The New Face of the Dream: How the Singhs and Patels Became Sydney’s Business Backbone 

A new wave of Indian-born entrepreneurs is reshaping Sydney’s economic landscape, with data showing that founders from India accounted for 56% of new business registrations last year across the western and north-western suburbs of Parramatta, Blacktown, The Hills, and Penrith—making surnames like Singh, Patel, and Kaur far more common on business licenses than traditional Australian names like Smith. These entrepreneurs, ranging from caterers like Pragna Bhavsar of Chit Chaat Co. to professionals in IT and digital services, are leveraging strong community networks to launch ventures that both serve the growing diaspora and integrate into the broader economy, often as a strategic response to the difficulty migrants face securing their first job without local experience. This entrepreneurial surge is transforming Western Sydney into a vibrant business hub, creating jobs, strengthening trade links with India, and redefining the Australian dream through self-made opportunity.

The New Face of the Dream: How the Singhs and Patels Became Sydney’s Business Backbone 

The skyline of Western Sydney is changing. It’s not just the cranes building new high-rise apartments in Parramatta or the sprawling new housing estates in Schofields and The Ponds. It’s a shift in the commercial landscape, a renaming of the entrepreneurial spirit. For decades, the archetypal Australian small business owner might have been a “Smith,” a “Jones,” or a “Brown.” But if you look at the 2025 business registrations across the region’s bustling heart, you’ll find a different story. You’ll find that Singh has beaten Smith. 

New data reveals a remarkable trend: in council areas like Parramatta, Blacktown, The Hills, and Penrith, founders born in India now account for more than half of all new businesses. It’s a statistic that jumps off the page, but behind it lies a far more nuanced and human story—one of migration, community, resilience, and a fundamental reimagining of the “Australian dream.” 

This isn’t just a story about numbers; it’s a story about the people powering them. It’s about Pragna Bhavsar, a 28-year-old former HR professional who, alongside her husband Sahil, now runs Chit Chaat Co. from a base in Westmead. Their business, a “modern Indian fusion” catering company, isn’t just a commercial venture; it’s a culinary bridge. It’s about serving butter chicken sliders at a corporate function in the CBD one day and crafting a traditional thali for a community Diwali celebration the next. 

“We saw an opportunity to expand our business by having a presence there,” Bhavsar says of their decision to locate in Western Sydney. But it’s more than just opportunity. “It’s like you’re all growing together,” she adds, encapsulating the collective, community-driven ethos that is quietly reshaping Sydney’s economy. 

The Great Australian Gamble: A New Pathway to Belonging 

For generations, the migrant journey in Australia followed a familiar trajectory. Arrive, learn the language, find a job—any job—and slowly work your way up the corporate or industrial ladder. But for a growing number of Indian-Australians, that ladder is being replaced by a launchpad of their own making. 

Jai Patel, who leads KPMG’s India Business Practice, points to a fundamental driver: the barrier of the “first job.” 

“Cracking that first job without Australian experience can be difficult,” Patel explains. The dreaded catch-22 of needing local experience to get local experience can stall a career before it even begins. For many, creating a business isn’t just a path to wealth; it’s a faster, more dignified route to establishing a foothold in their new home. It’s a way to create your own experience. 

This is particularly potent in a community with a high proportion of skilled migrants. The Indian diaspora in Australia isn’t monolithic. It includes engineers, IT professionals, accountants, and marketing specialists who, faced with a job market that doesn’t immediately recognise their qualifications, pivot. They don’t see a closed door; they see a wall with a window. They start a consultancy, a digital marketing agency, or a web development firm, leveraging the very skills their CVs promised. 

Tom Willis, co-founder of Lawpath, the platform that tracked this trend, sees it as a “clear signal of disproportionate entrepreneurial activity.” These founders are agile and observant. “They’re responding to where they see opportunities,” he notes, “and sometimes that’s actually servicing the diaspora communities they are part of.” 

This creates a powerful feedback loop. A large, growing community creates demand for specific goods and services—groceries, restaurants, jewellery, travel agencies, and financial advisors who understand cross-border remittances. Entrepreneurs step in to fill that demand, and their success, in turn, makes the community an even more attractive place for new migrants to settle. The name on the shopfront—Singh, Patel, Kaur, Sharma—becomes a beacon, a sign that says, “You belong here, and you can thrive here.” 

More Than a Curry: The Rise of Fusion and Niche Expertise 

The stereotype of the “migrant business” is often confined to the hospitality industry—the local Indian restaurant. But while places like Chit Chaat Co. are redefining that very space with their modern, experiential approach, the wave of Indian-born entrepreneurship is far broader. 

Willis notes that while food and hospitality are prominent, they are just one slice of a diverse pie. Professional services, web-based platforms, IT consulting, and digital marketing are booming. These are not low-barrier, low-margin businesses. They are knowledge-based enterprises that compete in a globalised, digital economy. 

This shift reflects the changing nature of migration itself. The Indian-born population in Australia is highly educated. They bring with them not just a desire to succeed, but a sophisticated understanding of the global market. A tech startup in Parramatta can just as easily service a client in Mumbai or Melbourne. This creates a “human bridge,” as KPMG’s Patel calls it, facilitating trade and investment links between Australia and India, Asia’s third-largest economy. 

For Pragna Bhavsar, the business is about more than just food; it’s about experience and perception. Chit Chaat Co. isn’t just catering; it’s a brand. It’s about presenting Indian cuisine in a way that feels both authentic and accessible to a broad Australian audience, from corporate giants to local families. 

“We do at least five to 10 events every week that could be for about 20 to over 100 people,” she says. The client list is diverse, but the heart of the business remains firmly in the west. It’s a strategic location that allows them to be the go-to caterers for the burgeoning South Asian community while also having the logistical capability to service the wider Sydney market. They are the perfect example of the “glocal” entrepreneur—globally minded, but locally rooted. 

The Western Sydney Engine Room 

The data on business creation in Western Sydney is staggering on its own. Parramatta saw nearly 30,000 new businesses registered in 2025, a 35% jump from the previous year. Blacktown wasn’t far behind, with a 48% surge. This isn’t just a demographic story; it’s an economic one. Western Sydney is rapidly transforming from a dormitory suburb into a powerhouse of job creation. 

The Indian-born community is not just participating in this boom; it is, in large parts of the region, driving it. Their entrepreneurial energy is creating jobs, not just for themselves, but for their neighbours. It is injecting capital into local economies and fostering a culture of innovation and risk-taking that benefits everyone.

This “high-energy business ecosystem,” as Patel describes it, is fuelled by deep social connections. Within the diaspora, networks are tight-knit and supportive. Word-of-mouth recommendations, informal mentorship, and partnerships are common. A successful restaurateur might advise a cousin starting a transport company; a real estate agent might help a friend find the perfect spot for their new accounting firm. This social capital is an intangible but incredibly powerful economic asset. 

A Sign of the Times: The Broader Entrepreneurial Surge 

The rise in Indian-born entrepreneurs is part of a wider national trend. The Lawpath index shows strong growth in business registrations across Australia over the past two years. Willis posits that cost-of-living pressures, high interest rates, and stagnant wages are pushing many Australians to seek greater control over their financial destinies. 

“In a period marked by cost-of-living pressures, elevated interest rates and modest wage growth, many Australians are turning to business activity to create income flexibility,” he says. 

For migrant communities, this pressure is often amplified. The desire to provide for family both here and back home, to build security in a new land, and to prove oneself in a new society creates a potent mix of motivation and necessity. The risk of starting a business can feel less daunting than the risk of never achieving your potential in a constricting job market. 

As the sun sets over the new developments in Schofields and the bustling streets of Parramatta, the evidence of this new entrepreneurial wave is all around. It’s in the “Modern Indian Fusion” catering van parked outside an office block. It’s in the newly opened IT consultancy above a shop. It’s in the family name on a business registration certificate that, for the first time, isn’t Smith, but Singh. 

The Australian dream has always been about reinvention and opportunity. For a new generation of Indian-born Sydneysiders, that dream is being built, quite literally, from the ground up—one new business at a time. And in doing so, they are not just changing the face of Western Sydney’s economy; they are writing the next chapter of the nation’s story.