Refugees and the Entrepreneurial Process

Abstract

The MV Tampa incident in 2001 involving refugees was a watershed in public opinion in New Zealand. Refugees and their right to claim asylum created a great deal of debate There is public disquiet regarding the diverse backgrounds of refugees and their reliance on the welfare system. Official data shows that 86 percent of refugees are still unemployed after five years residency in New Zealand (JR McKemzie Trust 2004). As a result of Public concern at the high level of state dependency amongst refugees, creating alternative avenues of economic independence has become the focus of government and NGO action. The transition of refugees to becoming enterpreneurs and small busness owners is one way of escaping both welfare dependence and the discriminatory views of many employers. However, the nature of this assistance and how successful these programmes have een are still unknown. In addition, whilst current literature recognizes indigenous, ethnic and minority entrepreneurs there is still little mention of the entrepreneurial activities of refugees in New Zealand.

The aim of this paperis to add the literature on centrepreneuship as well as advancing the literature from the traditional focus on refugees “plight” to their attributes as entrepreneurs and small business owners. The paper commences with a critique of the relevant literature and arrives at a set of synergistic dfiniions. A conceptual model on refugee integration and transition as developed by Valtonen (2004:87), together with the Human Capabilities Framework (Tipples 2004) are used as platforms to develop a new framework. The paper presents preliminary on the type of assistance available to refugees in New Zealand. The paper concludes with a summary of the key barriers facing refugees in becoming entrepreneurs.