the population of Somali Swedes aged 20-64 years. No other immigrant group

has shown such a poor level of business activity. The UK keeps no records of official

figures regarding ethnic minority businesses; the tax authorities have figures, but do not

wish to break these down in terms of minority groups. (4)

3. GAINING AN UNDERSTANDING FROM LITERATURE

The emigration of Somalis from other European countries to the UK shows an interesting

pattern. The countries in which Somalis eventually give up hope of being able to carve

out a future for themselves to a large extent belong to the category of welfare states

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usually considered (by Esping-Andersen 1990) as coming under the Nordic/social

democratic model: Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. Most of those

migrating have left the Netherlands.

Emigration from the Netherlands to the UK

A report from a conference in Rotterdam in 2004 sets out a number of factors accounting

for this emigration. One session (Hassan, Muiswinkel and Awil 2004: 10-13) reported on

an interview study of Somalis living in the Netherlands and Birmingham and Leicester in

the UK which highlighted some push factors:

The Dutch policy of integration is so patronizing that migrants are not stimulated to

develop themselves or to show any initiative with regard to education or labour market

participation. The target group experiences an imposed migrant policy. There is more

emphasis on a policy aimed at assimilation and less on responsibilities and ideas of the

group and more on shortcomings instead of competence and positive values of the target

group. The Somalis living in the UK do not experience the same pressure to adapt, but

rather have the opportunity to live within a district with co-ethnics, with the help and

understanding of a large Somali social network.

The Dutch regularized welfare state seems irreconcilable with the character of the

Somalis. The high level of unemployment seems to show that the Somalis are more

hindered than helped by the Dutch welfare state; this is in contrast with the British

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situation where economic activity is less constrained by rules and laws, which is more in

line with the emphasis on own initiative and cultural maintenance of the Somalis.

The conclusions and recommendations of the researchers are based on there being only

one way to enable Somali migrants in Europe to become productive citizens of society,

that of offering them and their families the opportunity to live normally in the host

countries. The engagement and participation of the Somali community in a civil society

is very crucial.

Another conference contribution (Said 2004: 23) provides a concise set of

explanations for the great number of Somalis making their way from the Netherlands to

the UK:

First [] there is a colonial linkage between Somalia and the United Kingdom.

Secondly, the English language is an international language, which is seen as

having an advantage over the Dutch language. Thirdly, in contrast to the tough

business regulations in the Netherlands, Somalis benefit from the lax business

regulations in the United Kingdom, which allows them to easily establish small

scale business. Finally, Somalis feel at home in the United Kingdom since large and

well established Somali communities are already thriving in many parts of the

country.

Those participating in the workshops at to the conference noted among their findings that

the emigration of Somalis to the UK means that the most vulnerable groups remain

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behind in the Netherlands, that the Somali way of resolving conflict is often to take off

(that is, exit instead of voice, to use scientific terminology), and that the authorities

should allow Somalis to settle close together in certain residential areas instead of having

them spread throughout the country. As regards the opportunities for setting up in

business, the situation is described thus:

The United Kingdom is among Somalis a popular immigration country, because

newcomers get support if they have a good plan and they get stimulated with

special programmes and facilities. In the Netherlands, on the other hand, if

someone wants to start a business he or she has to know the language, show

sufficient education, comply with several license demands, draw up a business plan

by him or herself and show this to the Chamber of Commerce. In the United

Kingdom the language requirements are less rigid and foreign candidate

entrepreneurs get, if necessary, support at drawing a business plan. Credit facilities

are easier to set up than in the Netherlands. (Hassan, Muiswinkel and Awil 2004:

49)

The conferences recommendations for change in the Netherlands policy of integration

include the following:

Granting the Somali groups empowerment via their organizations and helping these

organizations build their competence could be a way of stimulating integration.

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Relaxing the restrictions for independent business owners could stimulate private

initiative but would be difficult to implement.

In the spring of 2011, a study based on in-depth interviews with thirty-three Dutch

Somalis in Leicester and London) was published. These individuals had spent eleven

years on average in the Netherlands. The study (van Liempt 2011: 9-10) offers the

following reasons for the Somali emigration:

Somalis in the Netherlands feel that integration or assimilation is imposed upon them,

and they are aware of growing anti-Muslim feelings.

In the UK they are able to live as they wish and live near their fellow countrymen. The

disadvantage is the low standard of accommodation; however: They may accept

overcrowding if it is an area where they can live close together with other Somali

families. Ethnic enclaves also offer culture-specific services like Somali shops, mosques

and Islamic schools which are appreciated by many Somalis.

The language is an important reason for Somali demand for education in the UK, and

education is easier to acquire there.

It is easier to get a job and start up a business in the UK. Van Liempt refers to another

study (in Dutch 2003) among 200 Dutch Somalis in the UK, according to which Somali

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men receive an income from employment more often in the UK than in the Netherlands,

and in 40 percent of these cases this is due to the men running their own business.

The reasons for the Somali emigration can, according to van Liempt, be boiled down to

the following:

In sum, there are two important reasons for Dutch Somalis to move to the UK.

First, it is expected to be easier to find a job and get access to education in the UK.

Secondly, the lack of cultural and religious opportunities in the Netherlands and the

imposed integration policies make Somalis want to move to a more multicultural

environment with space and possibilities to express ones ethnic and/or religious

identity. (van Liempt 2011: 7)

Migration from Denmark to the UK

In a study published in 2004, Katrine Bang Nielsen sought to answer the question why

many Somalis move from Denmark to the UK. The study was based on in-depth

interviews with twelve Somalis, of which six had moved from Denmark to the UK, and it

focused primarily on the significance of transnational contacts between countrymen in

different destination countries. The most important sources of information prior to a

move have been telephone conversations with countrymen and brief visits to the UK.

Bang Nielsen (2004: 6, 8) notes that the UK has had, by way of its colonial past in

Somaliland, a long history of Somali immigration, that the UK is the only country in the

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EU to which EU Somalis move, and that it is those Somalis with the most resources

behind them who move.

What is it, then, which attracts them to the UK? The answers Bang Nielsen (2011:

10) received from her interviewees concerned their feeling that they were subject to less

control and more free to live as they wished in the UK, that they have a better reputation

there, that it is an advantage to speak a world language, and that it is easier to acquire

training and work in the UK. According to many of the respondents, Denmark is thus a

society of control, racism and discrimination in employment opportunities, whereas

Britain [] is a country of freedom, tolerance and opportunities. At the same time,

several of the interviewees stated that the standard of accommodation was much better in

Denmark than in the UK. However, the number one priority for Somali migrants was not

security and good accommodation but acquiring work and an income.

At the same time, Bang Nielsen (2011: 11) found that Somalis living in the UK

pass on only positive information about life in the UK to their countrymen in Denmark,

which can result in the Somali Danish migrants being disappointed when the ideal picture

they are given does not equate with reality.

In her dissertation in anthropology on Somalis living in Denmark, Christina

Baekkelund Jagd (2007: 322) adds a further explanation to those already offered by Bang

Nielsen as regards the attraction of England: that the media debate in the UK is felt to be

less hostile to foreigners than that in Denmark, and therefore the opportunity to be

recognized as citizens on an equal basis is greater in the UK.

Somali Swedes view of the UK

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Charlotte Melanders (2009) dissertation in social work, based on in-depth interviews

with twelve Somalis in Sweden, includes a section on the England of opportunity.

Melanders interviewees reported that Somali Swedes who had moved on to the UK had

informed them about the advantages of living there: that is easier to find work, that the

UK is a multicultural society where there is greater freedom of religious expression, and

that English is more international and useful than the Swedish language. In contrast,

Sweden offers a better environment for children to grow up in.

One of the interviewees described the common perception among those who had

moved to the UK as follows: Oh God, Ive lost so many years in Sweden. The same

interviewee went on:

And they believe that, quite simply, its [] easier to live in England than it is to

live in Sweden. Sweden is far too bureaucratic, it has too rigid rules, its too

difficult to get a foot on the job ladder, its difficult to learn Swedish, youre only

looked after in Sweden. [] the only contact you have apart from family is

authority, the Social Welfare Office, its just contact with the authorities the entire

time. (Melander 2009: 209-210)

Melanders (2009: 108) own view of the role played by the England of opportunity is

that migration offers hope or a last resort for those with more resources behind them. In

the case of those lacking training or education and proficiency in English or Swedish, and

also lacking contacts in the UK, these accounts serve mostly to confirm the difficulties

faced in Sweden. At the same time, these accounts enhance the status of those Somalis

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living in Sweden by making them more aware that the problem is neither a personal nor

group-specific one preventing them from entering the Swedish labour market, but rather

it is a structural one combined with discrimination.

Somali entrepreneurs in Leicester

The most ambitious study of Somali enterprise in the UK in existence is carried out by

Ram, Theodorakopoulos and Jones (2008). This study is based on in-depth interviews

with twenty-five Somali business owners and the same number of employees in

Leicester. The authors discuss the differences in regulatory regime between Continental

Europe and the Anglo-Saxon world, and state that:

[] the UK enterprise regime is both lightly regulated and effectively non-

discriminatory as regards ethnic origin. For groups like the Somalis, the

unconditional freedom enjoyed even by refugees to set up in self-employment is

absolutely critical. Notably though not all Somalis are refugees and many of our

own respondents state quite explicitly that they shifted from mainland Europe to the

UK because of the greater freedom to develop a business. (Ram, Theodorakopoulos

and Jones 2008: 432)

The authors note at the same time that there is a downside to this de-regulated Promised

Land, since quantity is encouraged at the expense of quality. Their findings as regards

the Somali business owners in Leicester can be summarized as follows (Ram,

Theodorakopoulos and Jones 2008: 435-436):

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The Somalis are often ambitious businessmen from families with previous business

experience and they have not set up in business by being forced into it as a result of

restructuring on the labour market.

Most Somali businesses consist of small shops and eating places which are labour-

intensive and exposed to hypercompetition, and are therefore not very profitable.

Family members and fellow countrymen constitute a source of cheap or even free

labour and also interest-free loans.

The social capital (that is, the clout the individual possesses by entering a social

network) is chiefly of the bonding type (characterized by ties/bonds within the group)

and not bridging (with links reaching beyond ones own group), which limits access

to clients and funding.

The authors state that most Somali entrepreneurs would have to shut down their

businesses were they forced to pay their employees in line with the national minimum

wage, and that their clientele is largely confined to impoverished local residents whose

purchasing power is low. At the same time, the Somalis are very much aware of their

situation and seek ways of getting out of it. We might see this proactive and indeed

genuinely entrepreneurial stance as one of the key qualities distinguishing this

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community from many other business-owning minorities. (Ram, Theodorakopoulos and

Jones 2008: 438-440)

Conclusions: push and pull

The push and pull factors featured in this literature can be summarized as follows:

Push (countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden)

- A type of integration/assimilation seen as imposed on the part of the majority society

- Authorities responsible for provision and control of services to the individual

- Little scope for private initiative and assumption of responsibility

- Difficulties in entering the regular labour market

- Difficulties in starting up and running a business

- A language useful only within the country

- A negative media image of Somalis

Pull (UK)

- Freedom of cultural and religious expression

- Opportunity to live near ones fellow countrymen in established Somali communities

- Wide scope for private initiative and assumption of responsibility

- Ease in entering the regular labour market

- Ease in starting up and running a business

- An internationally useful language

- A less negative media image of Somalis

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Those factors mentioned at the top of the list are controversial by nature, since they

concern the conflict between ethnic communities and universal social welfare models, yet

they are obviously rooted in reality. The same applies to the usefulness of the language.

The perception that it is easier to enter the labour force in the UK can, in contrast, be

queried for the simple reason that employment among Somalis according to official

statistics is no higher in the UK than in countries such as Sweden. Whether it is easier to

start up and run a business in the UK than it is in Sweden is the very question to which an

answer is sought in this article. Whether the media image of Somalis is more positive in

the UK than in Sweden is one which will remain unanswered here.

There are some areas in which Sweden and countries with a similar model offer

more pull than does the UK. This applies primarily to living conditions and the

environment for children to grow up in. Naturally, the relatively generous health and

social security systems in these countries constitute a factor which ensures that many

Somalis choose to stay instead of move.

4. INTERVIEW STUDY IN BIRMINGHAM AND LEICESTER

In the spring of 2011, an interview study was carried out among Somalis who had moved

from Sweden to the UK more precisely to Birmingham and Leicester and set up in

business there. The hope was to gain a clearer picture of the advantages and

disadvantages, the push and pull factors, behind this migration, and most of all to gain a

clear understanding as to why so many Somalis set up in business in the UK yet so few

do so in Sweden.

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The choice of Birmingham and Leicester was based on both these cities having

large Somali populations around 15,000 in Birmingham (5) and 10,000 to 15,000 in

Leicester and was also based on their having greater similarities with large Swedish

cities than with a huge metropolis such as London.

Two members of the interview team Abdiwahab Hussein and Mubarik

Abdirahman had prepared the ground by contacting their fellow countrymen in both

cities. Initial contacts gave rise to several more (the snowball method). Interviews were

conducted with sixteen Somalis in all, who had moved from Sweden to the UK and set up

in business. These individuals will be treated below as anonymous.

The interviews were conducted with the help of a questionnaire, and normally took

between 45 minutes and one hour. The questions were most often asked in Swedish, but

the interviewees preferred for the most part to answer in English or Somali (which is

understandable, given that they had been away from Sweden for on average eight years),

and in the latter case Abdiwahab or Mubarik interpreted the answers in Swedish.

The interviewees perception of living and working in Sweden and the UK and also

running a business in Sweden will be summarized in brief. Our study of their running a

business in the UK, which is the focus of this article, will go into greater detail. This will

be followed by a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages perceived by the

Somali Swedes as regards living in Sweden and the UK.

A quantitative profile

Let us first draw up a quantitative profile of the sixteen Somali Swedish business owners,

of whom thirteen were active along Coventry Road and Stratford Road in Birmingham

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and three in the St Matthews area of Leicester. Four were women and the rest men. The

average age was 45 years (ranging from 32 to 58 years). Four came to Sweden with a

university degree to their name, one of whom had qualified as an agronomist and another

as an accountant both of these in Somalia while a third had qualified as an economist

in India and a fourth as an engineer in China. Of the remaining interviewees, half had

done compulsory schooling and half had had a secondary school education. At least five

of the interviewees came from a family business background in Somalia. Most of them

had left Somalia when they were so young that they had never had the opportunity to

develop a career or business in their home country. One, however, had worked in the area

of agricultural issues, one had worked as an accountant for Coca Cola, and another had

run a shop together with cousins in Mogadishu. They had come to Sweden between 1988

and 1997, and had spent on average eleven years in the country (with a range of five to

eighteen years) before migrating once more to the UK, where they had now lived for an

average of eight years (with a range of three to thirteen years). They were all married and

had on average five children (with a range of three to eleven).

Living in Sweden

The interviewees had settled all over the place in Sweden. It is hard to detect any pattern

beyond the fact that the majority of them had lived in cities or medium sized towns.

Seven had lived mostly in Gothenburg and four in Malm. Only a few had lived in

Stockholm. This might be a result of employment among Somalis being higher there than

in both of the other cities, but it could just as well be mere chance. Several had been

settled in one place, while others had moved around to a fair degree.

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Work and training or education in Sweden

The life stories of the interviewees bear witness to the difficulties they had had in gaining

a footing on the Swedish labour market. One woman had studied to become a child

minder and was able to get sporadic work at a day nursery. Another woman had worked

as a trainee in a number of places including a food store, but had never acquired a

permanent job. A third woman had worked as a trainee in a bakery, and a fourth was a

housewife. One man had studied electrotechnology at university. When he had completed

his studies he applied for hundreds of jobs as an engineer and saw how his peers who had

done the same course received work one after the other but not him. Eventually he

acquired temporary work as a fitter. Another man who had qualified as an agronomist in

his home country attended agricultural college for two years but got no work as an

agronomist. He said he did not know why this was, but he had not felt discriminated

against. He worked for a while at a recycling station. One man with a degree in

economics had attended a two-year course in computer studies and then worked as a

cleaner on a ferry. Four men had attended vocational training courses to become a turner,

welder, caretaker and business economist respectively. The welder was the only one to

get a job, and worked at various shipyards in Sweden and abroad. Four men found

employment as forest workers for varying lengths of time.

Most of them, therefore, succeeded only in getting trainee jobs or temporary work,

and those who had acquired a higher education found it of no benefit to them at all in

terms of a career. There is, however, just the occasional example of a successful

professional career. One man got a job as a cleaner for a housing firm in Gothenburg,

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made his way up in the company and was put in charge of cleaning and orderliness in the

housing areas concerned. His move to the UK was because his wife had relations there,

not because he himself wished to move. Indeed, he had been so well liked in his

workplace that his colleagues came over to the UK from Gothenburg and tried to

encourage him to return.

Running a business in Sweden

Out of the sixteen Somali Swedes, all of whom ran a business in the UK, there were only

two who had run a proper business in Sweden. One man had succeeded with the help of

contacts and advice received from Turkish friends to start up a food store in Gothenburg.

Another man together with a friend had run a food store in rebro for a couple of years.

He had received a start-up grant, but the customers mostly Somali were too few in

number and competition was tough.

Several had tried to run a business on a smaller scale and irregular basis. One

woman had travelled to Syria to open a shop there, and had then begun importing

curtains, carpets and clothes from a Somali supplier in Syria to her fellow countrymen in

Sweden, but she did not open a shop in Sweden because of taxes and bureaucracy. One

man had distinguished himself by becoming the first Somali to sell items at a flea market

in Malm.

Most, however, had never made any attempt to start up a business in Sweden. They

had been given to understand by their fellow countrymen and others that there was no

point even trying because of extensive bureaucracy, high taxes and a lack of suitable

premises. If you start up a business in Sweden you set up a paper factory, was how one

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woman put it. A few had set up non-profit activities, a safety and security group in

Gothenburg and a Somali association in Malm.

Migration to the UK

The reason common to all the Somali interviewees for their choosing to move from

Sweden to the UK was that they had seen no opportunities for carving out a future for

themselves in Sweden by way of work or setting up in business. Moreover, especially in

the case of the women, they had felt isolated in Sweden and had longed to join their

relatives and fellow countrymen in the UK. In a wider sense, the UK had attracted them

because there are more Muslims and Somalis there. The UK is a bit like Africa, as a

couple of women independently of each other put it.

One man gave his reason for moving as being the obsession of the Swedish

authorities with controls of various kinds. The Swedish system is a complicated one and

does not favour those wishing to set up in business, and it is almost impossible to find

premises without joining a long queue to acquire them. It feels as though theyre out

there to break you.

Living in the UK

Most of the interviewees moved straight to Birmingham or Leicester since they had

friends or relations there. Some established themselves in London initially, but then

moved on since they felt that a somewhat smaller city could offer a safer environment to

bring up their children in. One man explained that Birmingham is a little quieter

almost like Sweden.

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Work in the UK

As we have already seen, the Somalis in the UK have the same low degree of

employment there as in Sweden, according to official statistics. Judging from the

interviews, however, the labour market encountered in the UK is entirely different to that

in Sweden; it is one where you can find a job the day after you get here. Several of the

interviewees tried out a number of jobs in the UK before starting up their own business,

finding employment in places such as department stores, warehouses, building societies,

car firms, and as cleaners, bus drivers, accountants etc.

Running a business in the UK

The critical question in the interviews with the Somali Swedes in the UK concerned the

opportunities to develop a business. Why is it so easy in the UK when it is so hard in

Sweden?

a) Business concepts and suppliers

The businesses run by Somali Swedes in Birmingham and Leicester differ hardly at all

from the usual or traditional Somali businesses run in many other countries. This is quite

natural, in that the Somalis have global networks with suppliers in areas such as the

Middle East and China and clients who are to a great extent Somalis. The Somali Swedes

have clothes shops and food stores, shops selling computers and electronic goods,

internet cafs, cafs (four in number), import and export businesses (five in number).

One man specialized in the transfer of money, another in community service. One of the

24

men with a higher education had a transport business and delivered newspapers to shops.

The business concepts were usually based on experience of parental business in the home

country, contacts with suppliers and an understanding of what fellow Somalis want.

Sometimes they were born from experience of previous employment or business activity.

b) Funding

There is a broadly held view in Sweden that funding constitutes a major obstacle in the

way of private enterprise, especially for Somalis and other Muslim groups who, because

payment of interest is forbidden to them, do not want to take out a bank loan even if they

would be offered one. To judge from the Somali businesses in the UK, funding does not

pose a big problem. Nearly all the interviewees had begun on a small scale using savings

scraped together by way of wages or loans from friends and relations or else by going

into partnership with friends. One of these partnerships, whose aim was to start up an

import business, was on a slightly larger scale: it had twenty members who had amassed

150,000 pounds sterling. It is not unusual to sell the first business after a time in order to

start up a new and slightly bigger business. Several of the interviewees were aware of the

start-up grant available but only person had exploited this opportunity.

c) Premises

The issue of premises appears to be a critical obstacle for Somali-run small businesses in

Sweden. In the UK, by contrast, this is no great problem, partly because there are

traditional street environments providing the opportunity to buy up or rent and renovate

old and run-down premises, and partly because there are Somali shopping centres with

25

small premises available at a reasonable rent. Sometimes it is possible to rent premises

without having a single penny in ones pocket: If you dont have money at the start

and I started out without any capital property owners are often generous and say that

payment can wait until the business gets off the ground. They are always open to

discussion and negotiation. In certain cases the business, such as import export, would

be run from home.

d) Clients

The clients are primarily Somalis, other Africans, Arabs and Asians, but several business

owners were reporting that they also have a clientele consisting of all sorts of immigrants

or a mixed clientele which also included native-born Englishmen. One import firm had

clients consisting of private individuals who came from all over the UK. In a couple of

cases both export firms the clients consisted of Somali shops in Scandinavia and

Kenya respectively.

e) Employees

To a great extent all these businesses were run on such a modest scale that not that many

employees were needed. One caf owner had four employees of different nationalities,

two full-time and one part-time. Another caf owner had two full-time employees. The

internet caf had two employees and the computer shop one who worked half-time. In yet

another case, the interviewee was one of three owners working in the caf. The owner of

the transport business employed three people. One man offering all kinds of services to

the local population at a Somali community centre employed a couple of consultants.

26

Several of the business owners did not, however, have anyone working for them but

received help from family members instead.

f) Bureaucracy and tax

There was an almost unanimous perception among Somali Swedish business owners that

bureaucracy and the tax system made it more or less impossible to start up a business in

Sweden. They felt that in the UK, by contrast, starting up and running a company was

easy. The background they have had in their home country means that they are used to

the idea that they can come up with a business concept one day and put it into practice the

next. It would appear to be nearly as easy in the UK. There are no cash registers in their

shops. The business owner enters his sales in a note pad. When it is time to fill in his tax

return, he assembles his accounts for purchase of goods and payment of rent together

with an estimate of sales turnover for the year, and goes to his accountant who then

passes those details on to the tax authorities, who in turn take 20 percent of the calculated

income. It is only when income reaches higher levels that the tax authorities take a more

serious interest in the business. It is also the case, apparently, that the owner of a

shopping centre can pay the tax owed by the shops located in it.

A number of comments made by the interviewees are as follows: Everyone here

knows how to start up a business. As long as we work and pay tax the Brits are

satisfied. To be honest, they arent bothered. They say they trust you. The authorities

often turn a blind eye to some extent. The tax system here is a simpler one, and you get

good support from the authorities. You pay tax via the Internet and if you do something

wrong the tax authorities dont make a fuss. Youve then got thirty days to put right your

27

mistake. If youve got a problem you contact the City Council and discuss it with them.

You pay tax once a month and can pay supplementary contributions if that doesnt work.

g) Financial results

As might be expected, the Somali business owners were not willing to go into greater

detail about the financial results of their businesses. Most of them said they earn enough

to get by. However, one caf owner said he could only take out a sum of about 300 or

400 pounds a month. A part-owner of a shop told us: You cant manage without

receiving benefit. We mostly have the shop in order to have something to do. We get

financial support and help with the rent, we get child allowance, help with school fees

and school dinners. Nevertheless, the situation was better for the man specializing in the

transfer of money. He had a turnover of 300,000 dollars a month and charged a fee of 4

percent, which thus generated 12,000 dollars a month. One man who combined a

transport and import business said he earned 15,000 to 20,000 pounds sterling a year

from one of those businesses.

h) Future plans

Most of the interviewees stated their desire to retain and develop their businesses. One

said he was fighting to be able to keep what he had, and was worried that the unrest in the

Arab world during 2011 had driven up purchase prices. A female caf owner believed she

wouldnt manage to work for longer than another three or four years. One man had

recently sold his caf in order to devote more time to his family.

28

Comparisons between Sweden and the UK

All the interviewees were asked to name the advantages and disadvantages of living in

Sweden and the UK. We account for these answers by bringing a collection of quotations

together:

The advantages of living in Sweden:

Accommodation is better, healthcare, education and training, the outdoor environment,

and theres less crime. Its safe for children to play outside. The best standard of

living in Europe. The standard of living is always better there in terms of, say, health,

accommodation, education and training, feeling safe. As regards just being able to live

safety and security Sweden is best. There were good schools in Sweden. Here in the

UK you must pay for extra tuition for your children. Schooling was better in Sweden,

though Im a little unsure.

The disadvantages of living in Sweden:

Difficult to understand how society works. Everything is so bureaucratic. You have

to open one door, only to find theres another door, and so on. Too many offices. It

scares you off when you discover whats needed to start up your own business and pay

tax. Youre always a foreigner. Theres no difference between a newcomer and

someone whos spent twelve years in the country. In Sweden youre sent to one course

after the other and get a heap of points and certificates. Yet still you remain unemployed.

In Sweden you cant show what youre made of; theres no one who believes in you.

The media always report bad news from Africa.

29

The advantages of living in the UK:

Theres not as much registration of personal detail. No one asks for your identity,

address, and so on. No one is bothered about the colour of your skin or wearing the

veil. Theres more freedom here; its easier to carry our Somali culture with us and live

as Muslims. I feel greater freedom here, in every way, as regards both work/business

and being part of the community. We are treated as adults here and are able to develop.

You can arrive one day and do what you want the next. In the UK everyone is treated

the same. You create your own opportunities here, youre expected to make it on your

own. Theres no discrimination in the UK; if people see that youre able and willing

theyll take you on. Everyone looking for work in the UK will get a job. Freedom

from social benefits. You can find the whole world within the UK its a place where

you can live in a multicultural society and grow. The Brits have been everywhere and

so they cant show ill-feeling towards us when we come here. Whats good here is that

everything is in English a widely used language.

The disadvantages of living in the UK:

Housing is cold and of a poor standard. The houses are dirty and cold and full of rats,

and its become expensive to go to university here. And as for the amount of crime

Our children cant go out on their own because theres so much crime. Its true that

medicine is free, but medical examinations are not as thorough. In ten years Ive never

been invited home to an Englishman.

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Stronger statements

In this potpourri of assessments concerning Sweden and the UK, a number of factors crop

up time and again which we recognize from the examination of the literature presented

earlier on. Most of the interviewees gave the two countries an even rating, but there were

some stronger criticisms which stand out.

One man was very critical towards Sweden: The English dont look down on you

the way the Swedes do; its money and success that provide status here, he said, and

added that the Swedish system was a sick one, set up fifty years ago for an ageing

industrial society. This man also believed that schooling was better in the UK, and that

even though teachers in Sweden meant well they treated immigrant children as being

backward. He based his judgment on negative experience: in Sweden his daughter was

expected to be attend extra periods, while in the UK she is a student in the top class. He

saved his most forceful ammunition for the end: Sweden is the business owners hell.

He was one of only a few of the interviewees who had actually run a business in Sweden,

and was able to compare conditions in Sweden and the UK.

Another man was strongly critical towards the UK: On the surface the UK looks

like a multicultural society, but thats only an illusion, he said. You feel like youre

living in Somalia here. All the ethnic groups have their own ghetto, and the English dont

want to fraternize with Somalis or other groups. This man regarded the Somali group as

being the newest and the one situated furthest down in the immigrant hierarchy, at the

same time that the Pakistanis were impressed by the Somalis being able to set up small

shops in no time. He could see a number of reasons for the Somalis moving to the UK

religion, work and business but regretted his own decision:

31

Sometimes I think Ive ended up in this place, forced myself to live in a ghetto

consisting of forty nationalities about whom I know nothing and who dont want to

know anything about me. There are drugs and crime, and I would never let my

children open the door themselves when someone knocks on it. The prisons are

crawling with Somalis, and I know many who regret they moved here.

A return to Sweden?

How did the Somali Swedes view their future in the longer term? Did they see

themselves returning to Sweden one fine day? The answers were divided, with four

saying no, five dont know, and seven yes or maybe. But few were completely convinced.

Two responded with a resounding never! Sometimes I wonder how things would have

been had I come to the UK in 1991 instead of Sweden: how would my life have turned

out then? asked a bitter no respondent. One interviewee felt it is too late. Another said he

had been close to giving up the struggle to make a life for himself in the UK, but still did

not think he would move back. Im not that kind. Those with serious thoughts of

returning gave the following reasons:

Child education: The crucial factor was, of course, that education is free in Sweden.

One man felt, however, that the education in Sweden was also better, and that Swedish

education was ranked high in the UK. When I seek work here as a Swede Im

associated with stability, security and a good level of education.

32

Security in old age: One man said he might return in his older years; another very

much wanted to spend his retirement in Sweden.

Homesickness. Several of the Somali Swedes had become attached to Sweden in a

way that could justify describing their feelings as those of homesickness. To quote

some of the comments made: Sweden is my country after Somalia. Sweden is the

best for me. Sweden gave me my best years I can never forget that time.

Good advice

In conclusion, several of the Somali Swedes had pieces of good advice to give their

former homeland. One of these, given by them all, was that rules and procedures must be

simplified. A female shop owner pointed out the need for greater and easier access of

business owners to premises, the fact that tax exemption during the first two or three

years would help business owners to get going, and the need for the authorities to

simplify their bureaucratic language. Another woman wished it were possible to have an

extra income, keep the housing allowance and start up a business at the same time, as can

be done in the UK. A third woman wished that Sweden would make it easier to get

simple types of work and to run an import/export business. One man wanted to see

employers contributions abolished at the start of a period of employment and also lower

entry wages to facilitate getting a foot on the job market. Another man felt that

employers contributions should be abolished and that the difference between working

and living on benefits ought to be greater. A third man would have liked to see lower

taxes for business owners, especially newcomers. A fourth man encouraged politicians to

33

listen to the minorities and meet their needs in the same way as do those in the UK. A

fifth man wanted, quite simply, to see Sweden do what is done in the USA and the UK:

create opportunity for people. But the Swedes are afraid the whole system will collapse

if the rules and regulations are changed.

5. CONCLUSION

It is hardly necessary to repeat the list of more general push and pull factors which could

be extracted from the literature on Somali migration from other European countries to the

UK. The significance of these factors has been consistently borne out by the interviews

with Somali Swedes. What can be added is that education opportunities constitute a

factor with the power of attraction in Sweden as well as in the UK one of the few points

on which the views of the Somali Swedes differed as regards which environment offered

the best opportunities.

It is, however, worth extracting from the interview material some of the more

specific observations made on the opportunities for starting up and running a business in

Sweden and the UK:

Only a few of the Somali Swedes who had started up a business in the UK had had

practical experience of running a business in Sweden. Most had been put off from even

trying on hearing that it was hopeless to start up a business in Sweden.

34

The biggest barrier experienced by Somalis in starting up a business in Sweden was the

bureaucracy involved, not least the bureaucracy of taxation. In the UK this particular

barrier is nowhere near as off-putting.

What is probably the next biggest barrier in Sweden is the difficulty in finding suitable

business premises. This is a significantly smaller problem in the UK, since immigrants

live in areas where there are old shopping streets and also Somali shopping centres.

Because of Swedish legislation on job security and collective agreements, taking on an

employee is a greater undertaking in Sweden than is the case in the UK. It presents no

barrier in terms of starting up and running a business on a small scale with the help of

family members, but it can be a check on the will to expand beyond that. It was not,

however, an issue the interviewees took much notice of, for the simple fact that during

their years in Sweden they had never had any reason to consider employing anyone.

The other conditions needed for starting and running a business the business concept,

suppliers, capital and clients hardly constitute barriers in either environment. This is

where the ethnic economy kicks in. Somalis often have a family business background in

their home country; they have contacts with suppliers in the Arab world, Africa, China

and other places the world over; they do not need a large amount of initial capital but

rather fund their business in the form of savings or loans from family or friends, and they

focus initially on their fellow countrymen and then attempt gradually to extend their

clientele. There are, however, a couple of reservations as far as Sweden is concerned: if

35

as the Somalis although not the statistics say it is more difficult to get a job in

Sweden, it will of course be more difficult to save up the initial capital, and since there

are fewer Somalis in Sweden the client base will be weaker.

It is seldom said openly, but many immigrants feel clearly torn when confronted with the

two faces of the welfare state, the one caring and kind, the other representing control and

demanding that the rules and norms in force be adhered to. Striking the balance between

freedom and security is difficult for us all. But in the case of the foreign-born it is in all

likelihood more difficult for them than for native-born, since the built-in balance is

shaped under circumstances different to those they themselves have been accustomed to,

since they themselves have not been part of this shaping, and since their need as

newcomers in a country is for more and not less room for manuvre than that given to

the native-born in order to build a new life.

An immigrant group such as the Somalis feels torn in this way when faced with the

choice of living in Sweden or in the UK, countries which in some respects are the

opposite of each other. On the one hand, they want the freedom to live the way they are

used to, to work and do business, which means the authorities keeping to the background

or else turning a blind eye, and on the other, they desire security, law and order, which

means the authorities making their presence felt in an overbearing manner.

Countries such as Sweden and the UK have determined the balance between

freedom and security under different historical circumstances. It is then for the individual,

or at least those individuals ready to move, to make their choice. Put simply, those who

put freedom before security can move to the UK, while those who put security before

36

freedom can stay in Sweden. The fact that this choice might be presented in far too

simplistic terms is something one of our interviewees reminded us of. Ethnic groups in

society present two faces as well: the one caring and kind, the other representing control

and demanding that the individual adapt.

Enough said. Without the opportunity to become self-sufficient there will not be

much of either freedom or security. Should it not be possible in a country such as

Sweden, where consensus and pragmatism are usually held in high regard, to increase the

amount of freedom somewhat or at least help prospective business owners get past the

most difficult obstacles? If so, it would very likely mean addressing first and foremost the

barriers of bureaucracy and premises. In a purely practical sense, it could mean

authorities and organizations at local level making efforts to provide help with accounting

procedures, the preparing of tax returns and seeking suitable business premises. If such

efforts were made, and, more generally, if the authorities and the Somalis were to begin

listening to and communicating with each other in a more structured way, the confusion

on both sides could perhaps be gradually replaced by understanding.

Doing nothing is the same as forcing Somalis and other immigrants to make a

choice they would rather avoid making. One of the interviewees highlighted this dilemma

which cropped up time and again throughout the study:

Those wishing to make something of their lives, wishing to change things, wishing

to support themselves, will move anyway. They buy the fact that its tougher here

[in the UK]. You are, after all, free to try, to succeed on your own. Though if you

37

fail well, then youve had it. However, even if you try in Sweden youre not

given encouragement. No one believes in you.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Four colleagues helped perform interviews with Somali entrepreneurs: Mubarik

Abdirahman, Per Brinkemo, Abdiwahab Hussein and Philip Sandberg. Travel expenses

were funded by the Swedish Federation of Business Owners and the Herbert Felix

Institute. Petter Hojem of the think tank Fores facilitated this work in every way possible.

Help in establishing contacts in the UK was also provided by Professor Monder Ram and

Liz Frost at the De Montfort University in Leicester. Monica French translated the article

from Swedish to English.

NOTES

(1) Data provided by Greg Ball, a demographer at Birmingham City Council, in an email

dated 8 July 2008.

(2) Population by country of birth and nationality, July 2009 to June 2010

(http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15147), 7 March 2011.

Regarding the difficulties involved in estimating the size of the statistically invisible

Somali community in the UK, see Aspinall and Mitton (2010), chapter 2.

(3) Statistics Sweden (SCB), register-based labour market statistics (RAMS).

(4) Oral information provided by Professor Monder Ram.

38

(5) In the case of Birmingham, there are estimates ranging from 3,000 to 35,000

(Wikipedia: Somalis in the United Kingdom). The figure of 15,000 is provided by Greg

Ball at Birmingham City Council.

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