How Are Business Schools Tackling The Refugee Crisis?
... [+] (Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images) Getty Images  The UNHCR  the UNs Refugee Agency  predicts that there are almost 80 million displaced people worldwide, making up around 1% of the worlds population. A dispiriting figure, and one that becomes even more troubling when you hear this number has almost doubled globally in the last ten years. The hardship and adversity that many of these refugees have faced has been caused by natural disasters, economic hardship, war and persecution. And though many have successfully sought refuge in other, more stable countries, their journeys have not been easy ones, with many facing difficult travel, long times spent in temporary camps, and little help or support from governments. To coincide with World Refugee Day, Poets & Quants has this week featured refugees that have used business school to forge new lives and opportunities for themselves, and for others. Helping local refugees launch ventures  The refugee crisis is one of the worst humanitarian tragedies of our time, says Linda Tuncay Zayer, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Marketing and incoming Associate Dean at Loyola University Chicagos Quinlan School of Business. Individuals going through the resettlement process in the U.S. and other countries have to navigate a complicated process, including securing a job and earning an income.  The refugee crisis is something that Professor Tuncay Zaher experienced first-hand whilst on a humanitarian trip in 2016, where she encountered the devastating effects in Lesvos, Greece. When I returned home, I felt it was important to help in a way that I could. I attended an event where I met the executive director of the Syrian Community Network (SCN), Suzanne Sahloul, who runs a mutual aid organization for Syrian refugees. She explained that there was a group of women refugees who wanted to start a catering business. I brought the idea to my graduate students in my consumer behavior class, as well as the Graduate Women in Business organization. The refugee crisis is one of the worst humanitarian tragedies of our time, says Linda Tuncay ... [+] Zayer, PhD, Professor of Marketing at Loyola University Chicagos Quinlan School of Business Loyola University Chicagos Quinlan School of Business  The Quinlan School of Business then set-up an initiative where students from the business school helped refugee entrepreneurs in the Chicago area launch their businesses. Students work with the entrepreneurs from the outset of their business ideas, including one project where they developed a business plan which included marketing, operations, legal, and logistics for Sweet Syrian  a catering company featuring Syrian sweets. Whilst another involved 100 students working on a consumer research and social media project with Loom  a social enterprise of Catholic Charities, where refugee women make handmade goods such as jewellery and scarves. Teaching refugee-founded start-ups new skillsets  However, its not just local refugee entrepreneurs business schools are looking to provide support, guidance and advice to. At ESMT Berlin, through the schools Social Impact project where Masters in Management students spend five weeks serving as an economic or management consultant for an organization with specific social impact objectives, many students take the opportunity to utilise this project to help those in the most need. One group of ESMT students took this five-week project opportunity to work with SINA, a global NGO that provides seed funding and incubation programmes for refugee-founded enterprises. Through this collaboration with SINA, the students worked with Generous Designs Africa (GDA), a refugee-founded start-up which aims to employ young women by reducing the impact of environmental pollution in Africa. GDA collects old plastic waste in Bidi Bidi, the second-largest refugee camp worldwide, and turns it into new products. The overall project goal was to help GDA be successful, ensuring that it can continue to exist, said Filippo Poggiato, an ESMT MiM graduate and team member of the project. Eventually, this would narrow down to secure funding from impact investors. To reach this goal, we had to tackle fundamental challenges in each company department, such as Marketing, Sales, Finance, and Production.  A group of Masters in Management students at ESMT Berlin took a five-week Social Impact project ... [+] opportunity to work with SINA, a global NGO that provides seed funding and incubation programmes for refugee-founded enterprises ESMT  The impact of the project on the refugees was on both a professional and personal level. Whether it be helping the company to secure the funding through preparing them for an investment pitch, or teaching them basic tutorials on how to write an email or market products online and ending with sophisticated financial planning and forecasting. Whilst from a personal perspective, the refugee-founded start-up team gave feedback on how happy they were to learn new skills from the ESMT students, and felt inspired and motivated to reach out to do more. One surprising part of the project, says Peter Smeds, another ESMT MiM graduate and member of the project, is how much we take things for granted, and how we save a lot of time by having technologies take over time-consuming manual work. For many entrepreneurs who are also facing hardship, the daily tasks of cooking food on firewood, washing clothes by hand, and walking far to get food and water, are so time-consuming it leaves less time to focus on becoming an entrepreneur.  A way to continue social projects  At many business schools, students get involved with social impact projects during their studies, and then step back into the workforce and their busy lives, often leaving these projects behind. At Nyenrode Business University, in the Netherlands, academics saw this gap in projects and created the Young & Bold initiative, alongside students and alumni from the business school. Young & Bold is a community of students and professionals who keep working on these projects impacting society in a positive way, and for the last year the initiative has focused on projects for refugees and collaborated with an organisation called Movement On The Ground (MOTG). MOTG aims to give people in refugee camps an education and leave the camp with a set of new skills that helps them to feel more confident and prepared for life challenges, says Dsire van Gorp, Founder of Young & Bold and Professor of International Business at Nyenrode Business University. Different teams have worked on various projects for MOTG, including educating refugees to help them prepare for the labour market. Together with several Nyenrode MBA students, the Young & Bold Foundation network is helping to shape the curriculum of the Movement Academy  an MOTG initiative helping people to prepare for integration into European job markets.  "Movement On The Ground (MOTG) aims to give people in refugee camps an education and leave the camp ... [+] with a set of new skills that helps them to feel more confident and prepared for life challenges, says Dsire van Gorp, Founder of Young & Bold and Professor of International Business at Nyenrode Business University. Nyenrode Business University  Professor Van Gorp says that the initiative not only helps refugees through the social projects the Young & Bold members work on, these initiatives also help students and young professionals who are looking to develop and grow in areas of societal impact, and supports companies in their pursuit for new ways of tacking societal challenges with the help of new and innovative perspectives.  Improving access for refugees  Its not just student and school-led projects which are improving the lives of refugees in a local context. Many schools are directly looking to improve the lives of refugees through improving the direct access to a business education. Heriot-Watt University's Edinburgh Business School for instance, joined together with educational charity Theirworld in early 2020, to offer full scholarships for refugees and Lebanese nationals residing in Lebanon. The programme offers up to 20 individuals the opportunity to study for a Master of Business Administration degree online in Arabic, and is aimed at individuals who are hoping to use their skills to make a positive contribution to their communities and the economy, either in the country where they currently live, or after they have moved elsewhere or returned home. In recent years, business schools have increasingly developed initiatives based on social impact, often focusing on sustainability, the environment and climate change. Business Schools have a responsibility to educate the next generation of leaders who have a responsibility not only to not harm society but moreover, to proactively contribute in a positive way to society - including tackling poverty, says Professor Van Gorp. And for Maciek Nowak, PhD, Associate Dean and Professor at the Quinlan School of Business, it is important for business schools to provide guidance to those with an innovative spirit but without access to the same resources that most American businesses are accustomed to. Projects like that at Quinlan levels the playing field for these refugees, and provides them with needed expertise, he says.