Description

Summary

In the article “Asian-born entrepreneurs see opportunities in Jacksonville”, Matt Soergel (2012) describes how many Asian immigrants are helping to drive the economy of Jacksonville, Florida.  This is because many Asian-American immigrants have started small businesses there.  Therefore, if anyone is looking for hope for Northeast Florida’s economic future, looking for areas where Asian-born people are staying would be a good consideration. Eric Nguyen, a member of the Vietnamese Association of Jacksonville, was interviewed for the article.  He says that Asian Americans in the area are entrepreneurs by nature.  In other words, many of them much prefer owning their own business to working for someone else. The author also points out that immigrants from Asian countries are usually very well-educated and very skilled.  This means they are also good workers.  Their efforts benefit the United States economically.

Response

In the article, Soergel states that a significant amount of people from China, Vietnam, and India who have moved to the U.S found opportunities and became successful by starting small businesses. This statement corresponds to what we’ve read in FEEE’s chapter 4 which tells the story of Wai Hung (Tom) Chan and Kong Kuk (Maggie) Wong Chan who immigrated to the US from China and Hong Kong.  The family faced many challenges and failed several times before they finally succeeded.  But with each effort, Tom got more experience.  Then he started negotiating with different traders from China for his own business. In the end, Tom started a business importing fireworks from China to the US.  He was very successful and even employed other people.  In my opinion, I think that people who start their own business in the U.S have a better chance at real wealth and prosperity than those who start businesses in other countries.  Starting a business in America can seem like it has no limits.  For example, the famous company Google was actually started by immigrants.  So was the car company Tesla, the food chain Panda Express, and the online marketplace Ebay.  Because of the way these immigrants have used technology to promote their businesses, for example, through the media, everyone knows about them and a lot of people frequent them.  In my home country, Saudi Arabia, most of the businesses are only known locally.  But these American companies that were started by immigrants are known globally.  This is why I think that immigration is so important to the American business community.  Immigrants have a lot to offer that benefits the whole country.