Funding period 1.9.2023–31.8.2026

Main funder: Svenska Kulturfonden

Project organization: Åbo Akademi University

Budget: 283,728 EUR

Principal Investigator: Associate Professor Dr. Maria Ivanova-Gongne

Research team: Maria Ivanova-Gongne, Stefan Lång, Eeva-Liisa Eskola, Thao Orrensalo and José A. Teixeira

The research project aims to investigate inclusive and proactive ways of supporting refugee entrepreneurship as means of societal integration, as well as increasing our understanding of how refugees make use of information and knowledge to embrace entrepreneurial opportunities.

Objectives of the research project:

1. To explore the ways for institutions to support opportunity-based entrepreneurship among refugees before and after arriving in the host country (Finland)
2. To identify the hidden information barriers in the host country that refugee entrepreneurs face when starting a business. The overall objective is to study what kind of information sources about entrepreneurship are available for refugees in areas with a prominence of Swedish speaking Finns and how accessible are they for the refugees?
3. To understand the cognitive schemas needed for refugees to develop entrepreneurial agency and integrate themselves in the host country entrepreneurial environment

This project is a multidisciplinary endeavor bringing together researchers and experts from business and economics, information studies, entrepreneurship, and marketing.

PROJECT Publications – PROJECT Events 

This research project was partially funded by the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland