Transnational Entrepreneurship: Japanese Diaspora Entrepreneurs in Latin America

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In February-March 2023, we visited Sao Paulo, Brazil and Mexico City, Mexico. In Brazil, we conducted interviews with 7 diaspora entrepreneurs and 16 transnational self-initiated expatriate entrepreneurs. We visited their businesses and spent time engaging with the local nikkei population to gain an insight into the history and culture of the area. We visited various museums of immigration to track the history of Japanese migration and a coffee museum which helped us to understand the working conditions and background of the Japanese migrants to Brazil. In Mexico, we interviewed 6 transnational self-initiated expatriate entrepreneurs and 7 diaspora entrepreneurs. We can now proceed with our book on “Transnational Diaspora Entrepreneurship: Cases from Mexico, Brazil, and Japan.” We have altered the theoretical framework through which we will explore this topic. The theory of multifocality is a better fit for our context. Transnational entrepreneurship conceptualizes the role of multiple places and multiple groups in the creation, identification and seizing of opportunities by transnational migrant entrepreneurs. Multifocality (Solano, 2016) recognises that entrepreneurs belong to a number of groups, may have multiple identities, and work in multiple sites. We want to renew attention on how these individuals and their businesses should be understood beyond the common focus on the ‘country of residence-country of origin’ dichotomy, aiming to look at the complexities of entrepreneurship in this context.