The Refugee Entrepreneurship Network

Welcome to the Refugee Entrepreneurship Network

The CFE Refugee Entrepreneurship Network (REN) is a global community working to improve the scale and impact of refugee entrepreneurship programmes. It brings together practitioners, philanthropic foundations, researchers, corporates and investors.

Entrepreneurship empowers refugees. It gives them the opportunity to take direct control over their lives and overcome barriers they face in the labour market. Refugee entrepreneurs also have a proven record of breaking down barriers between communities and facilitating the integration of newly arrived groups into society. In recent years, ‘refugee entrepreneurship programmes’ have launched around the world to harness the power of entrepreneurship for refugee integration. It is these organisations that we seek to support and scale globally. Since launching in 2018, the Refugee Entrepreneurship Network has: facilitated best practice exchange and networking through four annual summits, regular video conference workshops, and online collaboration tools; mapped the structure, funding, content, and impact of 52 programmes run by 39 organisations across 19 countries; collated global resources and crowdsourced expert feedback on a range of research projects; and delivered UK and global advocacy campaigns to promote refugee entrepreneurship and increase the scale and impact of support available.

Member benefits

Working groups

Member-led working groups to facilitate best practice exchange and collaboration.

Fortnightly bulletins

Fortnightly email bulletins highlighting news, research, opportunities, and more.

Annual summit

Access to our invite-only annual global summit that convenes 150+ experts from 25+ countries.

Member database

GDPR-compliant contact database to connect directly with other members of the network.

Resource library

Evaluation frameworks and data, programme structures, and other key documents.

Policy and advocacy

Shaping refugee policy and working to embed entrepreneurship in refugee integration strategies.

Member experience

"Ironically, it's easy to be stuck in your local bubble working in international development. Being part of REN opened global potentials for growth and collaboration with other experts to utilize our collective intelligence and network to tackle our ever changing world."

Anas Alchalabi

SME Development Expert, Spark

"CFE has done an immense job not only showcasing the importance of refugee entrepreneurship worldwide but also creating a constructive dialogue around it. They have enabled regular cross-pollination of ideas among organisations globally. Many of these relationships would not be possible without the network."

Patricia Letayf

Co-Founder, Five One Labs, Iraq

Joining the network

There are two types of membership for the network: - Full membership: For practitioner organisations delivering refugee entrepreneurship programmes. - Associate membership: For refugee entrepreneurs, universities and research institutes, grant-making foundations, corporates, government departments and agencies, banks, investors and other finance providers that are actively working to support refugee entrepreneurs. Membership is application-based and operates on an organisational basis. This means an unlimited number of staff across a registered organisation can engage with the network. Membership is free. If you have an interest in the topic but are not actively working in the field, you can become a supporter and receive bi-monthly newsletters providing global insight on refugee entrepreneurship developments.

Apply to join the network Become a supporter of the network

Supported by

We are proud to be supported by The Human Safety Net, Generali Insurance Group's foundation.

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