Tecendo redes de resiliência: dinâmicas econômicas, migração e bem-estar no empreendedorismo de mulheres brasileiras no Reino Unido

Abstract

This study investigated how migratory trajectories and labour market conditions shape Brazilian women's entry into entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom, and how professional identity reconstruction, resilience, and psychosocial well-being are experienced along these trajectories. A qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive design was adopted, guided by an intersectional perspective. The research involved 13 Brazilian women residing in the United Kingdom and engaged in their own businesses or self-employment. Remote semi-structured interviews were conducted and examined through categorical thematic analysis. The corpus of participants' accounts yielded eight thematic categories: structural barriers and adaptation; motivation and business opportunity; business management and professional conduct; entrepreneurial learning and financial planning; unequal recognition; psychological impact and psychosocial well-being; community relations and support; and coping, boundaries, and the redefinition of success. The findings show that geographical mobility did not enable professional continuity. Language proficiency, the recognition of qualifications, local experience, caregiving responsibilities, and access to networks altered the value and the feasibility of applying previously acquired professional resources. From an intersectional perspective, the study revealed how the articulations between gender, race, class, nationality, and family arrangements asymmetrically condition the barriers experienced, access to capital, and labor market entry strategy. Entrepreneurship emerged from a combination of constraints, financial necessity, the pursuit of autonomy, prior experience, and the identification of market demands, thereby transcending the rigid divide between necessity and opportunity. Business activity fostered autonomy, recognition, and identity reconstruction, but it also produced insecurity, overload, and loneliness. It is concluded that resilience plays a fundamental role in the process of reconstructing professional identity in another country and should be understood as a dynamic, relational process of resource mobilization, rather than as an individual trait evidenced solely by business survival.