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Refugee Women Business Mentors: New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment

Author

Listed:
  • Claire P. Street

    (Christ Church Business School, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury CT1 1QU, UK)

  • Poh Yen Ng

    (Christ Church Business School, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury CT1 1QU, UK)

  • Haya Al-Dajani

    (Prince Mohammed Bin Salman College, King Abdullah Economic City 23964-2522, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

With over 27.1 million refugees displaced globally across national borders as a result of protracted crises, conflict, and danger, resettlement in host nations remains challenging. One approach for empowering refugee women in their host nations is to enhance their economic participation through entrepreneurship. We contribute to the growing research on refugee women’s entrepreneurship by focusing on refugee women entrepreneurs as mentors to other refugee women and exploring the impact of mentoring upon the empowerment of refugee women business mentors. The aim of the study is to explore the impact of being a mentor on the empowerment of refugee women entrepreneurs settled in the United Kingdom. As such, the research question asks to what extent does being a mentor influence the empowerment of refugee women entrepreneurs. The qualitative study involved six refugee women business mentors who co-designed and led an entrepreneurship training programme for refugee women in the United Kingdom and charted their empowerment journeys through four potential empowerment junctures within the mentoring process. First, the refugee woman as a mentee, then as a member of a mentoring group, thirdly as a facilitator in the mentoring process, and finally as a reflective agent. Our contribution to the women’s entrepreneurship discipline lies in our finding that refugee women’s engagement as mentors enhanced their empowerment in ways that their entrepreneurship alone cannot.

Suggested Citation

  • Claire P. Street & Poh Yen Ng & Haya Al-Dajani, 2022. "Refugee Women Business Mentors: New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-21, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9154-:d:871966
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Ka Muzombo Kandolo & Thabiso Sthembiso Msomi, 2024. "Exploring entrepreneurial skills of DR Congolese refugee women through economic growth in Durban, South Africa," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 13(7), pages 01-17, October.
    2. Iuliana Chitac & Elisabeth Michielsens & Miruna Radu-Lefebvre, 2025. "The liability of refugeeness: leveraging multiple identities to enact power in a context of displacement," Post-Print hal-05250940, HAL.
    3. Maissa Khatib & Tanya Purwar & Rushabh Shah & Maricarmen Vizcaino & Luciano Castillo, 2024. "Empowerment and integration of refugee women: a transdisciplinary approach," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, December.
    4. My Nguyen & Kien Le, 2022. "Can Legislation Reduce Domestic Violence in Developing Countries?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.

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