9 migrant entrepreneurs who took part in the new ‘Migrant Business Accelerator’ programme by social enterprise mi-HUB (formerly This Foreigner Can) will be graduating in true business style at Google Campus today where they will have the chance to pitch their business ideas to an audience of angel investors.

The successful candidates battled over 150 applicants for a place on the 16-week MBA programme, which provided migrant entrepreneurs with mentoring and training in all areas of business management, covering marketing strategy (including social media and video marketing), pitching, negotiation, sales and bank reconciliation among other critical areas.

Following research carried out by mi-HUB earlier this year, access to funding and overcoming the language barrier were the two biggest barriers migrant entrepreneurs faced when trying to start and grow a business, which is why the team at mi-HUB have decided to mark their graduation with an event which allows them to not only present confidently, but could lead to them finding the perfect investor for their business too!

The 9 finalists and their businesses are:

· Maite Beltran Montanez- Spanish Nanny Agency

· Yoko Obata- Flourish Natural Beauty

· Antonia Anni- Karanta

· Aaron Holland & Raj Dhillon- Poro

· Ana Beatriz Freccia Rosa- Your House London

· Felipe Goncalves- UR Image

· Yuri Pires- Urban Vox

· Amanda Els- Beach Squad LTD

· Suz Ceballos- Kids Pilates in Action

mi-HUB’s founder Rafael Dos Santos is a successful Brazilian businessman, but it has taken him nearly a decade to achieve his goals in the UK. Having initially struggled to find his feet on arrival, he understands first hand how difficult it can be to establish a career in a foreign country and so he decided to create a programme to help other entrepreneurial migrants get themselves on the fastest path to business success.

“Even for those who have a great standard of spoken English, language, accent and self confidence are very real issues which are impacting migrant entrepreneurs deeply. I’ve been there, so I know. Mi-HUB has been designed to help migrant entrepreneurs overcome these barriers and build their successful businesses in the UK. We were overwhelmed with responses to the first Migrant Business Accelerator programme and we had 9 fantastic finalists. All of them have really creative and unique ideas which will all benefit the UK economy immensely and I’m really looking forward to seeing them pitch their businesses next week to a room of potential investors.”

— Rafael