When Johnny Anjoul decided to move from Lebanon in 2004 to be with the love of his life in Halifax, the then 24-year-old had to borrow $5,000 from his brother to pay for the plane ticket and some clothes better suited to Halifax’s cooler climate.

Prior to coming to Canada, Anjoul worked in road construction and said a lack of economic opportunities meant he sometimes couldn’t afford to fill his vehicle with gas. “When you come from a country like that, you’re hungry for work,” he said.

Anjoul is no longer lacking those opportunities. Today, he’s the owner of Mayabella Homes, a Halifax-based home construction company. Last year, his company built 37 homes.

 

 

By their very nature, immigrants are risk takers. The process of leaving one’s home to start over in a new country with a new language and profoundly different culture is a daunting challenge. To succeed requires perseverance and an ability to be creative and adapt.

“Broadly speaking, what we see is the more immigration there is, the higher the economic impact,” said Iain Reeve, the associate director of immigration research with the Conference Board of Canada. “You can measure that in terms of increases to GDP, increases to tax revenue and an improvement in what we call the working-age-to-retiree ratio.”

Reeve said research has shown that immigrants are more likely to start businesses than people born in Canada. While the traits mentioned above are part of the reason, there’s a bigger driver.

“There is pretty clear evidence entrepreneurship is being driven by survival, a need to make income while you wait to see what can happen with your desired career, or because people are pivoting because they’re dissatisfied with the labour market and they don’t feel they’re getting a fair outcome,” said Reeve.

He said this speaks to the need to do a better job of recognizing the credentials and skills immigrants have so they can be employed in positions that match their qualifications.

Continue reading this story: click below to login/subscribe

Login or Subscribe