Nurturing entrepreneurs: designing child-friendly workshops for refugee women.

Street, Claire P.; Ng, Poh Yen

Abstract

This chapter proposes a rethinking of how entrepreneurship workshops for marginalised women are designed and actualised, focusing on the process of a two-day entrepreneurship workshop for refugee women. Four refugee women with established businesses were called to curate and lead the workshop. The workshop is part of a mentoring programme where established business owners coach refugee women at the nascent stage of the entrepreneurship process. Using data from interviews conducted with 4 mentors and 16 mentees, recorded observations from a two-day entrepreneurship workshop for refugee women, and field notes taken by one of the researchers throughout the project, the chapter suggests that creating women-only spaces, providing on-site childcare, eliminating educational and cultural barriers through mindfulness and intercultural dialogue, and recognising refugee women as contributors are all essential steps in supporting and empowering refugee women entrepreneurs.

Citation

STREET, C.P. and NG, P.Y. 2024. Nurturing entrepreneurs: designing child-friendly workshops for refugee women. In Ranabahu, N., de Vries, H.P. and Hamilton, R.T. (eds.) Refugee entrepreneurship: a research companion. London: Routledge [online], pages 269-286. Available from: http://doi.org/10.4324/9781003368540-20

• Acceptance Date: Nov 8, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Oct 11, 2024
• Publication Date: Nov 22, 2024
• Deposit Date: Oct 18, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 12, 2026
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 269-286
• Book Title: Refugee entrepreneurship: a research companion
• Chapter Number: Chapter 16
• ISBN: 9781032437125
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003368540-20
• Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Marginalised women; Refugee women; Mentoring; Women-only spaces
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2532121