How refugee entrepreneurs help themselves and their host country
LONDON (AlertNet) - Ali, a Somali refugee living in Uganda's capital Kampala, has a thriving mini-supermarket selling rice, canned food, ice cream and soap among other items, while Martin, a Congolese refugee, runs a busy tailor’s shop.
The two men are lucky because Uganda allows refugees to work as part of a “self-reliance” strategy based on the simple logic that this is better for the host nation’s economy than putting them into camps where they have to rely on aid handouts.