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How immigrant entrepreneurs help create jobs and boost the economy

Immigrants are much more likely to create a new business, studies show, and the knock-on effect is job creation.
"Immigrant entrepreneurs in the U.S. are associated with a net gain in jobs. Specifically, they're responsible for roughly one in four of all jobs in young firms," said Marketplace senior economics contributor Chris Farrell.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

It's not a great time for startups

Apr 3, 2024
Venture capital investments fell in the first quarter of this year. And that's after the worst year for startup funding since 2019.
Venture capital investments fell in the first quarter of this year, according to Pitchbook. And that’s after the worst year for startup funding since 2019.
ijeab via Getty Images

How a virtual fitness company is staying strong in a changing market

With people returning to physical gyms, Jeff Witherspoon, CEO of E2M Fitness, says doctors' advice to patients is boosting his service.
E2M Fitness founder and CEO Jeff Witherspoon. "I think all fitness companies are seeing that Peloton effect," he said.
Courtesy Witherspoon

What it takes to lure IT workers back to the Chinese countryside

Jun 26, 2023
Some city-dwellers are heeding the call of China’s government for people to return and revive the countryside.
Ex-coder Hu Hang stands in a peach orchard he co-invests in. He quit the IT sector and moved from Shenzhen back to his hometown in central Jiangxi province a few years ago. (Christian Petersen-Clausen/Marketplace)
Christian Petersen-Clausen for Marketplace

Why global investors ask: Where's Jack Ma?

Apr 24, 2023
For over two years, the whereabouts of one of China’s leading tech moguls has generated intense interest from the media and global investors. But is it warranted?
Jack Ma at a startup fair in Paris in 2019. Since China's crackdown on tech moguls in 2020, Ma has largely kept a low profile.
Phillipe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images

Americans started new businesses at a record pace during the pandemic. They're still at it.

Apr 19, 2023
Experts are not sure why entrepreneurship has remained high despite a low unemployment rate.
marchmeena29/Getty Images

Want to start a business? It helps to have rich parents

Jan 18, 2023
How heavily are the odds stacked against startups without the “massive leg up” of family wealth?
EXTREME-PHOTOGRAPHER/Getty Images Plus

For public good, not for profit.

“Newsflash: Not all horses have perfect hair” 

Nov 24, 2022
After designing an “Afrocentric” hairpiece for her horse, Chanel Rhodes set about making colorful horse wigs for sale.
As a little girl, Chanel Rhodes never saw people like her riding horses. Now she’s an equestrian entrepreneur.
Courtesy Chanel Rhodes/Andrew Garces

Baklava bakery owner trades master's program for growing her business

Nov 22, 2022
Rita Magalde, owner of Sheer Ambrosia in Draper, Utah, is starting her busy season and planning to bring on her first full-time employees.
Rita Magalde, center, with her employees Desi Hayda, left, and Hayda's mother, Helene Simpson, right.
Courtesy Rita Magalde

How a Mississippi nonprofit helps Black entrepreneurs get funded

Nov 16, 2022
Tim Lampkin, CEO of Higher Purpose Co., says his organization serves as an adviser and "capital matchmaker" for business owners.
Higher Purpose Co. Founder and CEO Tim Lampkin (center) with Therapy Plus CEO LeJeune Johnson (left) and BloomTech Developments CEO Melissa Bloom (right).
Courtesy Innovate Mississippi