9 Conversations: Network building for self-employment of refugees Erasmus Project

Project Title

9 Conversations: Network building for self-employment of refugees

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Integration of refugees; Migrants’ issues; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

Whatever the national approach, there comes a point, two or three years after arrival, when refugees cease to attract so much special support. At this stage, many still do not have adequate national language skills to be able to easily enter the mainstream labour market and there are often other challenges such as the lack of recognition of qualifications and experience. Therefore, the unemployment rate of refugees is markedly high compared to other segments of society.

The aim of this project is to recognise that a significant minority of the refugees already have experience of running their own business and to help them to set up their own business in the host country by providing awareness raising that takes account both, of the specific national requirements for running your own business and the general principles of setting up and running a small business. The project also recognises the entrepreneurial skills that were needed by the refugees to arrive at their destination in Europe. Where participants already have experience of running a business, this experience will be used as a valuable contribution to the course. Research (by Betts at Oxford for example) supports the conclusion that the level of entrepreneurship is higher in the refugee population than in the general population and therefore this project supports an existing tendency. However cultural differences will play an important part. For example, it is not acceptable in the early stages of a business, to fail to report zero VAT liabilities. Someone who is used to a laxer regulatory regime may be shocked to find themselves paying a fine for non-reporting of VAT even when they have had no VAT-able transactions yet. A set of materials that anticipates such gaps in knowledge and experience could help to smooth the path to self-employment in a new context.

The approach taken was to encourage course participants to learn by contacting useful third parties such as financial and legal experts in the form of talks with banks, potential suppliers and local business advisory services following the approach taken by Steve Blank in the US. This helps to nurture the professional networks which refugees often lack as well as giving them key information about starting a business in their new context.

This was done be by developing an on-demand learning package that can be completed independently but preferably in a small face to face study group to provide mutual support. Whether working in a group or individually, the learning package was supported through external facilitation during the project, but the end result is possible to implement without such support once the project period ends. The course was built around the Business Model Canvas (BMC) framework made famous by Osterwalder which sets out the nine areas that need to be considered when starting or developing a business. One of the main attractions from a pedagogical point of view is that the model is often presented visually on a one-page graphic that can easily be annotated by users. The nine areas of the framework give rise to the nine conversations that every participant should have in the planning of their business and hence the name of the project.

After piloting the materials on a very small scale in Denmark (externally funded), the learning materials and facilitation guide are now widely available to relevant actors in the partner countries and beyond. Due to the non-approval of the planned large-scale blended version of the course and its replacement by a very small-scale pilot in Denmark, the project was not able to offer the planned short face to face course for a few of the pilot participants who feel able to go to the next step to help them start to produce a business plan and to learn more about how to facilitate a study group with the project materials in order to ‘pay it forward’.

The whole consortium offer expertise in Universal Design for Learning, entrepreneurship education, practical application of the EU Skills Profile for Third Country Nationals, educational app development, online educational materials development and experience of refugee needs and challenges including language needs and intercultural differences. The consortium includes a technical company, three higher education institutions, a social enterprise and a small business created by a migrant.

The project revealed different needs in the various parts of the EU with refugees in Greece and Italy largely wishing to pass through (and maybe therefore less likely to start a business) while refugees arriving in northern Europe were more likely to see this as their end point and be willing to invest resources in establishing a business. The project also fulfilled a need for a process to facilitate the setting up of a business rather than a more academic perspective on entrepreneurship.

Project Website

http://9conversations.no

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 216891 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stiftelsen TISIP & Country: NO

Project Partners

• ALEXANDREIO TECHNOLOGIKO EKPAIDEITIKO IDRYMA THESSALONIKIS
• Socialiniu projektu institutas
• RETHINK Learning Technologies AS
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA
• Anne Fox ApS