AS A refugee to Australia and a small business owner, Swan Hill’s Ahmad Hajizada is the human face of new government research which shows humanitarian migrants are the most entrepreneurial group of people to migrate to Australia.
Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics analysis shows nearly 10 percent of those who migrate to Australian on a humanitarian visa earn their income from their own businesses and across all businesses owned by humanitarian migrants, data shows Afghans like Mr Hajizada earning the largest share of the profits.
After fleeing Afghanistan in 2009, Mr Hajizada spent 15 months in detention centres on Chrismas Island and in Darwin, and three years doing farm work in the Mallee before opening a small Asian supermarket on McCallum Street in 2013.
Two years down the track, Mr Hajizada says his business is going well, but getting it off the ground was not without its challenges.
According to Mr Hajizada, the greatest hurdle he faced was the language barrier, since most of his clientele hail from overseas and also speak English as a second language.
“My customers are Malaysian, Indonesian, Indian, Pakistani, Filipino and Afghani,” Mr Hajizada said.
“The big problem is my English is not good.
“The first year was hard, but now it’s easy because my kids help me after school and their English is very good.”
For more on this story, pick up a copy of today’s (Friday, September 11) The Guardian.
