Table 1 Structural features of refugee... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1

Structural features of refugee vs migrant vs non-migrant entrepreneurship

Feature	Refugee entrepreneurs	Migrant entrepreneurs	Non-migrant entrepreneurs
Migratory starting point	Forced and often traumatic	Mostly voluntary	Not applicable
Legal status	Often precarious/temporary protection	Generally more stable residency	Full citizenship
Marginalisation	Highly possible	Possible	Less possible
Access to finance	Highly limited	Moderate, often ethnic network-based	Broad institutional access
Social networks	Fragmented, rebuilt in host context, limited connection to home country	Potentially pre-established local and transnational networks	Local, established networks
Structural barriers	Institutional exclusion, language, discrimination	Bureaucratic and cultural challenges	Minimal structural barriers

Feature	Refugee entrepreneurs	Migrant entrepreneurs	Non-migrant entrepreneurs
Migratory starting point	Forced and often traumatic	Mostly voluntary	Not applicable
Legal status	Often precarious/temporary protection	Generally more stable residency	Full citizenship
Marginalisation	Highly possible	Possible	Less possible
Access to finance	Highly limited	Moderate, often ethnic network-based	Broad institutional access
Social networks	Fragmented, rebuilt in host context, limited connection to home country	Potentially pre-established local and transnational networks	Local, established networks
Structural barriers	Institutional exclusion, language, discrimination	Bureaucratic and cultural challenges	Minimal structural barriers

Source(s): Based on Ivanova-Gongne et al. (2026), Newman et al. (2024), Lång et al. (2025a, b), Ram et al. (2022)