10 per cent of Irish Business Start Ups by Migrants

Ten per cent of new businesses in Ireland are begun by new arrivals to the country, according to the Bank of Ireland.In a new report the bank says that the most popular sectors for such start-ups are restaurants and food-related businesses, construction, consultancy and retail enterprises.They also said that 17 per cent of foreign nationals surveyed planned to start their own business in Ireland over the next five years.In response to this, BoI has launched a new business-banking proposition for Polish customers, which they say is the first initiative of its kind in Ireland.Damian Young, the banks head of small business says: “Latest projections show that the foreign national population could grow to 19 per cent by 2020. We have recognised the changing needs of our customer base and this is the first in a range of SME initiatives due to be launched to foreign nationals by Bank of Ireland.”Over the last six months, the bank has carried out research on foreign national customer needs and found that access to translated information and a lack of understanding of Irish banking terminology were the main concerns articulated.