Design of a Business Incubation Program for Urban Refugee-Owned Enterprises in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

With the growing refugee population worldwide, refugees are moving out of the refugee camps to urban areas seeking settlement through sustainable living, either through employment or entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is proven to contribute to economic growth and helps in job creation. Hence, refugees who turn towards entrepreneurship aim to help themselves and positively impact their community and the host country. However, like any other start-ups, refugee-owned enterprises need help establishing their business and turning them into sustainable profit-making entities. This study aims at designing this contextual support through an incubator for urban refugee-owned enterprises in Nairobi and is guided by three objectives – To investigate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the refugee-owned enterprises; to identify critical parameters for the support provided by business incubators, and to design business incubator program for urban refugee owned enterprises. The study used exploratory research design as it aims to design a program to support urban refugee-owned enterprises. The study's target population includes all the urban refugee owned entrepreneurs residing in Nairobi. The purposive sampling method was used to select samples from which the data was collected. Data collection included qualitative data. Qualitative data is used to collect information about key parameters of support offered by business incubators in Kenya and different challenges that urban refugee entrepreneurs need support with. Desk review and semi-structured face-to-face interviews were used to collect data. The data was analyzed to determine trends and the type of support to be given to urban refugee-owned enterprises through a specialized incubator program. The findings on KPIs of the urban refugee-owned enterprises show that most urban refugees either do not measure many KPIs, or even if they do, the data gathered is not used effectively. The second objective identified seven major business incubator programs in Kenya, namely, C4D Lab, iBiz Africa, Villgro, iHub, The Hub East Africa/The Entrepreneurs’ hub, MEST Incubator, Chandaria Business Innovation, and Incubation Centre. During the identification process, it was found that none of these business incubation programs cater to the needs of urban refugee entrepreneurs. Significant gaps in the business incubator programs that prevent fulfilling the needs of urban refugee entrepreneurs are intake requirements like high fees, the condition of specific qualifications, sector focus, and provision of innovation in the enterprise idea. In the third objective the study designed a model business incubator for urban refugee owned enterprises with five key support themes namely: entrepreneurial knowledge, the requirement of support in dealing with regulatory institutions, mental health support, host country integration, and balance of family and business issues. Specifically, some of the support needed for the study participants are local language training, business opportunity identification, psychosocial support to deal with traumatizing experiences, tapping into prior skills and experiences acquired, acquiring required documentation, advocacy, and access to markets. The study concluded that the needs of urban refugee entrepreneurs are diverse and cannot be fulfilled by the existing business incubator programs in Kenya. The design of current business incubator programs posed barriers to intake and did not have the holistic support structures required to cater to the needs of urban refugee entrepreneurs. Additionally, it is concluded that the design of specialized incubators for urban refugee entrepreneurs needs to cater to the five thematic areas of - entrepreneurial knowledge, the requirement of support in dealing with regulatory institutions, mental health support, host country integration, and balance of mentorship on family and business-related issues. It is recommended that stakeholders in the relevant sector adopt and build on this design to support urban refugee entrepreneurs operate sustainable and profitable enterprises.