More than 100 refugees are considering setting up businesses in Glasgow, it emerged yesterday.
New figures show there is substantial interest from one-time asylum seekers in investing in the city that first gave them refuge.
The figures come as cross-party support has been expressed for the move by Scottish ministers to urge the Home Office to consider allowing the children of failed asylum seekers to remain in the country, as revealed by The Herald yesterday.
The entrepreneurs often come from the first wave of people welcomed by Glasgow five years ago under the Home Office's controversial distribution programme. Many are eager to put something back into the economy after years of enforced idleness.
Asylum seekers are not allowed to work until they win refugee status to remain in the UK. Others, having struggled against stigma and tough competition to find jobs, simply want a way to rely on their own skills and abilities.
They are being helped by Chanel Bikorimana, a specialist worker with Business Gateway, Scottish Enterprise's support agency for start-up firms.
"Refugees are more likely to be entrepreneurial," Mr Bikorimana said yesterday after Business Gateway confirmed it was now helping 108 refugee start-ups - eight already well off the ground - in a project started just 18 months ago.
He said: "You have to realise the way they left their own countries. Many don't mind how many hours they work, they are hard-working. They know there are hundreds of opportunities for them here."
Mr Bikorimana, 42, was forced to flee his native Burundi in central Africa five years ago. There he was a successful university administrator who also owned and ran his own rice factory.
Following the country's civil war, Mr Bikorimana followed his wife, a doctor, to Glasgow and now he helps fellow refugees set up their own businesses. Several of the businesses supported by Mr Bikorimana are already thriving, usually small outfits with low capital outlays. Mr Bikorimana cites a firm offering translation services, itself feeding off the opportunities brought by asylum and immigration. Another, run by Iranians, provides specialist ironing, alteration and dry cleaning for silk clothing.
But, he said, there were problems too. "There's the language barrier and problems accessing funds. Imagine how difficult it is to get credit in some of the postcodes where refugees tend to live. Imagine trying to apply for a loan when you don't have any credit."
He said his big passion was keeping refugees in Scotland because many leave for London as soon as they receive leave to remain in the UK.
He added: "Some people don't think there are opportunities here in Scotland. Our job is to convince them that there are. People did not come here to set up businesses. They came here in fear for their lives. But now a lot of them want to make a contribution to society, to the economy."
Mr Bikorimana's scheme, the first of its kind in Scotland, has attracted interest from as far away as Spain and Germany and funding from Scottish Enterprise and Edinburgh's Napier University.
Iain Rennie, chief executive of Glasgow Business Services, the firm that runs Business Gateway in the city on behalf of Scottish Enterprise, said: "This is a fantastic story. The programme is proving very successful. Refugees have huge potential in business. There are barriers all businesses face but we can help them overcome them."
Meanwhile, Fiona Hyslop, SNP education spokeswoman, welcomed the call by Scottish ministers for the Home Office to consider allowing failed asylum seekers' children to stay, but said ministers had failed to deliver on previous similar promises.
Nicol Stephen, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, offered his "full support" to the initiative, adding: "The UK government should be doing more to respond to the plight of vulnerable children."
Hugh Henry, the Education Minister, yesterday said he had put in place measures to safeguard the welfare of children subjected to removals from the country. He said a team of "lead professionals" will be established in Glasgow City Council which would gather information on families' health, welfare, educational circumstances and need. This will then be passed to offi- cials in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) before a decision on whether, when and how a removal should take place.
It's hoped this will avoid cases where children are removed halfway through exams, and take into account their medical needs.
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