Giving Compass' Take:

• Jessica Davis Pluess and Selena Victor explain the business opportunities presented by refugees, and how boosting refugee resilience can be profitable. 

• How can organizations from different sectors work together to boost refugee resilience? What are the advantages and disadvantages of for-profit solutions? 

• Learn more about asset-based refugee funding frameworks. 

Kakuma refugee camp in Northern Kenya is one of the largest and longest-standing refugee settlements in the world, and to many, it is the epitome of an intractable displacement crisis and an endless drain on the world’s aid budgets.

Yet this past summer, the International Finance Corporation published a landmark study revealing that the Kakuma camp and surrounding neighborhoods represent a $56 million market opportunity. It found what refugees and those who work with them have always known: that entrepreneurship and markets for consumer goods, real estate, education, telecommunications, and many other goods and services are flourishing in the area, despite significant practical and legal constraints.

This captures the essence of a quiet revolution underway in the humanitarian sector. Under the Global Compact on Refugees, refugees are no longer simply recipients of aid, but instead active participants in the economies and communities where they reside. And with this, business is no longer just a supporter, but an essential partner in turning the “refugee crisis” into an opportunity—for refugees, host countries, and businesses themselves.

Over the last six months, we have consulted more than 50 stakeholders and drawn on the rich experience and deep knowledge of our partners to identify 17 promising business models to help build refugee resilience, including digital education for refugee children, sourcing from refugee-owned or inclusive enterprises, and safe and sustainable off-grid energy solutions.

Beyond the models themselves, we learned about some of the factors that will help these models work in practice and scale. Here are three:

  1. Identify benefits and incentives for host countries, and build both.
  2. Use aid to catalyze markets and attract business.
  3. Advocate for laws and policies that encourage refugee self-reliance and business engagement.

Read the full article about refugee recilience by Jessica Davis Pluess and Selena Victor at Stanford Social Innovation Review.