Enter to Transform: a hub for refugee-entrepreneurs
Enter to Transform aims to set up a supportive structure for recognized refugees with entrepreneurial experience and ambitions in Ireland, Germany, France and the Netherlands, and increase the guidance capacity of the institutions that support them.
Four hubs will be set up, one in each country, over a period of three years. We will support starting entrepreneurs through the phases stand-up, start-up and scale-up, with a focus on four sectors: health care, arts & artisanship, ICT services and trade.
The project is based on action research: during the first year we will design and test various interventions in France, which will be rolled out and tested in other national contexts during the second year.
Researchers and implementing organisations are involved in the four countries, with
The World Makers Foundation and Newest Art Organization in the Netherlands.
Foster entrepreneurial communities and create opportunity
The Hubs will function as door-openers to the existing entrepreneurial infrastructure. In this way we will avoid creating parallel structures, and instead connect newcomers to the relevant resources. The Hubs will be physical and virtual meeting places for refugee-entrepreneurs and the supporting community: a space for encounters, for conversations which spark new ideas. Furthermore, the Hubs will offer support and mentoring on e.g. financing, business and market awareness, intercultural awareness and collaboration.
Integration as a two-way process
While we focus on the development and growth of refugee-entrepreneurs, we believe it’s crucial to address the root causes of the obstacles that are faced. We take a systemic approach, as such social problems are often intractable and embedded in networks of cause and effect.
Systemic change is an intentional process designed to fundamentally alter the components and structures that cause the system to behave in a certain way. We believe integration is a two-way process, and this approach allows us to tackle these issues on two tracks.
