AMERICAN ENTREPRENEURS
By Mickayla Zinsli
Immigrants have played a key role in starting some of America ’ s most iconic brands such as Google , eBay , Intel , and Procter & Gamble . Perhaps this is because there is something inherently entrepreneurial about leaving your home and starting a new life in a different country .
When discussing the benefits of the EB-5 program , we focus most of our attention on calculating the dollars invested , jobs created , or even the investment ’ s impact on gross domestic product . Certainly , these are all impressive metrics , but maybe we are overlooking the greater impact of welcoming these foreign investors and their families into America .
Throughout history , immigrants have been disproportionally more entrepreneurial than native-born Americans . In 2012 , immigrants were almost twice as likely to start a business . 1 Even more impressive is the percentage of Fortune 500 companies founded by immigrants or their children . In 2012 , 18 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants . Taking into account the children of immigrants , this number jumps to 40 percent , or 114 companies , on the list .
This is even more surprising given that immigrants have made up only 10.5 percent of the American population on average since 1850 . These entrepreneurial ventures and new businesses have made significant impacts on local economies as well as the nation . Considering just Fortune 500 companies , those backed by immigrants or their children employed more than 3.6 million people and had combined revenues of $ 4.2 trillion . 2
This seems to be a highly entrepreneurial group of individuals . One out of ten immigrant workers owns a business ( 10 percent ) and 620 out of 100,000 immigrants ( 0.62 percent ) start a business each month , according to the U . S . Small Business Administration . 3 From 2000 to 2016 , a total of 55,294 EB-5 visas were issued . 4 Take , for example , the stories of the following EB-5 investors :
Robert Onnes
Originally from New Zealand , EB-5 investor Robert Onnes always had a passion for large-scale art work , making a name for himself as a sculptor in New Zealand . Onnes and his wife , Helen Opie , moved to Detroit , Michigan , permanently in March 2014 and began to realize his vision by investing in and rehabilitating a building in Detroit with a vision to bring back to life a historic factory , formerly known as the Lewis Metal Stamping and Manufacturing Plant . Immigrating to the United States provided the freedom to unleash this passion . The facility now provides 13 artists and sculptors a space to work and build their artistic careers .
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EB5 INVESTORS MAGAZINE