Trinidad and Tobago there are the highest per capita rates of Venezuelan immigrants in the world. A group of Venezuelan women eatswidower decided to face the challenges of resettlement with entrepreneurship and community, as You wereorn Alsina (LSE) found
Just seven miles off the coast of Venezuela, the twin-island nation of Trinidad & Tobago (TT) has seen around 40,000 Venezuelans arrive in recent years. Migrants arrive mostly by irregular means, crossing the dangerous Bocas del Dragón to escape Venezuela’s deep socio-economic crisis. Although this figure is significantly lower than that of other nations in the region, the islands’ small land area and population of 1.4 million make it the highest per capita beneficiary of Venezuelans in the world. In response, the Trinidadian government has registered approximately 16,400 migrants, but has nevertheless refused to incorporate the Refugee Convention into domestic law, typically violating the principle of non-refoulement. Over 200 Venezuelans were forcibly deported in December 2021 alone, as the coast guard opened fire on arriving ships, resulting in the death of a nine-month-old child earlier this year.
As part of a broader thesis, this research used the first-hand accounts of fourteen Venezuelan refugee and migrant women in Trinidad and Tobago to highlight a rarely discussed side of the ongoing displacement crisis, the motivations and resources used. from Venezuelan women entrepreneurs in the face. of severe circumstances. Entrepreneurship is seen as an attempt to overcome government oversight, previously exploitative working conditions, and the constant threat of eviction through the mobilization of social media and cultural capital. Creating an all-female entrepreneurial network provides a ballast of emotional support and hope, countering xenophobia and stereotyping.
Entrepreneurship to fight uncertainty
The general lack of legislation provided by the Trinidadian government to provide long-term protection for displaced Venezuelans is a source of constant fear and a daily obstacle, with indefinite imprisonment seen as nothing out of the ordinary. Interviewees indicated that they were arbitrarily detained and had to pay substantial release fees, while mass deportations only served to cement these fears. Media reports of Venezuelan women being assaulted and raped were blamed on the government’s heavy-handed refusal to grant work permits and driver’s licenses to Venezuelan arrivals, forcing the women to use unmarked taxis or walk long distances behind work.
The exclusion of undocumented Venezuelans from public education forces many to stay at home to provide care for their children. The owner of a small children’s party business and mother of two summarizes some of these key challenges as she faces despite being granted official ‘refugee’ status by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).
“If we want to open a bank account, they don’t let us. We cannot drive a car; we do not have access to a driving license. We don’t even have permission to be here in Trinidad […] I have a six year old daughter and she cannot go to a government school because she does not have Trinidadian nationality […] you are not entitled to anything, you cannot get a good salary, you cannot work, you cannot maintain your career, you cannot open a bank account. It’s all ‘No, no, no!’”
Despite having previously held jobs in accounting, finance and law, the lack of recognition of credentials means the qualifications are “a worthless piece of paper”, while the combination of an Anglophone nation and the presence of an unfamiliar Trinidadian accent serves as a further barrier to the labor market and wider integration. Upon their initial arrival in TT, these women found work in bars, supermarkets and factories, where they faced widespread exploitation due to labor market barriers. Another woman, who was a Venezuelan-trained lawyer, recalled working in an egg factory without days off, earning an hourly wage of just TTD 10 (£1.23). Xenophobia from clients is a common occurrence, with women confessing to being branded the bad life of women(women of bad morals/prostitutes) and are accused of stealing the husbands of Trinidadian women.
Strategy of Ethnic Enclaves
Thus, a small-scale cash-paying business emerged as an ideal strategy to generate sufficient income and ensure some independence. The lawyer-turned-factory worker, for example, channeled all of her savings, $400 (USD), into setting up a small beauty business. Another woman, a former computer engineer, describes: “I was working in a supermarket and the exploitation was too much, until I said: ‘Enough! I’ll see what I can do for myself!’”, reflecting the decision of all respondents to become independent traders, acting as manicurists, hair stylists, children’s party organizers or balloon decorators.
Contradicting previous findings of gender gaps in the use of information and communication technology by immigrant entrepreneurs, these business owners integrate social media to produce short videos and brightly colored posts, showcasing their services at very little cost. Facebook, TikTok and Instagram provide most of the clientele as they can present their work to other Venezuelans and form a ‘protected market’. In turn, these businesses function as vehicles of resilience, home-run and outside the purview of the state, providing a secure and sustainable source of income, particularly vital during island-wide Covid-19 lockdowns and periods of increased evictions.
Attempts to ‘break out’
Some respondents also demonstrated efforts to break out beyond the enclave economy, offering promotions aimed at undercutting competition and attracting Trinidadian customers. For example, one stylist is offering free waxing with every purchase alongside Venezuelan and Trinidadian models by posting these unique promotions in English and Spanish. By gradually attracting more and more Trinidadians, her low operating costs enable her to sidestep the competition, affirming the strategies of another woman who asserts: “We can offer the same job as a Trinidadian, but for less cost. That’s why people prefer us because my price will be 50% lower than a Trinidadian’s.”
Despite language barriers, women entrepreneurs find strategies to keep their businesses open. “When the holidays are in English, I practice English a week before and create a draft to know what I’m going to say.” This scenario gives the children’s party organizer access to the Trinidadian clientele, drastically expanding its reach and building on its associated patchwork strategies, diversifying activities within its single business. Starting with a small art station, she has reinvested her profits to diversify her offerings. In turn, it has gained a competitive edge and branched out to get a similar number of Trinidadian as Venezuelan customers.
Challenging negative stereotypes: “I want them to know what Venezuelan women are really like”
The creation of the group ‘Venezuelan Female Entrepreneurs’ (pseudonym) in 2020 is a further method used by these women to counter the ‘triple danger’ they face. Aspiring to one day offer business and language courses to other Venezuelan women, this network currently serves to gather similar experiences of government abuse while challenging xenophobia. The group’s founder, a balloon decorator, says: “I love them [Trinidadians] to know what Venezuelan women are really like […] Not as a prostitute or here to do harm”, describing media depictions of Venezuelan women as the source of male betrayal and family disintegration.
Meanwhile, the members express a tremendous obligation to other Venezuelan women, trying to rebrand their overall image by emphasizing their talented and hard-working ethic. As one interviewee says, “We are not here to do evil; we have come to do good. We want to be an example for all of Latin America.” By staying in touch via WhatsApp and Facebook and meeting once a week at a member’s home, participation provides an opportunity to gain mutual support and advice from each other. Despite operating in the same highly competitive industries, more experienced entrepreneurs share business hacks, such as setting up online payment systems and managing social media platforms, while other members watch tutorials together and share customer contacts. possible.
In the face of common difficulties, these women have joined counter-dominant systems of representation, offering a bottom-up counter-narrative to homogenous depictions of Venezuelans, while overcoming cultural constraints that consider entrepreneurship as masculine. On the other hand, trying to appear as mothers, wives, sisters and friends, they actively challenge the boundaries of belonging and the perceptions of Venezuelans as ‘lifelong immigrants’. And despite its relatively recent formation, they appear frequently in Trinidadian newspapers.
With entrepreneurship able to generate income and knowledge transfer for migrants, while providing economic growth for the host country, these findings highlight the need to overcome a general tendency to highlight the victimization of Venezuelan women at the expense of their heterogeneity. Instead, support should be provided to Venezuelan migrant entrepreneurs in host countries to facilitate adaptation and socio-economic progress. The need for receiving states such as Trinidad & Tobago to guarantee the rights of Venezuelan arrivals and provide vital work and residence permits remains. And on a larger scale, this must be accompanied by an increased effort by OECD countries to provide cohesive support to those nations facing the largest displacement crisis in Latin America in modern history.
Notes:
• The views expressed here are those of the author and not of the Center or LSE
• This post is based on a dissertation submitted on 10 August 2022, for the LSE MSc in International Migration and Public Policy
• Please read our comment policy before commenting
• Banner image: Welcome to Trinidad and Tobago (CCBY-NC-SA 2.0)
