Supporting Refugee Entrepreneurs: Arbat and Qushtapa Camp Programs

This article originally appeared in the third issue of Five One Review.

One of the biggest challenges you can face when leaving your home is the prospect that you will soon need to start over and find a new way of supporting yourself and your family, a situation which can be particularly difficult in a new environment. Because of these obstacles, last year Five One Labs designed a humanitarian program to work with camp-based entrepreneurs in Arbat and Qushtapa refugee camps in the Kurdistan Region.

The aim of the Development and Innovation Program was to provide young camp-based refugees with the skills and tools to launch their own businesses and connect these businesses to local markets. The program consisted of a series of in-person Arabic-language training divided into entry- and advanced-level sessions.?

In the entry-level program, the nearly 100 entrepreneurs across both camps took part in training that included an introduction to entrepreneurship, business types and sectors, market research, SWOT analysis, and business plan components, among others. Those who advanced to the next level of the program participated in hands-on training about user research, ideation, prototype and testing, business model canvas, revenue model, and pitching. In the advanced level program, Five One Labs provided a stipend to each entrepreneur to build a prototype of their business and worked with camp-based facilitators to ensure that there was always someone available to support the startups as they built these prototypes.?

At the end of the program, the entrepreneurs pitched to a panel of judges, and two of the businesses received funding from Five One Labs. The two seed funding winners, Fouad and Noor (names have been changed), launched a solar power startup and an art business. After the program, Fouad explained, “We were sleeping and you woke us up.” Noor said: “It was a life-changing experience for me. While art was always my passion, it will now also be a good source of income for my family.” The Five One Labs Startup Support team will continue to work with these entrepreneurs to help them meet their business milestones as they launch.