The number of immigrants and people with a migration background keeps increasing in Germany, but their integration in the employment market remains below average (OECD, 2005 and see DUK 2005: 7). However, the integration into the employment market is a big step for the inclusion of immigrants into the society (Boos-Nünning, 2008, Boos-Nünning u.a. 2005).

The rate of self-employed women is still half the size of self-employed men, however, this difference is bigger within the immigrant population (Leicht et al. 2005: 15). However, the number of self-employed women in Germany still represents an untapped source and could be increased through adult education (see Burak 2009: 4). Adult education could facilitate the process of becoming and remaining self-employed through counseling processes, support systems and the like. Such educational programs have the potential to generate large economic rewards, encourage self confidence and foster inclusion within society.

It can be assumed, that the learning curve of launching a company happens within a formal frame and within an informal frame. So far, the questions how those learning processes occur and where they take place and what subjective importance they carry are not answered by research studies. Therefore, my research focuses on the transformative process of learning of immigrant female entrepreneurs. This group of entrepreneurs is rich in a variety of backgrounds, each of which influence the learning process and demand a differing approach to supporting the learning processes.

In order to analyze my interviews and to understand the life situations and learning processes I proceed with the theory of transformative learning by Jack Mezirow which describes learning processes not only as acquisition of knowledge but also as the transformation of meaning. Furthermore Mezirow´s distinction between instrumental and communicative learning facilitates a very detailed look at the learning processes (see Mezirow 1991, 2000, 2009).

Mezirows ten steps of an ideal-typical learning process are considered for the analysis of my narrative interviews (see Mezirow 2000). Within generating theoretical implications, they will be a heuristic for looking differentiated at learning processes and assumptions. I investigate how I can refer learning processes to which of these ten steps. I try to find out the order of these learning steps within the learning processes as well as whether or not these ten steps need to be amended. With the ten steps, I can reconstruct and investigate the ways, how the assumptions are being reflectively transformed.

Burak, Baysan (2009): Gründung in der ethnischen Ökonomie. Was bewegt Personen mit Migrationshintergrund zur unternehmerischen Selbstständigkeit? Eine Analyse der Existenzgründungsantriebe von Studierenden mit Migrationshintergrund. Tönning: Der Andere Verlag. (Innovation und moderne Arbeit, 5). Boos-Nünning, Ursula/ Karakaşoğlu, Yasemin (2005): Viele Welten leben. Lebenslagen von Mädchen und jungen Frauen mit Migrationshintergrund. Münster et al. Boos-Nünning, Ursula (2008): Berufliche Bildung von Migrantinnen und Migranten. Ein vernachlässigtes Potenzial für Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. In: Hentges, G./ Hinnenkamp V./ Zwengel, A. (Ed.): Migrations- und Integrationsforschung in der Diskussion. Biografie, Sprache und Bildung als zentrale Bezugspunkte. Wiesbaden. 255-286. Corbin, Juliet / Strauss, Anselm (32008): Basics of Qualitative Research. Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission e.V. (Ed.) (2005): Kulturelle Vielfalt gestalten. Handlungsempfehlungen aus der Zivilgesellschaft zur Umsetzung des UNESCO-Übereinkommens zur Vielfalt kultureller Ausdrucksformen in und um Deutschland. http://www.unesco.de/fileadmin/medien/Dokumente/weissbuch_lay_endf_internet.pdf. last checked on 10.07.2010. Leicht, Rene./ Humpert, Andreas / Leiss, Markus/ Zimmer-Müller, Michael/ Lauxen-Ulbrich, Maria (Ed.) (2005): Die Bedeutung der ethnischen Ökonomie in Deutschland. Push- und Pullfaktoren für Unternehmensgründungen ausländischstämmiger Mitbürger, Studie für das Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit. online: http://www.institut-fuer-mittelstandsforschung.de/kos/WNetz?art=News.show&id=287 last checked on 13.01.2010. Mezirow, Jack (2009): An overview on transformative learning. In: Illeris, Knud (Ed.): Contemporary Theories of Learning. Learning theorists ... in their own words. London / New York: Routledge, 90-105. Mezirow, Jack (Ed.) (2000): Learning as Transformation: Critical Perspectives on a Theory in Progress. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. Mezirow, Jack (1990): Forstering critical reflection in adulthood. A guide to transformative and emancipatory learning. San Francisci: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) (2005): The Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in Germany. Paris. Schütze, Fritz (1976): Zur Hervorlockung und Analyse von Erzählungen thematisch relevanter Geschichten im Rahmen soziologischer Feldforschung. In: AG Bielefelder Soziologen (Ed.): Kommunikative Sozialforschung. München: Fink, 159-260