LONDON - From the co-founder of retail giant Marks & Spencer to the owners of a family-run Chinese takeaway, a new exhibition is showcasing migrant entrepreneurs and the role they played in moulding Britain.
They have "shaped all aspects of our lives, from the clothes we wear, to the food we eat, to the apps on our phone, the furniture in our homes," Matthew Plowright, the Migration Museum's director of communications and engagement, told AFP.
At the museum based inside a south London shopping centre, visitors can wander through areas dedicated to various types of migrant-owned businesses found on a typical British high street, from restaurants to corner shops.
The "Taking Care of Business" exhibition runs until late September and explores the origins of many British companies that were founded by immigrants and have since become household names.
The exhibition also retraces the journeys of dozens of migrants who may not be known by name but are among those who came to the UK to seek refuge from oppressive regimes, escape poverty or simply to study and launch a business.
Migrants from the Caribbean, Jews fleeing persecution in Europe, students from India and from former colonies in Africa: understanding their stories can "help us to contextualise and think about contemporary debates around migration in a slightly different way", Plowright said.
Immigration has long been the subject of heated debate in the UK and the ruling Conservative party has pledged to curb migration, which hit record numbers last year, after Britain voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.
"Often when people talk and think about immigration in the news and in politics, it is in these very impersonal debates about numbers or facts and figures," Plowright said.