Return Migrants Contributing to Entrepreneurship and Growth
Channel: IOM - UN Migration
Date: 2020-03-25

What is the migration link with private sector development and trade, and how does this impact the achievement of our #GlobalGoals?

Return migrants often contribute to their countries of return by bringing new cultures, skills and capital which can foster innovation in private sector development. They can also leverage their transnational networks to enhance trade.

Joji is a return migrant from the Philippines who was a financial advisor in Canada. Upon return, harnessing the skills she developed abroad, she started a social enterprise to contribute to peacebuilding. She is now expanding her business by training local farmers to grow, sell, and trade their own coffee and improve sustainable livelihoods.

Target 9.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls on development partners to increase the access of small-scale enterprises, in particular in developing countries, to financial services and their integration into value chains and markets. As we enter the “Decade of Action”, it is essential that the contribution of migrants to industry, trade and innovation is recognized, in order to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

The “Innovation for Social Impact Partnership” (ISIP) project, co-implemented by PhilDev and UNDP and funded by Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, offers targeted technical support to selected social enterprises so that they can scale-up operations in a sustainable manner.

Through the “Mainstreaming Migration into International Cooperation and Development” (#MMICD) project funded by the European Union, IOM produced a series of videos to show the #MigrationConnection between different sectors and capture what this means in practice for people and communities. For more information, please visit https://eea.iom.int/mmicd.