Stockholm university

Reema Akhtar

About me

I have always been intrigued by the concept of diversity and how it drives innovation. For my Ph.D. research, I study first-generation immigrant entrepreneurs, and how they create their business opportunities in knowledge-intensive sectors. I study the impact and role of their social networks, prior work experience, and their education on their entrepreneurial opportunity creation process. This research is important due to two main reasons, firstly within entrepreneurship research, understanding the sources of opportunities is vital and is linked with the individual who conceives them. This makes the role of the individual entrepreneur crucial in the realization of a business venture, its implementation, and future growth. However, more research tends to focus on disadvantaged immigrants who struggle to integrate into the labor market. Therefore, in my research, the focus shifts to an under-represented group of immigrants who are highly skilled and set up business ventures in knowledge-intensive sectors hence driving the host country´s growth and socio-economic well-being.