When formal institutions impede entrepreneurship: how and why refugees establish new ventures in the Dadaab refugee camps

Figures & data

Table 1. Data to illustrate theoretical dimensions

Theoretical Dimensions	Empirical Data
Appealing to blind spots in formal institutions
Reclaiming refugee economic agency	Deficient UNHCR food rations and aid packages [Interviewer:] And what about clothes? Do you get them from UNHCR? [Refugee:] No, you buy them. We have to pay from our pocket. It is very harsh for us. (Interview, refugee 6) The food distribution is not enough. For example, I have a family of two – me and my son. It is just 6 kg of millet and 6 kg of maize. And one litre of oil, for one month. Imagine. So that is not enough. I have to look for another way to support myself and my family. So the community is very active. (Interview, refugee 3) We pick up our food rations, but we never eat it. We sell it and what is left of it we use to feed our animals. Then we buy the food we want to eat, the typical Somali food (…). (Interview, RCE 3) Addressing refugee demand for wider variety of goods and services So there is electricity. But it is not permanent electricity. There are also people who are making business who buy some kind of engine. So that makes electricity for the refugees and at the end of the month you pay. There is a generator that belongs to some private people. It is not available throughout the day. After some hours it turns off. (Interview, refugee 1) We didn’t have TV, now we have TV, there is solars [solar-powered electricity generators] everywhere, there is food, there is oil. You know, whatever you need, you can get in the market. (Interview, refugee 7) In Hagadera [one of Dadaab’s camps] there’s a saying that you can tell people anything you want, and they’ll get it for you within a day or two. And I mean that quite literally. If you want a big screen TV they’ll get it for you. (Interview, refugee 2)
Responding to refugee anguish	Acknowledging refugee camp permanence Refugees, those who mostly arrived in the 1990 s and mid-2000 have developed coping mechanism that include involvement in a variety of small and medium-income generating activities. (Publication 1) The camp is very highly populated. You can barely see any open spaces where new people can move into. The camp is very crowded everywhere. I think now they want to open another camp. So I don’t think the camp will close. I think it will be permanent for many years, for maybe 50 years, as long as there is no stability in the area the camp will be forever. (Interview, refugee 5) Creating a vision for the future The youth, they are just held back by their [refugee] status. They are not going back home because of the security situation. They are all working in the market. Even though they are paid very little but that little that they get can help their family. (Interview, refugee 8) Re-establishing refugee individualism People are much more self-reliant than UNHCR anticipates. So UNHCR’s rules don’t reflect real world assumptions. So, in the end, most refugees say that they’re doing fine, in spite of UNHCR. (Interview, camp manager 3) The new parts of the camp look so sterile. All the tents are lined up in a perfectly straight line, and they are all white with the big UNHCR logo on the front. It is such a contrast to the older parts of Dadaab, where people have amended their living situation to reflect them. Who they are, where they come from, what they like. The new parts are shiny but also anonymous and devoid of any human individuality. (Field notes, day 19)
Reframing institutional practices and spaces
Repurposing refugee camp humanitarian aid practices	Reselling food rations and aid packages Many among the middle classes hadn’t been to the food distribution warehouses in years, they simply rented out their card to a shopkeeper who paid them a percentage of the value of the food. And then there were the brokers who had bought up the cards of people leaving the camp and ran a business collecting and wholesaling relief food far and wide; some had as many as a thousand cards each. (Publication 2) Organizing financial transactions through ration cards Earlier a few years ago there was no real control over who got a ration card. People would just show up and I remember the guy at UNHCR would just ask them: how big is your household? Five? Okay. And then dish out the ration cards. So, the system got abused a lot. And the ration cards also get traded a lot among people. Like some of the better off refugees will give their ration cards to elderly widows who need them more. (Interview, aid worker 5) Redefining refugee camp personnel roles The trucks that have provided the food aid to the camp are reloaded with the food they brought to the camp and are taken back out of the camp again. (Interview, refugee entrepreneur 1 describing the extent of immediate resale of aid by refugees) We always calculate the bribes when we think about making an order for vegetables [to a contact in the host community]. What use is it to buy the vegetables if I cannot pay to have them delivered into the camp? (Interview, RCE 2)
Reshaping formal refugee camp places	Appropriating places for markets The camp doesn’t feel like a camp. It’s colourful and loud and there is a lot going on. People are on their feet, making stuff happen. It’s complete contrast to the desert and emptiness around it. (Field notes, day 7) When I arrived [in Dadaab], we did not have this developed market that we have now. (Interview, refugee 4) Informal property rights and exchange Officially, the land of the camp has been leased from the host community by the United Nations for the benefit of the refugees, but long ago the majority clans monopolized permits for stalls in the market and a property market evolved just like in any Wild West town. (Publication 2) Some of them [refugee camp entrepreneurs], they don’t pay, in the refugee camp, they just instal their business in the market and at the end of the year they have to pay Ksh1 000 for the land, always. (Interview, RCE 3)
Evading refugee camp boundaries	Enlisting host community to source goods We have people from the community who live in the camp. These are the people who are Kenyans and they can travel everyday. Even the host community are involved in the business. They can bring the food from Nairobi and Garissa and bring it into the camp …. Yes, we pay them and they can go to the market and buy the vegetables and sell them so us because of their status. But the vegetable in Garissa are much cheaper. They know that they can buy it and bring it into the camp and there they can sell it in the camp for more money. (Interview, RCE 4) When you compare market products in the camp and Nairobi, the products are more expensive. They have to talk to host communities to transport the goods, to buy for them, transport for them. Because the refugees cannot travel, they don’t have that freedom to move out of the camp. (Interview, aid worker 7) Technology mediated cross-boundary finance We all use Whatsapp, Viber, Wifi … all of that. We all use that, day and night. We are always online. We can call, you can leave us messages. (Interview, refugee 6) We have MPESA. So, you can transfer money from another place, and you can send money. Our brother and sisters, anyone, can send me money. And I send money to our aunt in Kisamaayo [city in Somalia]. (Interview, RCE 4)
Maintaining institutional misalignment
Co-opting institutional agents in the camp	Informal payments to local authority The government will come back to the refugee camp to collect taxes. And there is no service there. So, there is no vote, no cleaning areas, there is nothing. For example, the minimum per shop today is 4 000 shilling minimum. (Interview, RCE 1) I don’t see the interference of UNHCR here in the camp. But the government sometimes comes to collect taxes. The government of Kenya. (Interview, RCE 4) Camp managers as customers You can get the best stew in all of Kenya in the camp. I can show you the place, they’re incredible. (Interview, aid worker 3) The aid is standardized so it does not impact whether you have a business. UNHCR does not stigmatize or punish the entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs get the same aid as others. (Interview, camp manager 11)
Endorsing humanitarian aid practices	Concealing refugee entrepreneurship from camp visitors When donors come to Dadaab, we do not talk to them about our businesses. It is better that way. They want to know about our children. We are very grateful to them for providing for our children. (Interview, RCE 2) All these markets are not happening covertly. It’s all pretty out there and obvious. So we tried to do a mapping exercise of all the stores. But when our guys showed up with their iPads to do the mapping all the shops closed up immediately. (Interview, consultant 3) Then they will launch into a monologue on how difficult their life is. They’ll tell you that they can’t provide for their children, they’ll tell you that they need UNHCR. But they’ll make sure to leave out that they’re also running a pretty successful restaurant. It’s impossible. (Interview, independent consultant 2) Emphasizing refugee vulnerability Life in the camp is hard … UNHCR and WFP have been giving us good food for eating. (Field notes, day 19; refugee in conversation with visiting donor representatives) There was no way we could travel to the market in Dinsoor [town in refugee’s native Somalia]. I was not able to get food for my children. When I returned to Dadaab, my children were admitted to a hospital because of malnutrition (Report 2; excerpt from interview with RCE 4)

Figure 1. Theorizing new venture creation in contexts of institutional misalignment

Image 1. Refugee repair and maintenance shop in Dadaab camp complex. (de la Chaux ©)

Image 2. Refugee shop in Dadaab camp complex. (de la Chaux ©)