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What We Did
As a signatory to 1951 UN refugee convention, each year New Zealand accepts around 1,000-1,500 refugees. These refugees, although safe from persecution or war, face challenges in establishing secure livelihoods, in particular when starting and developing businesses. To understand this business start-up and development process further, we interviewed a sample of refugees who are settled in New Zealand and own and operate businesses. We found that refugees’ home country experiences, their flight and the asylum-seeking journey, and resettlement experiences in New Zealand shape their business start-up and development. Furthermore, the age at which they arrive and resettle in New Zealand shape how they view and approach business start-up and development, and ultimately their economic integration.
Who Was Involved
Dr Nadeera Ranabahu, Associate Professor Herb de Vries, and Dr Zhiyan Basharati (a refugee advocate)
Why It Matters
New Zealand’s refugee resettlement strategy focuses on social and economic integration as a means of creating an equitable future. However, economic integration is still challenging where data shows that employment and government benefits, as opposed to self-employment, is still the main sources of income for most refugee families. We believe the findings of this research study will help to understand the actions, practices, and factors that contribute to self-employment among refugees. These findings would be useful for refugee support agencies to identify ways to promote self-employment as an attractive option for economic integration.
Learn More
In Press:
- de Vries H., Ranabahu N. and Basharati Z. (2021). From Taking Flight to Putting Down Roots: A Narrative Perspective of the Entrepreneurial Journey of a Refugee. In Cooney T (Ed.), Palgrave Handbook on Minority Entrepreneurship: Palgrave.
- Ranabahu N., de Vries H., and Basharati Z. (2021). The Economic Integration of Women Refugee Entrepreneurs in New Zealand. In McAdam, M. and Cunningham, J (Eds.), Women and Global Entrepreneurship: Contextualising Everyday Experiences: Routledge.
Working papers:
- Refugee self-employment: Age-related implications on economic and social integration (A journal article)
- Refugee-owned businesses creating blended value in host communities: A means for economic and social integration? (A journal article)
