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Despite recent attempts at making it harder for immigrants to come to the United States, it鈥檚 indisputable that immigrant tech entrepreneurs are becoming an increasingly common phenomenon in this country.

A 2016 by the National Foundation for American Policy found that over half of 87 American unicorns 鈥� a term for startups valued at one billion dollars or more 鈥� had at at least one immigrant founder. The foreign-born entrepreneurs also created an average of 760 U.S.-based jobs per company, according to the study.

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附近上门 News wanted to explore the role of immigrant entrepreneurs in the current technology boom. So last week, I interviewed a trio of entrepreneurs hailing from India, South Korea, and Iran. This week, I鈥檓 featuring another impressive trio from Brazil, Iraq, and Senegal.

Francis Dinha

As a young boy living in Iraq, earliest childhood memory was of his family escaping the destructive bombing of their home in Northern Iraq. 聽Five-year-old Dinha鈥檚 village was destroyed.

The Assyrian Christian family of nine fled to Baghdad 鈥� a city where they did not speak the language, having come from the Kurdish part of Iraq. There, they struggled to survive. At the age of 11, Dinha鈥檚 entrepreneurial tendencies came into play when his mother told him and his siblings there was not enough money for her to feed them lunch. Dinha took the little money his family had and bought a pack of cigarettes. He went on to sell the cigarettes individually to strangers so that his family could afford to have dinner that night.

鈥淓ven when I was young, I knew the meaning of fear and poverty,鈥� Dinha recalled. 鈥淏ut I knew there was something better for me out there.鈥�

After escaping Iraq and coming to the U.S. in 1986, Dinha got a Master鈥檚 degree in applied physics and electrical engineering with a major in computer engineering from Linkoping University in Sweden. He then spent the next couple of decades working in technology at companies such as before co-founding in 2004. OpenVPN is a provider of VPN security software and web-scale VPN services based on open source innovation.

鈥淚 am a person who thinks too much outside the box,鈥� Dinha said. 鈥淪o I didn鈥檛 fit in very well with the big companies.鈥�

Dinha said he has felt at home in the United States, describing it as a true melting pot.

His biggest challenge starting out was a lack of money. But Dinha said he managed by not focusing on accumulating material belongings and instead on making his idea a reality.

鈥淚t was challenging to write a business plan and build this company one block at a time,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I overcame the challenges by making sure I was disciplined and using whatever resources I could.鈥�

In part due to his upbringing, Dinha has always been conservative in running his company.

鈥淎 lot of people challenged me that there was no way to build this without venture capital,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I was able to bootstrap with raising just $1 million (from angel investors) that I never even spent.鈥�

OpenVPN has been profitable since 2014 and has been growing 50 percent year-over-year in terms of revenue. Dinha describes the company as 鈥渧irtual鈥� with headquarters in Pleasanton, Calif., but engineers spread out all over the world in locales such as Norway, Finland, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Boulder, Colorado.

The strategy has helped him keep costs down and the team uses online tools and virtual meetings to manage projects.

Despite being approached by venture capitalists, Dinha prefers to stay financially independent. Purchasing property when he first moved to the Bay Area has helped him in that regard.

鈥淭his has been an amazing journey for me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not about how much money you raise. It鈥檚 all about the type of people you attract to the company. It鈥檚 about having a vision and balance in your life, enjoying the journey and building it one piece at a time.鈥�

Alessio Alionco

In 2008, founded, a local commerce marketplace. In 2012, the company was acquired by聽, a local search startup for Latin America, according to 附近上门.

Alionco was young when he started the company and said the exit wasn鈥檛 necessarily one he was very proud of.

鈥淎 lot of things happened I didn鈥檛 agree with,鈥� he said. But he learned from the experience.

In August 2014, Alionco founded 鈥� a SaaS cloud computing company that aims to provide a BPM (Business Process Management) system that is simple and intuitive. This time, he wanted to do things differently.

鈥淏efore I was too young and didn鈥檛 have the right network,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his time, I started the company with a global perspective from day one.鈥�

This included applying for Silicon Valley accelerator. Alionco got accepted in June 2015 and that is when, he said, 鈥渆verything changed.鈥�

By January 2016, Pipefy had raised $2.5 million from a group of investors including,, and

Alionco鈥檚 new investors essentially mandated that he move the company to the U.S. Alionco incorporated the company in San Francisco with its backhand engineering team staying in Curitiba in Parana, Brazil.

鈥淏eing a Brazilian founder, I didn鈥檛 have a strong network,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut once you鈥檙e headquartered in the U.S., you have access to more investors and a talent pool that can only be found in the Bay Area.鈥�

Alionco鈥檚 strategy has been to use his home country of Brazil as a big back office with the 鈥渂rains鈥� of the company being based in San Francisco.

鈥淲orst case, an engineer costs us $50,000 to $60,000 a year in Brazil,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut in the Bay Area that wouldn鈥檛 be enough to hire pre-sales reps.鈥�

The Brazil office has about 55 employees while the San Francisco operation has 4 employees. Alionco is looking to hire, though, in San Francisco 鈥� both a vice president of marketing and vice president of product management.

The company has been growing revenue 17 percent month-over-month. Customers include Visa, Accenture, Volvo, and Pfizer, among others.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to find people with experience in enterprise products in Brazil, as the country doesn鈥檛 have a tradition of building enterprise products,鈥� Alionco said. 鈥淪easoned people in this space are more easily found in the Bay Area.鈥�

He鈥檚 realistic about being able to hire top engineering talent in the area.

鈥淚 was advised by a mentor that it will be difficult to be able to hire the brightest talent in the city even if you pay them a lot,鈥� Alionco told 附近上门 News. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 why we see it as a competitive advantage to be able to hire great engineers in Brazil and keep the C-level execs here in the U.S.鈥�

Looking ahead, Alionco hopes to inspire other Brazilian entrepreneurs to forge their own paths.

鈥淚鈥檝e heard others say that Brazilians don鈥檛 have the mindset to think aggressive or big enough to be the best in their field and to instead just copycat others,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 want to prove that wrong and show other Brazilians that they can succeed.鈥�

Malick Djiba

is new to entrepreneurship. But he鈥檚 not letting that deter him.

Earlier this year, he co-founded, an app that will reward drivers for staying off their phone while on the road. Djiba is in the process of trying to raise seed money for his company. In the meantime, he continues to operate his law practice out of Austin.

Djiba emigrated from Senegal in West Africa in 2002 with his family after his father had been granted asylum for political reasons.

鈥淭he first day I landed in the U.S. 鈥� well, for this young African kid who’s seen nothing but sandy streets in a third-world nation 鈥� it was just magical,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat was one of the best days of my life.鈥�

He recalls knowing no English when he came to school but ended up ultimately attending law school at the University of Iowa. After serving at a United Nations internship in The Hague, Djiba returned to the United States.

While in Austin, he was in a car accident at the hands of a drunk driver. His co-founder too was involved in an automobile accident after a woman on her phone ran into his car while he was picking up his son from school.

鈥淲e started brainstorming and looking at data and decided we needed to do something around the space of mobility and safety,鈥� he said.

Over the past 15 years, Djiba said he has learned that America has 鈥渋ts own set of unique challenges.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 [The United States] not the perfect utopia I thought it was,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 still a great country that has afforded me many blessings and opportunities that I wouldn鈥檛 even have conceived of if I had stayed back home.鈥�

These days, Djiba鈥檚 keenly aware of being one of the only or few African-Americans at a startup event or co-working space in Austin.

鈥淲hen you go to these places, it hits you that what you see is largely white males,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou feel it. As soon as you enter a space like that, you don鈥檛 see anybody that looks like you. You鈥檙e just there as an outsider and visitor. It鈥檚 a challenge to look past that and try to carve out a niche for yourself.鈥�

Djiba is currently working to grow his new company with the help of , an Austin-based pre-accelerator focused on championing diversity in the tech startup ecosystem. Through DivInc, he鈥檚 a member of co-working space and is being introduced to potential investors and partners.

鈥淭he one thing I鈥檝e realized entering the startup space is that no particular group of people has a monopoly on ideas,鈥� Djiba said. 鈥淚deas can come from anywhere. And that鈥檚 why I think a lot of investors and mentors are keen to see the startup space become more diverse.鈥�

Immigrants鈥� contribution to the United States technology ecosystem is growing and becoming more important than ever. Foreign-born entrepreneurs鈥� grit and dedication are an inspiration to not only those in their home country, but to American entrepreneurs as well.