Entrepreneurialism through Self-Management in Afghan Guest Towns in Iran

Jussi S Jauhiainen,Davood Eyvazlu

doi:10.3390/urbansci4040051

Jussi S Jauhiainen, Davood Eyvazlu

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci4040051

Copy DOI

Abstract

This article studies the self-management of guest towns (GTs) in Iran and the development of Afghan refugees’ employment and entrepreneurship in these settlements. No earlier research exists on refugee entrepreneurialism in GTs in Iran. The research is based on surveys (546 refugee respondents), interviews (35 refugees) and observations in four GTs in Iran, and interviews (12) with key public authorities related to Afghan refugees in Iran. Of the nearly one million Afghan refugees in Iran, approximately 30,000 reside in 20 GTs, each having up to a few thousand inhabitants. Following a decrease in international support for Afghan refugees and national privatisation policies, the Iranian government decided in 2003 that GTs needed to be self-managed to be financially self-sustainable by their Afghan refugee inhabitants. The motivation and necessity generated by GT self-management led to the increase, diversification, and profit orientation in Afghan refugees’ economic activities in the GTs. The GT refugee councils facilitated internal entrepreneurship fostered externally by state policies, such as the GTs’ obligation to become economically self-sustainable and the provision of tax exemptions and other incentives to GTs. A larger number of Afghan refugees (including women) obtained employment, various entrepreneurial trajectories emerged, and several businesses connected the GTs to the external economy.

Highlights

Refugee entrepreneurialism—that is, the attempts of refugees, whether as individuals, groups, or businesses, to create new or expand existing businesses, ventures, business organisations, or self-employment—has become increasingly common in cities, towns and other urban settings
Many displaced Afghans began to arrive in Iran at the end of 1970s, pushed by the war in Afghanistan and pulled by Iran’s welcoming policy following the Islamic Revolution
The Iranian government refrained from asking for major international assistance for Afghan refugees, unlike

Summary

Introduction

Refugee entrepreneurialism—that is, the attempts of refugees, whether as individuals, groups, or businesses, to create new or expand existing businesses, ventures, business organisations, or self-employment—has become increasingly common in cities, towns and other urban settings. Studies have shown the specificities in refugee entrepreneurialism in different urban contexts. Very seldom have researchers gathered empirical material about refugee entrepreneurialism, such as business development, economic management, employment, and entrepreneurship, from within refugee urban settlements and camps, and they have rarely applied in the same research quantitative and qualitative data and analyses with mixed methods. While many studies discussed general aspects of entrepreneurship among refugees, they rarely focused on economic lives, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurialism inside refugee urban settlements and camps meant for refugees [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. More than three million Afghans live in Iran, including about one million registered refugees, half a million Afghan passport holders with Iranian visas, and about one-and-a-half million undocumented migrants who remain in Iran without proper permission. The arrival of many displaced Afghans in the late 1970s and 1980s resulted in the need to construct temporary shelters and camps for them in

Methods

Results

Conclusion