Russian Entrepreneurs in London : Are they Flying Business Class?

This paper’s objective is to examine transnational nature of new entrepreneurial community through the “forms of capital” framework (Ram et al, 2008, Vershinina, et.al. 2011). This study examines the stories of fourteen Russian entrepreneurs, who set up their business in London, UK. Fourteen firms from different sectors participated in this study with Russian business owners as participants who engaged in two hour semi-structured interviews. Themes were developed through iterations of the transcribed data with reference to broader theoretical contexts. Their businesses are not aimed at the enclave economy with reliance on co-ethnic migrant customers. Instead, their entrepreneurial activity in London is influenced by the transnational nature of their social and professional networks. The main contribution of this paper is to show that Russian transnational entrepreneurs, unlike other ethnic groups utilise the unique combination of financial, social and cultural capitals to their business advantage