Ways of mobilising co-ethnic resources among Estonian migrant entrepreneurs in Finland

Following the enlargement of the European Union (EU) to the Baltic States in 2004, along with the free movement of services and labour, Estonians constitute the largest group of foreign citizens in neighbouring Finland. Generally, they are associated with manual work rather than entrepreneurship in the cross-border labour mobility context. This chapter takes a look at Estonian entrepreneurship in Finland and investigates the role of ethnicity in those experiences from the vantage point of co-ethnic resource mobilisation. The interest lies in when and how co-ethnic resources work to entrepreneurs’ advantage or disadvantage. The analysis draws on three narratives that unfolded during in-depth semi-structured interviews with Estonian entrepreneurs representing the construction, cleaning and food sectors. I argue for the temporality and fluidity of co-ethnic resources in this mobility context.