The Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship: A Vehicle for Critical Engagement

This paper is motivated by a concern that the proliferation of measures to support migrant businesses across Europe appear to be proceeding without recourse to an increasingly sophisticated and rich literature on the topic. The case of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) – which forms the focus of the paper - offers modest grounds for optimism for critically-inclined scholars who want to ‘make a difference’ to the communities they seek to under-stand. Its creation, modus operandi and continuation represent a real-time at-tempt to promote change with practitioners whilst pursuing theoretically-informed research. The many shades of engagement that characterise CREME’s work – from stakeholder consultation on conventional research projects to the creation of new ventures to support for migrant businesses – illustrates the contribution that the Centre’s approach of ‘critical engagement’ can make to academic and practitioner domains