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When Failure is Not an Option: Understanding – And Accelerating – the Success of Refugee Entrepreneurs
This World Refugee Day, the global community is experiencing the highest level of displacement on record. Though entrepreneurship can provide a route to livelihood for which resilient, community-oriented refugees are particularly suited, they often struggle to surmount barriers of language and discrimination, on top of the high failure rates that are typical of small businesses. Amy Gillett and Kristin Babbie Kelterborn at the William Davidson Institute share lessons from support programs helping refugees overcome tough odds to economically enrich their host countries.
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- Uncategorized
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Serving Refugee Communities with Tech, Energy Access, Entrepreneurship: Mastercard and USAID’s Collective Approach
Last year, USAID and Mastercard established the Smart Communities Coalition (SCC), a network of 35+ public and private organizations. The group is developing new ways companies, NGOs, governments and UN agencies can co-design and co-implement programs that empower people and enable growth in energy access, connectivity and digital tools. Katrina Pielli with USAID and Sasha Kapadia with Mastercard explain why the group chose to focus on Uganda and Kenya as pilot countries, which collectively host over 1.5 million refugees.
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- Energy, Technology
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Press Release: Miller Center Seeks Enterprises Serving Migrants, Refugees, and Human Trafficking Survivors
Globally, there are 68.5 million people forcibly displaced from their homes -- 25.5 million of those are refugees -- and a record 258 million migrants, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency and the World Health Organization, respectively. The International Labour Organization estimates human trafficking is a $150 billion industry worldwide, with 40.3 million modern day slaves; 75% are women and girls.
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- Press Release
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- North America
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Report: Equity Bank Commended for Financial Inclusion of Refugees
Equity Bank has been featured in a recent report by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Bridgespan titled “Private Sector and Refugees: Pathways to Scale.”
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- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Initiative for Inclusive Investment in Mexico (3im) Announced to Grow Investment in Mexico Through the Inclusion of Displaced People
The Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) will accompany a group of cross-sector partners including the Refugee Investment Network and 17 Asset Management today to announce the Initiative for Inclusive Investment in Mexico (3IM). 3IM is a new cross-sector, cross-border partnership that will attract long-term strategic growth capital for investments in Mexico through the inclusion of displaced people in economic development projects.
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- Investing
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- impact investing, migrants, refugees
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In a Kenyan Refugee Camp, Business Ideas but Little Access to Credit
Refugee camps like Kakuma are effectively large towns with their own mini-economies. Although remote, Kakuma has a population of more than 185,000 people. Refugees here come from many backgrounds, and money circulates as they take on casual odd jobs – from construction to washing clothes – or start small businesses.
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- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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In Uganda, a unique urban experiment is under way
A great experiment is under way in Uganda. An industrial skyline of water and cell towers hovers over sturdy mud huts and small farm plots. Schools and health centers are built from brick, slathered in concrete, and fitted with glass windows. Taps run freshwater, and small solar panels power streetlights, as well as radios blasting music from barbershops, televisions airing soccer matches in community halls, and cell phones snaking from charging stations in shops.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Sparrow’s RefugeeMobile Program Shows Smartphones Help Refugee Families Arriving in the US Resettle More Successfully
The results are in: research shows that smartphones help refugees resettle more successfully. RefugeeMobile, a smartphone program launched in May 2016 with the goal of helping refugee families arriving in the US resettle more successfully, has developed a proven program for refugees who have access to smartphones and data service. Recipients are more likely to integrate, be employed, and have higher paying jobs, according to new research.
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- Technology, Telecommunications