The years following the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015 saw unprecedented efforts to promote the social and economic inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers. Entrepreneurship has been praised as a promising route to refugee self-reliance, but its viability remains contested and under-researched in developed economies such as Germany. Limited literature on the topic suggests entrepreneurship is a useful route to self-sufficiency, although refugees face more barriers than other immigrant entrepreneurs, such as language barriers and bureaucratic processes. This article uses semi-structured interviews with refugee entrepreneurs, civil society, social enterprises and the public sector to identify the main challenges for refugee entrepreneurs and to examine whether entrepreneurship is effective for achieving self-reliance in one of the most important centres for creating innovative projects supporting refugee inclusion and entrepreneurship, namely Berlin. Though it is too early to demonstrate whether entrepreneurship has long-term economic gains, this research shows that entrepreneurship is not a ‘fast track’ to economic self-reliance, but has several benefits for social inclusion. It also demonstrates the importance of holistic support systems for refugee entrepreneurs and the difficulty of refugee entrepreneurial success even in the most developed economies.
Publishing Organizations: Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative
Author(s): Climate Risks and Self-Reliance Technical Working Group (TWG)
Publishing Organizations: International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
Author(s): Boel McAteer and Kellie Leeson
Publishing Organizations: International Rescue Committee (IRC) RE:BUiLD Program
Author(s): Author: Everlyn Kaumba with contributions from Priscilla Dembetembe, Belinda Muya, Elizabeth Mukami, Victor Otsimi, David Musiime, and Ned Meerdink
Publishing Organizations: Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative
Author(s): Sasha Muench
Publishing Organizations: Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative, RefugePoint, RELON Uganda, and R-SEAT
Publishing Organizations: Cohere
Author(s): Diana Essex-Lettieri; Julia Zahreddine
Publishing Organizations: Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative
Author(s): Dr. Evan Easton-Calabria
Publishing Organizations: Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative
Authors: Refugee Self-Reliance Market Systems Development Working Group
Publishing Organizations: RefugePoint and the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative in partnership with refugee-led organizations operating in Nairobi, Kenya
Publishing Organizations: GIZ, WINS Global Consult