Introduction

Miles Peacock from Unsplash
In the EU 23 million citizens are third country nationals (5.1% of the EU population) while 37 million people are foreign-born (8.3% of the total population). In the globalised society in which we live, our societies are becoming increasingly heterogeneous. People from diverse cultural backgrounds live together in our neighbourhoods. However, their participation in the host society is not always equal. Only half of migrants find a job (57.6%), while the majority of EU citizens work (73.3%).
In many cases, their lack of knowledge of the language of the host country, social prejudices, unfamiliarity with the system or the absence of a social support network prevent them from being fully included in their host societies. This leads to ghettos, poverty, racism, and a loss of opportunities for nationals and foreigners alike by not making the most of what each of these people can contribute to their host societies.
Some ideas for social entrepreneurship aimed at the inclusion of migrants and refugees can be world cuisine workshops in which they are the teachers while the local residents are the apprentices, craft fairs with traditional products made by these people...
Social entrepreneurship aimed at the intercultural inclusion of migrants and refugees offers unprecedented opportunities for collective development, while combating discrimination and racism.
Task
Picture by Polina Zimmerman from Pexels
Our idea of entrepreneurship, like all social entrepreneurship projects, in some way tries to contribute from the business world to the struggle for inclusion (Dees, 1998), in this case, of a very specific social group. As a social entrepreneur to promote the inclusion of migrant and refugee people, you must be clear about your business objective, what you intend to achieve and in what way.
In this activity you will develop and define the Mission and Vision of your entrepreneurial idea.
Your entrepreneurial initiative must be based on a thorough knowledge of the social context in which you will develop it, as well as a precise idea of the activities and means you will put in practice to achieve it. This idea is formulated under the concept of mission and vision, which will reflect the fundamental values of your social entrepreneurship based on a civic conscience. As an entrepreneur you must have moral autonomy, ideological conviction, and leadership capacity. This implies precise ethical guidelines as well as constant communication both with the members of your company and with the outside world.
The Mission and Vision of a company are the fundamental part of its identity. It is on the basis of these pillars that you will implement the appropriate strategies to achieve your social entrepreneurship goals.
Process
DEFINING THE MISSION:
A company's Mission represents its commitment to society, its purpose. This will define what the role of your company is. The mission will be a sentence or a couple of sentences whose aim is to inspire the entrepreneur and those who will work with you, your users and beneficiaries and your collaborators.
When writing your mission statement, keep in mind that this information will make it easy for potential donors and supporters to recognise you and associate your company with a specific theme and objectives. This recognition process is called brand awareness.
- The mission statement represents the core purpose
- It is anchored in the present time
- It is fixed and constant over time (it is not usually modified).
- It aims to unite your beneficiaries and your donors and supporters in a common feeling.
Some questions to help you write your mission statement are:
- Why do you do what you do?
- Why did you create the company?
- What does the company do?
- What is the profile of your ideal customer/beneficiary/user?
- What differentiates you from others?
- What is the social purpose of your company?
DEFINING THE VISION:
The vision is about the future - where do you want to go? What are the permanent goals of your company?
A company's vision is an ideal goal of what you hope to achieve in the medium to long term with your social enterprise. Although it should be realistic, it should leave room for ambition to motivate the team and your beneficiaries and collaborators. The vision will give a clear idea of your future projection in order to achieve the goals you have set.
Some questions to help you write your business vision are:
- What are your short, medium and long-term goals?
- Where do you want to be in the future?
- How does the company adapt to society and its challenges?
- for whom will it be done?
WRITE YOUR MISSION AND VISION STEP BY STEP:
- Define your company's values
- Describe what motivated you to create your company, your services (Mission);
- Describe how you envision the future of your company and what goals you want to achieve (Vision);
- Write a short paragraph for each of the definitions (mission and values);
- Ask your trusted people for their opinion;
- Share with your target audience e.g. beneficiaries, migrants and refugees, NGOs and social organisations, and listen to what they have to say.
Conclusion
Social entrepreneurship focused on the inclusion of migrants and refugees provides us with fundamental opportunities for collective development, promoting, on the one hand, the entrepreneurship of your users and beneficiaries, the visibility of vulnerable groups traditionally excluded by society, the opportunity to learn to coexist with differences, contributing to equal opportunities, opening minds by encouraging the banishment of prejudices through coexistence with what is different, creating intercultural communities by expanding the social network of people from the host society as well as migrant citizens...
The different ways of working on this intercultural inclusion will define your business mission as well as the objectives that will mark your future vision of what you intend to achieve and through which activities you will do it: the pillars of your idea of social entrepreneurship for the inclusion of migrants and refugees.
Learning Outcomes
- 1.3) I can explain that different groups may have different needs.
- 1.10) I can develop (alone or with others) an inspiring vision for the future that involves others.
- 1.12) My vision for creating value drives me to make the effort to turn ideas into action.
- 2.1) I can commit to fulfilling my needs, wants, interests and goals.
- 2.6) I can set challenges to motivate myself.
- 2.19) I can persuade others by providing evidence for my arguments.
- 3.4) I can describe my goals for the future in line with my strengths, ambitions, interests and achievements.
- 3.21) I can reflect on my interaction with others (including peers and mentors) and learn from it.