IMMIGRANT business owners in Ireland refrain from putting their “foreign-looking” names on their shopfronts for fear of putting people off, a visiting US researcher has noted.
Dr Jack Pinkowski, who has been investigating the peculiarities of ethnic businesses in Ireland for a project funded by the Fulbright Program and Dublin City Council, told Metro Éireann that the Irish tradition of labelling businesses with the family name is something Ireland’s immigrants have shied away from.
“It’s always just ‘butcher shop’ or just ‘hair salon’,” said Dr Pinkowski, who began his research in September. “Maybe it’s a subconscious thing. Immigrants don’t want to stick out, feeling that their foreign-looking name will just put people off.”
Speaking about the differences in perceptions of ethnic entrepreneurs in Ireland and south Florida, where he teaches, Dr Pinkowski commented: “In America there are so many immigrant-run businesses that it’s not even a point of observation. Immigrants don’t think of themselves as ethnic entrepreneurs, they think of themselves as just entrepreneurs. But here in Ireland they do.”
He said that many Irish also consider foreign-run businesses as not being a part of their environment, and catering only to a minority clientele.
Dr Pinkowski, who will issue recommendations to the Government in June, believes that the Irish authorities need to do more to tap into the resources of ethnic entrepreneurs.
“You don’t have to translate everything into 180 languages,” he said. “But you need to have a good understanding of how immigrants network and how they get information.”
