NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE Military-Madrasa-Mullah Complex 1 India Quarterly, 66, 2 (2010): 133–149 A Global Threat 1 Research Article Ethnography of Female Diaspora Networks: The Emerging Case of Pakistani Female Entrepreneurs in London Asma Basit 1 Abstract The business environment of a host country reflects the complex interplay of multiple social, cultural and religious factors with the lives and work of ethnic minority women. The distinct social context of each ethnic or immigrant group determines its position in the host country. Every ethnic minority group has its unique characteristics, social and cultural conventions and resources that facilitate or constrain their entrepreneurial endeavours. As social actors, ethnic minority entrepreneurs draw support and resources from the ‘network of social relations’; hence it is the ‘social network’ that facilitates or constraints the social actors’. It is the formation and utilization of a network of relationships that shapes the entrepreneurial outcomes which are not independent of external factors. Exploration of the outcomes of the interplay of gender, ethnicity and religion shaping the personal network of Pakistani female entrepreneurs forms the focus of this article in which ethnographic inquiry is used to explore the ‘meaning and perception’ attached to social relations by Pakistani female entrepreneurs in a special ethnic and immigrant context. Gender as a ‘social practice’ influenced by religious and cultural values leads Pakistani females to maintain ‘women only networks’ and rely on kinship networks.Transition from ethnic to non-ethnic and expansion of network is the outcome of mistrust on ethnic community members. Keywords Ethnic minority, female entrepreneurs, personal network, ethnography, kinship, diaspora Introduction Migrants represent a significant and growing minority in the United Kingdom. In order to facilitate their lives and to earn a livelihood, many immigrants start their businesses in the host country. Their efforts contribute to the national income and job creation in the host country. The importance of immigrants and their entrepreneurial ventures to the host country’s economy has drawn the attention of researchers and policy makers for some time now in the United Kingdom. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report, 2004 states that ethnic immigrant women are to a large extent ‘more entrepreneurial than their white 1 Assistant Professor, Economics Department, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, Peshawar, Pakistan. Corresponding author: Asma Basit, Assistant Professor, Economics Department, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, Peshawar, Pakistan. E-mail: missarauf@gmail.com Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies 3(1) 1–15 © 2017 SAGE Publications India Private Limited SAGE Publications sagepub.in/home.nav DOI: 10.1177/2393957516684467 http://eie.sagepub.com