Refugees-Owned Enterprises in the ‘New-Found’ Land

Abstract

Abstract

The refugee communities add value to Western societies through entrepreneurship and new business development. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), refugees are people who have fled away from war, violence, conflict or persecution. They have crossed an international border to find safety in another country. Despite historical refugee crises, the field of entrepreneurship is still in its infancy when it comes to understand how refugees engage in entrepreneurship, but interest in the field has increased since 2015 among both scholars and policymakers. The early stages of business are the most critical period for building a company in a new host country. However, little is known about the early processes of these businesses. The aim of this study is to clarify how early-stage refugee-owned businesses are managed, focusing on Finland-settled refugee entrepreneurs originating from the Greater Middle East conflict areas. The research gap can be condensed into the following research questions: (1) What are the special characteristics of business management in Finland as a host country from the perspective of refugee entrepreneurs? and (2) How is refugee embeddedness in the home country political and religious context reflected in their sensemaking of business in the host context? The data collection and analysis were conducted following the principles of the Critical Incident Technique (CIT). The findings clarify the management priorities in five refugee-owned businesses and shed light on how religious and political conflicts in the Greater Middle East are reflected in the early growth process in the Finnish business context. The results also reflect the refugee entrepreneur’s perspective regarding growth management theory. From a pragmatic perspective, the data provide a useful benchmarking object for refugee entrepreneurs and for development agencies, as well as for policymakers seeking to design better policies for refugee integration.