Currently, over 65 million people globally have experienced displacement.  In rough terms, the population of the UK is currently displaced globally. UNHCR is working hard to support as many refugees as possible.  It provides them with shelter and basic necessities. However, it is struggling to cope with the ever-growing numbers. The worrying fact is that this number is growing by 300,000 a year because of climate change and conflict.

Entering the holy month of Ramadan - when we are encouraged to show compassion and empathy to those in need -  you can use your power as a consumer to transform refugees into entrepreneurs!

By purchasing one of the items in the rewards section you will be supporting Refugees access Entrepreneurship. The profits from this “purchase for good” will be helping 3-5 refugees access the training, inventory and Business Mentoring required to set up successful micro-businesses.  They will also be generating a further 10 jobs locally as well in their first year of operations.

This way you get to benefit from a practical item you can use on daily basis.  And, the refugees get to access the support they desperately need to take back ownership of their own lives.  

Guess what else?  The phone cases are being made by women artisans in the Swat Valley of Pakistan.  This means your purchase will create jobs for the women in a post-conflict region as well  - they do all the embroidery by hand on your phone case. This is on top of the refugees being able to access entrepreneurship.   

So, basically, you will be creating jobs for women AND supporting Refugees take ownership of their own lives with this ONE purchase.

We will also add an extra micro business to everyone you fund! This way the profits from this campaign will have twice the impact.

Once you make your purchase we will place an order for these phone cases to be made by the Swat Valley Guild.  They are members of  Build a Nest Foundation.   This means they will make sure your phone cases are made in an ethical and eco-friendly way. Be Snazzy a UK Fashion Brand who work with artisans worked with Swat Valley Guild on this.  

This is the design exclusively created for this campaign by Swat Valley Guild for the front side of the mobile cases.

Image of an artisan in the Swat Valley working on an embroidery project for the Swat Valley Guild.

Our approach ensures the following UN Sustainable Development Goals are achieved in the countries where the refugees are based as well.  

Please click here for more details of the impact our first interest-free microloan is already having in supporting refugees access entrepreneurship.

Some more about us.

BizGees was conceived at the UNICEF FinTech Jam for Good 2016 in London.  We won the Infosys Challenge for Financial Inclusion. We were members of F10 FinTech Accelerator program 2016/2017 in Zurich.  This program was sponsored by Julius Baer, PWC and SIX Group.  We are generating interest-free financial services for Refugee Entrepreneurs.  We have also been invited to join the Entrepreneurial Spark Accelerator program in London. This program is supported by a local UK retail bank - Natwest.

We have been battling with regulation and compliance of how to source funds internationally to help refugees access entrepreneurship locally where they are based.  

We finally came up with this simple and effective solution.  So, work with us and let’s support refugees together.

Some images of the low-income Entrepreneurs in Uganda who have benefited from the same training and support.

Now for the math bit!

• Every £1,000 of profits will purchase 1 startup box solution for 3-5 Refugees. This means they will receive training, inventory, and business mentoring to help them organise a successful micro business.  

• Each business in a box will generate an additional 10 jobs for the local community where the micro business is based.

In the Swat Valley.  

• 1 purchase of a mobile case will generate 4 days worth of work.  This means if this campaigns pre-sells 500 units of mobile cases.  Then 2,000 days worth of artisan work will be created in the rural region of Swat. This means we can provide 40 days work for 50 women artisans in the region.

In Summary -

Facebook engagement with the Refugees.

Our delivery partners WSV Global  will be sharing information about the refugees on our Facebook Page so join us here!  You can follow the refugees on their Journey to become entrepreneurs.