Webinar - Diasporic Entrepreneurship

Zoom (externally hosted event)

We are delighted to invite you to the second in a series of webinars organised by the Migration for Inclusive African Growth project team, led by Professor Giles Mohan at The Open University.

While research and policy attention on the development role of migrants continues to focus heavily on remittances, there has been increasing recognition that migrants and the diasporas they form can be engines of growth through their entrepreneurship. Such recognition derives primarily from research indicating high levels of entrepreneurship among migrant communities in Europe and North America, and the contribution this has made to local economic dynamism in these regions. Alongside this there has been work highlighting how migrants and diasporans are also able to ‘transfer’ their professional and/or entrepreneurial experience back to their countries of ancestral origin, both by ‘returning’ and by operating transnationally from their country of residence. Most notably, AnnaLee Saxenian has demonstrated the key role of US-based diaspora technology professionals in supporting the development of globally competitive high-tech sectors in China and India. In such ways, migrants and diasporas have come to be seen as having much potential for contributing to and even driving entrepreneurship, innovation and growth at ‘home’.

In this second webinar, Dr. Linda Oucho will engage perspectives from panellists regarding diaspora entrepreneurs’ social connections and cultural competencies and their engagements with their ‘home’ markets. How do diaspora entrepreneurs operate in ways that are more locally embedded and inclusive? And how and with what effects are diaspora entrepreneurs engaged by policy and practice frameworks that may promote foreign investment and attract diaspora contributions to growth and development?

Panel

Abiola George, Stella Opoku-Owusu, Tapiwa Mucheri

Download the event leaflet here and the link to register

All three events will also be available to watch live in Portuguese.