7th World Investment Forum event: Promoting entrepreneurship for migrants and refugees for inclusive and sustainable development

Organized in partnership with International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Ladies and gentlemen,

Our world would not look the same without the ingenuity, courage and perseverance of entrepreneurs. Without any doubt, entrepreneurship makes an important contribution to sustainable development.

This is also explicitly recognized in the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development adopted in 2020. With this resolution, member States are encouraged to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate entrepreneurship policies and ensure that vulnerable groups are not left behind so that they can access sustainable livelihoods through entrepreneurship.

Vulnerable groups include migrants and refugees. But we should not forget that beyond vulnerability, the skills, talents and experiences of migrants and refugees can be an immense source for development. While migrants are not entrepreneurs "by nature", the experience of their journeys - often long, complicated and sometimes dangerous -, the risks they took and difficulties they faced, make them more resilient and reinforce their will to succeed in their new life.

UNCTAD has been promoting migrant and refugee entrepreneurship in partnership with IOM and UNHCR since 2017. Our joint Policy Guide on Entrepreneurship for Migrants and Refugees has become a landmark framework offering a holistic and comprehensive approach to policy formulation and implementation. It supports member States in designing requisite policy measures in the areas of regulatory framework and access to education, finance, technology, networks, and markets. The objective is to engage migrant and refugee entrepreneurs in productive activities in a sustainable way, improving the quality of their lives as well as local communities. More than twenty countries have developed action plans in line with the Policy Guide.

Migrants and refugees face several barriers to participate effectively in economic activity, ranging from their legal status – with regulations preventing them from working and accessing basic services – to lack of access to start-up finance and formal bank accounts, as well as language and cultural barriers, and impoverishment.

The humanitarian-development nexus is sensitive and requires innovative partnerships. UNCTAD, therefore, works closely with other UN entities and member States to build capacity, raise awareness, and improve policies on the role of entrepreneurship for social and economic integration of migrants and refugees in host countries.

In partnership with IOM and UNHCR, UNCTAD has been stimulating discussions among policymakers and the wider stakeholder community on how entrepreneurship promotion measures might support the long-term social and economic inclusion of refugees and migrants and enhance their positive economic and development impact on host countries.

Through a technical assistance project, we have brought together local and national authorities, civil society, private sector and academia in Ecuador, Jordan and Uganda. This project has given UNCTAD a firsthand experience in understanding the challenges faced by migrant and refugee entrepreneurs in specific country contexts. The lack of coordination in the institutional framework and presence of legal barriers aggravates their situation.

There is a substantial information gap between stakeholders in the ecosystem and migrant and refugee entrepreneurs. Even when regulations exist – like in Uganda – for migrant and refugee entrepreneurs to register their businesses or access various forms of capital including trainings, alternative finance, land and technology, implementation often lags due to information gap. While many stakeholders are increasingly paying attention to migrants and refugees, particularly in skills training programmes, lack of coordination and monitoring and evaluation is leading to inefficiencies in potential impact.

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged project implementation “on the ground”. Yet, it has also forced us to think differently and find solutions adapted to the new context. We therefore partnered with UNITAR to develop an e-learning course on Entrepreneurship for Migrants and Refugees. The course strengthens the competences required by policymakers and practitioners for overcoming some of the challenges on economic and social inclusion for migrants and refugees and raises the understanding of the benefits of entrepreneurship.

The 6-week e-learning course follows closely the joint Policy Guide. Launched in March 2020 in English, the course is now also available in Arabic, French and Spanish. So far, over 1,000 participants from 90 countries, including policymakers and practitioners, have been certified.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Entrepreneurship offers people a pathway to act upon opportunities in the marketplace, formalize ideas into businesses and create value. Entrepreneurship is a driver of productivity and economic growth.

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration as well as the Global Compact for Refugees are important achievements of the international community. The work delivered through the UNCTAD-IOM-UNHCR partnership can make an important contribution to these global compacts.

Thank you.