{"id":1770,"date":"2018-12-12T07:28:58","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T12:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/?p=1770"},"modified":"2018-12-12T08:39:23","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T13:39:23","slug":"how-business-can-support-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/2018\/12\/12\/how-business-can-support-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"How Business Can Support Refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Ryan Forman<\/a> ’19<\/em><\/p>\n

All around the world, refugees are being demonized for various political reasons. There is overwhelming academic and professional research into how much value refugees are to society. Therefore, civil society cannot help them adjust to their new country alone, but business plays a role in supporting them as well. There are multiple ways in which business can help the current refugee situation, but this article is going to focus on two key methods.<\/p>\n

\"\"The first way that business can help refugees is by investing in refugee-owned\/founded businesses. Research shows that refugees are more likely to hire fellow refugees. Because of this investment, businesses can support more than just one refugee; they can help many others get hired as well. One example of an impact investment organization that specializes in investing in refugee-founded businesses is the Refugee Investment Network (RIN). The RIN works to help move private capital to investment in financing of companies that benefit both refugees and their host communities.<\/p>\n

An additional way that business can help refugees is by advocating for them in the workforce. Advocating for refugees could be businesses partnering with both governmental and non-governmental organizations that will help individuals get the skills that they need to be more competitive in their local job market. Ernst & Young (EY) in Germany have gone above and beyond in how to support refugees. EY Germany states, \u201cThrough EY Cares, the team got funding for a language-learning app, developed by an employee of EY Germany. The team has also supported Kiron, a social start-up providing higher education to refugees, and it has launched a pilot internship program for 10 refugees across EY Germany.\u201d There aren\u2019t many examples of this in the United States, but there is a similar situation here in Burlington at Rhino Foods. Advocating for refugees could be looking at leveraging their past skills to hire them for similar roles in a business that they did in their former country. According to Rhino Foods, \u201cThe cultural diversity at Rhino exposes us to each other\u2019s favorite foods, traditions, and life experiences.\u201d Currently, refugees make up 37% of Rhino Food\u2019s workforce.<\/p>\n

In our Entrepreneurship class, my group has proposed creating an incubator that would help address both of these methods to help refugees. We think that an incubator, that supports both investment in refugee-owned businesses and partnerships to help refugees get the skills they need to become competitive in their local markets, is a needed organization. I would certainly like to see more organizations place such an emphasis on, as RIN has described, \u201cthe greatest social challenge of our time.\u201d Refugees are a boon to the local economy, and it is time for business to empower them.<\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Perry Grone<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Ryan Forman ’19 All around the world, refugees are being demonized for various political reasons. There is overwhelming academic and professional research into how much value refugees are to society. Therefore, civil society cannot help them adjust to their new country alone, but business plays a role in supporting them … <\/p>\n

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