Refugee Entrepreneurial Trajectories

The global population of refugees as recorded by UNHCR is at an all-time high of over 90 million people forced to find new homes in a foreign land. Starting a new life can be unsettling for refugees and asylum seekers during the resettling process in their host countries, particularly when it comes to gaining financial independence. This paper used an interview-based study to engage with fifteen refugees and asylum seekers to learn how they achieve entrepreneurial success as they navigate refugee specific barriers in a new economy. The insights showed refugee entrepreneur specific barriers that align with resettlement challenges and the technical and social resourcefulness of this under-resourced community. Our contributions to the CSCW research community are an understanding of how low-socioeconomic entrepreneurs such as refugees, function in their ecosystem and design implications for developing technology to further the efforts of refugee entrepreneurs.