Vanessa Sesma is 44, Mexican, and has been an Italian citizen since she married an Italian national. She lived in Italy from 2000 to 2005 and has been here permanently since 2013. She is a businesswoman, and has set up two associations to help Mexican entrepreneurs who want to invest in Italy or Mexicans who are already in our country and want to start a business: ItalMex, an Italo-Mexican trade association and the startup Migrantpreneur, meaning migrant entrepreneur, to support Hispanic businesspeople who want to set up in Italy.
As she says, this is not an easy mission. “The first problem is the language. Then the bureaucracy. And then credit. The banks often ask for stiff guarantees even from people who are already entrepreneurs but come from abroad. It is better if these guarantees are supplied by an Italian. Then there are accountants who say they prefer not to deal with foreigners”.
Why did you choose to come to Italy?
“I arrived in 2000 and got a master’s degree in Fashion Design. I met my husband here in Milan. We got married in 2002 and so I took Italian nationality and citizenship. Nowadays it would be more complicated, the laws for foreigners have changed in Italy”.
Supporting Mexican businesses in Italy and Mexican businesspeople who want to set up a company, not an easy thing to do …
“We want to create business. With ItalMex, the Italo-Mexican Trade Association, we bridge the gap between the businesspeople of our two countries. With Migrantpreneur, which is a project we started at the end of December last year, we help Hispanics who are already in Italy and want to set up a business. We support it through the initial difficulties. We organise events, we’re on Facebook and Instagram, we help them with all the problems they have to deal with.”
A lot I imagine…
“The biggest problem is access to credit. If you don’t have any financial support and official residence, it’s almost impossible to get financing. The language is another problem. Technical and legal language really isn’t easy to understand. And then there’s the problem that there is no network of businesspeople. Maybe someone has a good idea but they get stuck when faced with difficulties because they don’t know how to implement it.”
Which business areas are you most involved in?
We got into food and design, architecture and handicrafts. So far at least a hundred entrepreneurs have got involved.
How many people are working with you?
“In ItalMex there are 4 of us, all Mexicans. In Migrantpreneurs there are 3 women, all of us are Mexican. We have relations with the Comune of Milano, the trade associations, our Embassy…”.
We are in a time of crisis. Does it make a difference that you are foreign entrepreneurs?
“It’s more difficult. Some people really don’t know how to find their way around. Italian bureaucracy isn’t easy for anyone. Even if you are already an entrepreneur in Mexico the timing here is crazy. It takes up to a month to open a current account. In the bank they ask for guarantees and they prefer it if there is an Italian involved. There are accountants who don’t want to work with Mexican businesspeople, they are victims of long-standing prejudices.”
Even if you’re good at things, they make problems for you just because you’re foreign. And this is in Milan, which is a dynamic place. I can’t even imagine in other regions, where everything is more complicated. High level migration in Italy is something that is not well enough known yet. It will take time, but politicians need to get moving. Certainly if a foreigner arrives from Canada or the USA they have fewer problems.
One of the things that foreigners complain about in Italy is the lack of representation.
“It’s true, we need more foreigners in the trade associations. We need to break down the cultural barriers, not only the linguistic ones. But immigrants mustn’t just be passive any more either. Italy can grow a lot. The large economies grew when they opened up to foreigners.”
Can we consider these difficulties and prejudices towards foreign entrepreneurs in our country a kind of racism?
“Reluctance to trust foreign entrepreneurs is due to fear, to long-standing prejudices and in the end it can even degenerate into a subtle form of racism”.
Translated by Anne Parry
