Incubators for Immigrants goes ‘dutch’ to help Refugees

by Startacus Admin

Here at Startacus we love initiatives that offer hope to overcome barriers and create positive social change, especially when enterprise, employment and innovation is offered as part of the solution.

From Startup Now which offers self employment hope to UK ex-offenders through to the recent Techfugees a response by the UK tech community, lead by Mike Butcher to share their responses and tech expertise to the mass displacement of peoples which is being seen across a vast area, it’s great to see projects both big or small that ignore the politics and focus on the people part of the situation.

Step forward recent Dutch initiative ‘Incubators for Immigrants’ that aims to help find a generation of entrepreneurs from the refugee talent pool that is displaced in more ways than one.

Incubators for Immigrants

Founded by a group of Dutch entrepreneurs  ‘Incubators for Immigrants’ wants to help refugees to build a new economic and independent existence in the Netherlands.

If a refugee is seeking asylum in the Netherlands and they have a business idea or innovation, they will be given the opportunity to submit a business plan to the foundation for scrutiny.

If approved as ‘promising’ the incubator will provide the refugees with knowledge, financial support and assistance with their startup and also help to give them a residence permit faster than usual.

We will let you check out all the details by visiting the ‘Incubators for Immigrants’ site itself. 

Take a moment to consider what other world famous entrepreneurs, artists, innovators, and scientists were also refugees at some point in their life - from Albert Einstein who was a German Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi Germany, Michael Marks, a Polish-Jewish refugee who fled to the UK in 1882, who was one-half of the Marks and Spencers retail empire, Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs who was the son of a Syrian who moved the States, to Marlene Dietrich one of the most famous actresses from the golden age of Hollywood, who fled Nazi Germany in 1939.  

Imagine, apart from hope, what else may be created...

• #incubators for immigrants
• #immigrants
• #incubator

Published on: 8th February 2016