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This paper explores the structure and strategies of Polish migrant entrepreneurship in Berlin in the 1990s, drawing on statistical data, in-depth interviews and a comparison to Turkish entrepreneurship in Berlin. Existing research on the entrepreneurial activity of migrants and ethnic minorities tends to focus on processes observed solely within specific places in the country of immigration. I argue that further insights into the dynamics of 'ethnic entrepreneurship' are enabled by introducing the concept of transnational social space to the 'mixed embeddedness' perspective on ethnic business. This approach may explain the early orientation towards an open and transnational market among Polish entrepreneurs in comparison to the more local orientation of the 'ethnic community' in the first period of Turkish entrepreneurship. Four main entrepreneurial strategies of migrants from Poland can be observed: first, utilising a high degree of personal mobility and the differences in purchasing power between Germany and Poland in cross-border trade; second, the recruitment of 'transnational workers'; third, referring to the 'Polish community' as a market; and fourth, opening branches in Poland of businesses initiated and based in Germany. These strategies point to the relevance of transnational social networks and mobility in the context of national and transnational market conditions and politico-institutional frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]