Refugee Entrepreneurship: A Case Study for Impact Investors

Important Causes in 2025

The nature of humanitarian aid is under scrutiny in 2025. At the same time, the global refugee crisis has reached historic proportions, straining traditional relief systems. Without new solutions, millions of refugees will remain dependent on dwindling humanitarian handouts for the foreseeable future.

We need a different path — one rooted in empowerment rather than perpetual aid. Investing in refugee entrepreneurship represents a necessary shift from pure humanitarian aid to market-based approaches.

Refugee Camps: A Growing Crisis

The numbers

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency counted a record-high 122 million forcibly displaced people in mid-2024 who have fled their homes due to armed conflict, violence, persecution, or disasters. Among them are nearly 43.7 million refugees, people who have a well-founded fear of persecution and have crossed international borders.

Roughly 22% of refugees — about 10 million people — live in purpose-built refugee camps rather than towns or cities. The majority of refugee camps are concentrated in developing regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East — generally in countries neighboring the crises that caused the displacement. Camps once envisioned as short-term solutions have become de-facto cities, some with hundreds of thousands of residents.

Why camps matter

Camps concentrate vulnerability. Residents are isolated from national labor markets, restricted in their movement, and almost entirely dependent on outside aid for food, water, and healthcare. Refugee camps now host generations of families in protracted exile with few opportunities to work or rebuild their lives. The traditional aid model of food rations and tents is simply not equipped for such drawn-out crises.

The aid gap

Aid budgets have not kept pace with the growing needs, leaving critical programs underfunded even as the ranks of refugees swell. Recent political shifts have threatened the progress of refugee support. The Trump administration’s 2025 executive order pausing foreign development assistance comes at a time of unprecedented global need, exacerbating the strain on humanitarian agencies. Unlike urban refugees who can sometimes tap local labor markets, camp residents rely almost entirely on aid-agency budgets for everything beyond subsistence.

A Sustainable Approach to Humanitarian Assistance

Refugee camps also concentrate entrepreneurial energy. Despite many refugees arriving to camps with little more than the clothes on their backs, they bring skills, ideas, and the desire to provide for themselves and their families. They also bring first-hand knowledge of their community’s needs and solutions for fulfilling these needs.

Julienne Oyler, founder of Inkomoko, highlighted the potential of entrepreneurship in refugee camps at TED2025. Founded in Rwanda in 2012, Inkomoko (formerly African Entrepreneur Collective) takes a venture-builder approach to camp economies. Instead of providing one-off relief, it identifies refugees with business ideas or existing small enterprises and provides them with training, mentorship, and affordable capital to grow their ventures.

On average, businesses in Inkomoko’s programs see a 70% increase in revenue within the first six months of support. Inkomoko has disbursed $40 million to camp-based businesses with a 96% repayment rate — defying the misconception that investing in refugees is too high-risk.

Growing Trend of Refugee Self-Reliance

Inkomoko is not alone. Refugees are increasingly being seen not only as beneficiaries of aid, but as active contributors to local economies when given a chance. Already, refugee enterprises provide healthy food, clean water, home goods, clothing, and technology services to customers within their camp communities.

Why focus on supporting entrepreneurship in refugee camps?

1. Market demand exists inside camps.

2. Micro-capital triggers macro impact.

3. Return on investment is measurable.

By investing in refugee-led businesses, investors provide capital that helps refugees become self-reliant, while potentially earning a return as those businesses grow. Crucially, this approach injects much-needed funds into refugee communities at a time when traditional aid is uncertain.

Conclusion: Camps as Venture Zones

Impact investing in camp-based enterprises shields refugees from the political ebb-and-flow of foreign-aid appropriations, unlocks dormant market potential, and delivers measurable financial and social returns to investors.

The scale of the refugee crisis in 2025 means we can no longer afford to rely solely on charity or traditional aid. Impact investing is increasingly a necessary tool to build sustainable solutions for displaced populations.

Successful models like Inkomoko prove that refugees are “investable” — they can use loans effectively to expand their incomes and reliably repay investors. Rather than seeing refugees as a burden, impact investing treats them as partners in economic development.

Learn More

These programs support refugees by enabling them to pursue their entrepreneurial aspirations — with proven results and documented ROI.

INKOMOKO

Inkomoko provides refugee entrepreneurs with business training, mentorship, and direct financing (Sharia-compliant loans, etc.) to grow micro and small enterprises. It has become “the largest investor in refugee entrepreneurs in Africa,” disbursing $14+ million to over 50,000 refugee entrepreneurs to date. These investments have helped create an estimated 40,000+ jobs across refugee communities. Inkomoko’s model emphasizes that refugees’ own business ideas can drive growth: refugee-run businesses in camps often perform as well as or better than those in host markets, given the right support. By 2030, Inkomoko aims to support hundreds of thousands more entrepreneurs as a pathway from aid dependency to self-reliance.

Opportunity Bank of Uganda (OBUL)

Opportunity International is working with Opportunity Bank of Uganda (OBUL) and FINCA International to deliver loans and business support in Uganda’s refugee settlements like Nakivale and Kiryandongo. OBUL and partners use a human-centered approach to include refugees in financial services. By 2025 they have trained over 40,000 refugees and hosts in financial skills and helped 18,500 refugees open savings accounts, while disbursing more than 6,000 loans (total ~$2 million) to refugee entrepreneurs. Surveys found that 91% of businesses still exist 18 months after the loan ended, and clients report being able to hire employees and increase savings. 

Equity Bank Kenya

Equity Bank Kenya, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), launched a $20 million Risk Sharing Facility (RSF) to enhance financial inclusion within underserved regions in Kenya, including refugees and host communities. The program, unveiled in Kakuma, Turkana County will be implemented in 14 marginalized counties across Kenya, among them Turkana and Garissa which host Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps, with the goal of supporting refugees and their host communities towards social economic empowerment that ultimately lead to self-reliance.

Mercy Corps DREAMS Program

Mercy Corps’ Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems (DREAMS) operates in Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. Since 2021, DREAMS programs have developed markets and supported refugees to enhance self-reliance in refugee settings. DREAMS has reached over 12,000 households in these settlements, directly benefiting more than 72,000 individuals. Its one-off “smart” subsidy program enabled 45% of participants to later buy input products at full cost.

Farm Africa in partnership with World University Service of Canada (WUSC - EUMC)

This program supports refugee and host-community youth to launch and expand small businesses in Kakuma’s challenging environment. It provides seed financing, tailored business training, and mentorship to micro-entrepreneurs, helping them innovate and grow despite constraints like arid land and restricted livelihoods in the camp. In its first 18 months, 70% of supported entrepreneurs expanded their businesses (adding new products/services) and average annual revenues rose 44% after training.

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Note: Generative AI tools were used in the creation of this article to assist with research, summarization, and editing.