Abstract
Based on four narratives, this chapter illustrates how female entrepreneurs of the Indian diaspora in Europe negotiate transient identities, leveraging their cultural heritage and socially gendered roles as moderating factors in their entrepreneurial activity. The strict distinction between push and pull factors motivating entrepreneurship may not apply to a highly skilled migrant population. Rather, the entrepreneurial path is more of an expression of confidence in self-leadership and in designing a personalized career choice. Apart from unstructured interviews with highly skilled women, secondary data such as website links and newspaper articles have also been drawn upon. Specifically, narratives are from a defined pool of female entrepreneurs of Indian origin who have made the proactive decision to become business owners or profit-making entrepreneurs, as opposed to obtaining gainful employment.
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Notes
- 1.
http://greaterpacificcapital.com/march-2013/, accessed May 9, 2015.
- 2.
- 3.
In order to safeguard the identities of the women interviewed, fictitious names Mena, Sita, Uma, and Usha have been randomly allotted and any reference to their specific geographic locations in the citations have been omitted.
- 4.
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Chatwani, N. (2016). Understanding the Gendered Identity Role of Skilled Female Entrepreneurs Amongst the Indian Diaspora in Europe. In: Kumar, P. (eds) Indian Women as Entrepreneurs. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60259-6_7
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