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Apart from historical reasons, the prevalence of the internet, airplanes, and globalization motivates many people to travel and even to live in countries other than the one they were born in. In this sense, the concept of immigration and diaspora has become popular over the past years. According to the 2022 World Migration Report from the United Nation's International Organization for Migration (IOM), diaspora is defined as those "whose identity and sense of belonging, either real or symbolic, have been shaped by their migration experience and background". Currently, there are 258 million diasporas worldwide.
As shown in the article above, shops that connect people with their home countries usually have products from various different regions. For example, the family-owned food shop Popat Mithai & Farsan in the UK has food from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. Due to the great physical distance from suppliers, diaspora supermarkets like shop Popat Mithai usually connect with their suppliers through WhatsApp. This helps facilitate the efficiency and sufficiency of the supply chain over time. Due to Covid-19, many diaspora shops started online operations to maintain their business, which contributes to one-quarter to one-third of the entire turnover of the business.
The existence of diaspora shops worldwide not only increases the connection of immigrants to their home countries but also alleviates their stress and homesickness by accessing home food and products readily available. It also helps empower the immigrant community in western society, by starting businesses on their own, improving their financial status, and quality of life, thus offering more opportunities for future generations (e.g. better education, medical care, etc.).
Furthermore, diaspora businesses play an important role in the economy. The suppliers for Indian diaspora shops like Popat Mithai & Farsan, played a large part in India's exports to the UK totaling $10.4bn in 2021. Moreover, Christina Lyropoulou and Michael Sofianos, who went to university in the UK and are currently running an imported Greek food industry, believe that the diaspora business has an optimum projection, especially with the prevalence of online platforms. This is because, in the first months of the lockdown, their online shop saw an increase in sales of about 1000%.
Despite the optimistic potential of the diaspora business worldwide, diaspora business has to face several challenges at this stage. The primary challenge is the severe economic hit of Covid-19, where all businesses worldwide were staged and are still recovering from limited sales and profits in the lockdown. The supply chain of diaspora shops is slowly recovering to its pre-Covid normal level, and online ordering platforms help facilitate their turnover. Ideally, in a few years, diaspora businesses will be able to return to normal.
Another challenge is that most diaspora shops are small businesses run by minority groups, which may not be known by many people in western mainstream society. Therefore, it is suggested that more NGOs help raise public awareness of the value and uniqueness of diaspora businesses through social media and events. Hopefully, diaspora businesses would be more stable, sustainable, and profitable over time.
In conclusion, diaspora businesses have promising economic and societal values worldwide, including offering more opportunities for minority groups, promoting diversity, and increasing the bond between immigrant communities and their home countries. Nevertheless, the exact trend of diaspora business is full of uncertainties, due to ever-changing external factors like Covid-19. Diaspora business not only leads to globalization but is also a byproduct of globalization. It is further facilitated by the global village, where countries and individuals are highly interconnected in daily lives and businesses regardless of physical distance.
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