NESsT Refugee Employment Initiative

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February triggered Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. Close to 4 million refugees from Ukraine have largely sought refuge in Poland and Romania, joining the tens of thousands of refugees from Asia and Africa hosted in the region.

NESsT with IKEA Social Entrepreneurship and the Cisco Foundation partnered to launch the NESsT Refugee Employment Initiative to support 15 enterprises that work or with refugees and migrants in Poland and Romania. The initiative aimed to create 3,000 jobs and improve the lives of 5,000 refugees.

The initiative provided financing and business assistance to a cohort of impact-driven enterprises in Poland and Romania that provide refugees with long-term employment support, including career training, quality job opportunities, and additional wraparound services (e.g. mental health services, language classes, support with accessing work permits, and childcare, laptops, among others).

NESsT defines quality job opportunities as jobs that pay a living wage with an employment contract.

Selected enterprises receive:

Ranges and types of financial instruments available:

• EUR 35,000 to 75,000 in recoverable grants (soft, long-term, low-interest loans) per social enterprise to finance business growth efforts including both investment and working capital.

• EUR 10,000 to 20,000 in grants per social enterprise to finance scholarships that pay for wrap-around services for refugees, including support with accessing work permits, mental health services, childcare, language courses, and laptops, etc.

• Selected social enterprises will receive either recoverable grants or grants or both depending on their impact potential and the investment need.

Examples of the use of financing: 

• Adaptation of current business lines to include refugees

• Creation of new business line to employ refugees

• Validation of business model

• Improvement of product / service

• Definition / improvement / installation of the operations model 

• Expansion of sales and marketing capacity

• Establishment systems to track social impact 

Additional benefits: 

• Mentoring, social impact measurement, trainings with experts from the IKEA, Cisco, and NESsT networks.

• Access to masterclasses alongside a community of social entrepreneurs focused on sales, marketing, brand building, social impact, DEI.

• Features across impact investing ecosystem media channels, such as newsletters, social media, publications, etc.