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Hidden Opportunity: How Investors Can Unlock the Potential of Refugee Entrepreneurs
Globally, almost 70 million people were displaced as of 2017. But though this refugee crisis is serious and growing, a more hopeful narrative is being overlooked, say John Kluge and Tim Docking at the Refugee Investment Network. Refugees are natural entrepreneurs whose businesses can make a major impact on themselves, their families and their communities – an impact that would grow with more investor support. Kluge and Docking discuss a recent RIN report that explores the emerging “refugee investing” movement, and why it represents an exciting field in impact investing.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Boycott Myanmar: An Open Letter to the Microfinance Community
In response to global events, microfinance has quickly ramped up its focus on refugees. But when those refugees are the Rohingya – the Muslim minority being expelled from Myanmar (and the world’s latest victims of genocide) – this new focus raises some difficult questions, says Daniel Rozas. Why isn’t anyone in the sector talking about the unspeakable atrocities being conducted and condoned in one of the fastest-growing microfinance markets in the world? “There is no way around it: When we work in Myanmar, we are complicit in ethnic cleansing,” Rozas says, in a bold call for a country-wide boycott.
- Categories
- Finance
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Fintech MyBucks Brings Banking to African Refugee Camp
At a refugee camp in Malawi in southeast Africa, a fintech and its bank subsidiary are helping to turn a seemingly hopeless situation into the beginnings of a prosperous community.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Cash is replacing other forms of aid, even in conflict zones
Giving cash to poor people is not a new idea. The UN sends money direct to bank accounts it sets up for Syrian refugees in Jordan; many countries use cash transfers as part of their social safety nets. What is new is donors’ willingness to give out cash in war zones.
- Categories
- Finance
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81 Designs: A social enterprise that marries art with women’s empowerment
The brand oversees a group of refugee women as they recreate the works of leading Middle Eastern artists in the traditional “tatreez” style of cross-stitching.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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How one engineer made it his business to help refugees become entrepreneurs
Usman Iftikhar turned his struggle to land a full-time engineering job into a startup accelerator that helps refugees and migrants realise their entrepreneurial ambitions – and received a Royal seal of approval for his efforts.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Financial inclusion makes big inroads into Myanmar
Myanmar has seen a significant increase in the numbers of adults with access to at least one formal financial services product, according to research presented on June 19 as part of the nationwide Making Access Possible (MAP) financial inclusion study.
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Blockchain international aid player Aid:Tech raises €1m
Dublin-based start-up Aid:Tech revolutionises how governments, enterprises and NGOs deliver aid to refugee camps.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- blockchain, refugees