The knowledge exchange began with the German team presenting the challenges with the ENTER framework in Germany.
- One challenge is the complicated bureaucracy. Formal economic activity is highly regulated in Germany. For every step along the way of creating a business there are rules to follow, documents to fill out (almost exclusively in German) and processes to go through. Permissions and responsibilities are fragmented. Entrepreneurs need different documents and attestations form different authorities and it can be. Figuring out where to go to and to whom you have to speak can be challenging for any aspiring entrepreneur, let alone refugee restarters.
- Another challenge is the lack of access to a coherent pathway of support services. The German support landscape is very fragmented and one-stop shops for entrepreneurs often do not exist in the federal system. So not only is the bureaucracy of founding a business difficult to navigate but so is the support infrastructure. It can be very complicated to find out where to get assistance from, especially for refugees. This problem is confounded by the fact that public authorities often do not know how to deal with refugee entrepreneurs and what kind of assistance they need (like knowledge of the local context or access to supportive networks).
The German team then went on to point out opportunities associated the RR and the ENTER project as well as important overarching goals:
- Migrant and refugee entrepreneurs are more likely than natives to start a new business. The project is an opportunity to demonstrate that newcomers are productive contributors to their host communities and economies and to change common narratives about refugees and refugee entrepreneurship.
- In order to support RR it is vital to connect RR and existing support programs, as they are not known among refugee networks. Moreover, there is a disconnect between the organizations supporting the social and economic integration of newcomers and the actors involved in entrepreneurial support within local ecosystems, resulting in a lack of collaboration, knowledge-sharing, provision of holistic services, and funding. Therefore, the hubs created in the project should provide targeted services for newcomer entrepreneurs to address specific barriers such as linguistic, legal and bureaucratic barriers. The idea of being part of a network is crucial.
Before moving on to an open discussion at the end, the German organisations and team members presented their expertise and experience in the field of refugee and migrant entrepreneurship.
You can find the presentation under the article.