Refugee Entrepreneurship and the Limits of Inclusion: Syrian Refugee Entrepreneurs in Turkey

Abstract

Refugee numbers nearly doubled in the last ten years, exceeding 30 million worldwide. Turkey hosts close to 4 million refugees, mainly from Syria. Syrian refugees are highly active in the Turkish business system and opened more than 10,000 firms. Refugee entrepreneurship literature argues it has an emancipatory impact. It helps people overcome their constraints, act more independently, and make their own decisions in transforming their lives, making social inclusion easier. Our study aims to critically examine refugee entrepreneurship’s limits and boundary conditions leading to inclusion and integration with the host country environment. We qualitatively studied how Syrian refugee entrepreneurs experience their entrepreneurial process concerning their embeddedness, inclusion or exclusion. We interviewed 42 Syrian refugee entrepreneurs and key informants in seven Turkish cities. A qualitative analysis of these interviews identified three types of refugee entrepreneurs facing different conditions for inclusion or exclusion: survival, ethnic-targeting, and integrating refugee entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs in each category are embedded in multiple contexts, i.e., social, political, institutional, spatial, at different levels. However, unlike prior literature, our findings indicated that as integrating refugee entrepreneurs become more embedded in a host country, they also potentially face more exclusion. As a result, they develop several strategies to respond to exclusionary actors and structural barriers. The study also discusses practical implications for policymakers.