NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

A new study has shown that Kenya could reap enormous benefits by helping refugees start small businesses thus curbing the emergence of terror gangs within refugee camps.

The authors Dr Helen Haugh and Marlen de la Chaux noted that the world's largest refugee camps based in Dadaab, Kenya, generated approximately Sh1.4 billion for host communities and Sh2.5 billion from refugee enterprises showing availability of human resource that could be tapped for national good.

The exhaustive study just released by UK's Judge Business School, Cambridge entitled 'Entrepreneurship and Innovation; How Institutional Voids Shape Economic Opportunities in Refugee Camps' says policy makers must formulate a practical mechanism that fills the institutional void blamed for desperation, boredom and crime among refugees.

"Refugee camps tend to manifest high crime rates and struggles with sexual and gender-based violence.

"Helping them engage in innovative activity improves both the socioeconomic prospects of refugees that reduces dependency on aid, give life meaning for and confer dignity on the entrepreneurs," the study says.

OUTSOURCE DIGITAL TASKS

The study hails Dadaab refugee camp's social enterprise, Samasource, which outsourced small digital tasks to refugees with basic computer skills enabling the 'tech' refugees to start businesses, develop social networks, meet like-minded individuals and improve computer skills.