They are growing almost five times more than the average and, alone, they represent 42% of the entire increase in companies recorded in 2017. These are companies set up by foreign citizens, a now structural reality within our entrepreneurial fabric and which in the end last year it reached 590 visitors, equal to 9,6% of all businesses registered in the country.
During 2017, their number increased by 19.197 units (42% of the entire annual balance of businesses), as a result of the balance between 57.657 openings and 38.460 closures, corresponding to a growth rate of 3,4% (against 0,75% recorded by the entire Italian entrepreneurial base).
The confirmation of the importance of the phenomenon comes from observing the relief of the balance of foreign companies in some regions (Tuscany, Veneto, Liguria, Marche) where, without the contribution of this component, the regional balance in 2017 would have been negative. In other regions (Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna), the contribution of foreign entrepreneurship contributed significantly to mitigating the strong contraction of the native one, even if it failed to reverse the negative sign of the overall balance.
These are the most relevant data of the survey conducted by Unioncamere-InfoCamere starting from data from the Business Register of the Chambers of Commerce, on the presence in Italy of companies led by people born abroad, with reference to 2017.
The sector in which foreign companies are most present in absolute value is that of retail trade (about 162 thousand companies, 19% of all companies in the sector), followed by specialized construction works (109 thousand, 21% of the total ) and catering services (just over 43 thousand units, equal to 11% of the entire sector). In relative terms, however, the activity with the greatest concentration of foreign companies is that of telecommunications where the 3.627 foreign-led companies represent 33.6% of the operators in the sector. A short distance follows the manufacture of clothing items, in which the 16.141 companies led by foreigners account for 30% of the total sector. Geographically, the most attractive region for foreign entrepreneurs to settle is Lombardy with 114 units, closely followed by Lazio (77) and Tuscany (55). Looking at the dynamics of 2017, the area with the highest growth rate of foreign initiatives was Campania (+6,1% in the region, +9,6 in Naples) followed by the Marches (+4,5% overall and +8,8% in Macerata) and from Lazio (+4,3%). The "Queen" province for the concentration of foreign entrepreneurship remains firmly Prato, where 27,8% of the enterprises are foreign-led. Trieste (16%) and Florence (15,8%) follow more than ten points away.
Among the countries of origin of foreign entrepreneurs (with reference only to sole proprietorships, the only ones for which it is possible to associate nationality with the owner), the most represented is Morocco, with 68.259 sole proprietorships existing at the end of last year. On the other steps of the podium are China (52.075 companies) and Romania (with 49.317). From the analysis on the territory, we discover that some nationalities have chosen real entrepreneurial "homelands" in some Italian provinces: this is the case of Egypt which concentrates almost half (44,7%) of all in the province of Milan his exploits in Italy; or of Bangladesh which has its 'headquarters' in Rome, where 42,5% of all its businesses are based. Also in Rome is the largest Romanian business community (15% of the total number of businesses led by citizens of that country). But also in other provinces there are significant concentrations of companies of a given nationality: 19,6% of the Pakistani entrepreneurial community is based in Naples, while the 'capital' of Chinese entrepreneurship in Italy is now in Milan, where it has its seat is 11% of all representation of the Celestial Empire.
