Jamaican Immigrant Business Owners: Utilizing “the Partner” to Create Venture Success in New York City

Ingrid Fray

Overall, immigrant entrepreneurs have outpaced native-born entrepreneurs five to one in terms of starting and sustaining business ventures. Between the years 2002 to 2008, the three most successful immigrant groups, Latin American, Chinese, and Jamaican, have contributed approximately $348 billion dollars to the U.S. economy. Jamaican Immigrant Business have been extremely successful in launching and sustaining entrepreneurial ventures in New York City. New York City particularly had the largest number of black-owned Jamaican firms at 204,032 with receipts of $12.8 billion. The reason for their success, “the partner”. For the purposes of this study, “the partner” is defined as an organized informal rotating credit union created by groups of Jamaicans in their home country who pool their savings together and lend to individuals within the group who then utilize the money to start up businesses. This paper examines the role of “the partner”, as an innovative means of networking within the Jamaican community in New York City to achieve entrepreneurial success. One on one interviews were conducted with three Jamaican restaurant owners and as a result of those interviews the research suggests that financial capital for Jamaican immigrant business ventures comes from small communities of individuals who establish a collective savings account or borrowing system in their home country and continue this tradition in the United States. “The Partner” by Jamaican immigrant business owners has successfully helped launch and maintain entrepreneurial ventures.