Economic and Social Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Female Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Rome: Threat VS Opportunity

Abstract

The study extends a research already presented at the VII CIRIEC Conference and aims to elaborate, test and disseminate a scale for assessing the socio-economic impact of migrant female enterprises on their communities and their resilience capacity to the COVID-19 crisis. The research analyses four different areas: employment, economic growth and innovation, economic relations with the country of origin and local communities. The study consists of three different stages:1) Mapping of migrant female entrepreneurs (from Ukraine, Moldavia, Peru and Ecuador) in the City of Rome; 2) structured questionnaires; 3) in-depth interviews. Finally, a qualitative analysis is developed on a selection of 4 paradigmatic case studies. Thus, the research assesses the socio-economic impacts of migrant enterprises on the well-being of local communities and defines resilience strategies deployed by migrant enterprises in the fight against COVID-19, as well as the emerging needs of migrants’ enterprises induced by the crisis.