Why Are Indians So Entrepreneurial In The U.S.?

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10 points·Andrew-Dufresne··3 comments

The sample set of Indians that make it to the US are largely educated and motivated. I think you'll find any group of people with those characteristics to be entrepreneurial or at minimum over achievers.

I have to answer a lot of people in the US who think all Indians everywhere are smart. The truth is that the Indians who make it to the US are from the hardest working, wealthiest or most motivated families from India.

Immigrants, in general, have always been entrepreneurial, whether educated or not -- from restaurants and little shops to major industries like Hollywood.

I conjecture that the factors that make a person willing to pull up stakes and move thousands of miles away to a completely different culture are highly correlated with the desire to become an entrepreneur.

Indians may be more represented in tech for the reasons you state (e.g., education) but let's not overlook all the landscaping businesses, dry cleaners, and convenience store out there. I would bet that many who are reading this have ancestors who started out just that way.

Completely agree. That's why I used "or" instead of and in my last sentence.

My personal experience is that my parents came here in the late 60s. They weren't wealthy but were motivated. Because my parents were in the US they were able to bring over many family members over the course of the last 40 years.

Some of these people were formally educated in a high skill trade (accountant, nursing, etc) and some were not. Regardless, they've all flourished here. Some own gas stations and others own real estate.

It's really amazing to look back at my personal ancestory and see the differences between a single generation.

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