Starting your own business during a lockdown sounds crazy. Everything is closed except for food and drug stores, flights and public events are cancelled, and a lot of businesses are dying.
Perfect time to start a new business! Especially for a migrant woman with zero entrepreneurial experience. So, it does sound crazy. The reason I am doing it is simple: I am fed up with applying for jobs I am overqualified for and getting polite responses that they have found someone more suitable.
It is not a secret that women are discriminated at the job market, even in a perfect Dutch social democracy. Migrant women face double discrimination. And migrant women over 50 don’t stand a single chance of getting a decent job. So, for me self-employment is definitely not the first choice. It’s the only choice.
I am inspired by many brave migrant female entrepreneurs I met in the Netherlands over the years. Their enormous energy, resilience and creativity give me hope that against all odds my crazy plan can actually work out.
FENAN Consulting 