Business and the Workforce
Immigrants not only bring diverse skills and perspectives to the U.S. workforce, they often fill employment gaps in crucial fields. We advocate for expanded work visas and related programs so our labor force can continue to benefit from immigrant workers and remain competitive in the global economy
Business Accelerator Executive Says Immigrants Add “Massive Societal and Economic Value” to U.S. Economy
Marc Nager believes that humans are hardwired for entrepreneurship. “With the right support, almost anyone can start their own business,” he says. And he should know: As the Chief Community Officer at Techstars, “a global ecosystem that helps entrepreneurs build great businesses,” Nager has helped… Read More
Immigration System “Has Not Kept Up with the Times” Says Successful Korean-Born Lawyer
“Immigrants—the risk takers and the entrepreneurs—built this country and made America great,” says Sung Je Lee. “But today’s immigration system doesn’t acknowledge that history at all, and the United States loses job creators every year.” Lee, who is originally from South Korea but grew up in Indonesia, first came to… Read More
Immigrant Entrepreneur Develops Training Program that Boosts Student Salaries by $30,000 a Year
Mexican immigrant and entrepreneur Liliana Monge knows that in today’s economy tech skills help individuals thrive in the workforce. Yet access to quality tech training is often limited, leaving low-income and minority students behind. Recognizing this disparity, Monge and her husband, Gregorio Rojas, founded Sabio, a software engineering training program… Read More
Entrepreneur Sees Fellow MIT Grads Made to Leave the U.S. Due to Immigration Policies
Spanish-born Bernat Olle hopes to revolutionize healthcare by using microbes as medicine. Olle is the CEO and co-founder of Vedanta Biosciences, a Cambridge-based company whose technology alters how the trillions of microbes in our body interact with our immune system. “It’s a completely new way to approach medicine,” Olle says,… Read More
Spanish-Born Entrepreneur Creates Big Ideas for Small Spaces
Today, access to affordable housing presents a significant challenge. Ivan Fernandez de Casadevante is part of a team of recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates that thinks they have a solution to the problem. The Spanish native is a co-founder of OriSystems, a company that grew out of… Read More
Immigration Policy Splits the Startup That’s Making a Wildly Popular History Teaching Platform
Thomas Ketchell hopes to transform America’s education system through a simple digital platform. The Belgian native is the CEO and co-founder of Sutori, a tool that allows students and educators to create free interactive timelines — similar to those on Facebook or Twitter — to document historical events. Ketchell first… Read More
How Tech Startup Founders Are Hacking Immigration
Standing under fluorescent lights at a San Francisco hospital, employees of Medisas Inc. were celebrating the debut of their medical records software. It was the product of two years of planning, coding, and countless meetings with hospital administrators, all driven by Gautam Sivakumar, the startup’s founder and chief executive officer. But Sivakumar spent… Read More
How Welcoming Immigrants Gave Chicago, Dayton, and Nashville a Boost
Three geographically diverse cities have created more welcoming environments for immigrants and each has implemented initiatives that promote immigrant entrepreneurship and innovation in their communities, to the benefit of all residents. Their efforts are detailed in the report “Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Welcoming Cities: Lessons from Chicago, Dayton, and… Read More
An Immigrant Family Behind America’s Pita Craze
In elementary school, Karen Toufayan’s friends never knew what to make of her lunch. While the others munched on Wonder Bread, Karen usually unwrapped a pita. “Nobody knew anything about pita bread,” says Karen. “They couldn’t even pronounce it. People were like, ‘What is that?’” She says it was like… Read More
Iowa Colleges Press for Immigration Reform
For generations, our colleges and universities have served as essential catalysts for stimulating Iowa’s economy. Together we provide the advanced stages of education for our pipeline of human talent, produce basic and applied research, and develop leadership coupled with entrepreneurial spirit. The ultimate measure of our success is found across… Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.
