Immigrants drive small business in NYC

Just two years after arriving in New York City, Brazilian-born Neila Granzoti Rudden started her own swimwear line. The entrepreneur financed it with her savings and with funds from her father, a banker in their native land.

Ms. Rudden's 41/2-year-old firm, diNeila Brazil, is headquartered in Manhattan and has a factory in Brazil in which she holds a stake. It sells its brand-name line to 86 shops across the country, including Intermix in New York, and produces private-label merchandise for chains such as Marshalls.

“Swimwear is one of the first things we wear in Brazil, and when you think of Brazil, you think of beautiful bodies and people who know what a swimsuit should look like,” said 33-year-old Ms. Rudden.

Her company, which has three full-time and four part-time employees, is on track to more than double its revenues this year to $750,000.

Ms. Rudden is one of nearly 70,000 foreign-born entrepreneurs in New York City. That represents almost half of all small business owners here—a surprisingly large share that underlines the important role that immigrants play in creating jobs and spurring economic growth. According to an analysis of U.S. Census data by the Fiscal Policy Institute, due to be released this week, foreign-born individuals account for 48% of the city's incorporated small business owners while making up 36% of the Big Apple's population.

New York has long recognized the critical contribution that the newest members of our society make to the city's growth and prosperity. Both the Bloomberg administration and the business community place federal immigration reform atop their policy agendas, in the hope of making it easier for foreign-born talent to immigrate and settle here.