What are your images when you think of refugees and migrants? Do you see an entrepreneur developing robots to make traffic safer? Or a woman developing a new innovative fashion line that starts being sold in central Zurich? Most of us probably have different associations when thinking of migrants and in particular refugees. “Time to challenge our mental models” say the founders of Capacity Zurich , an NGO that helps migrants use their skills and potential in Switzerland, their new home, to launch their ventures and businesses. ecloo is supporting Capacity Zurich in leveraging the potential of collaboration of all stakeholders including and especially the refugees who are participating in this program to support them as they develop their ventures in Switzerland.

I have grown up comfortably in Switzerland where the last war fought was that against Napoleon some 200 years ago. The only direct link to refugees I have is my Polish grandfather who came to Switzerland during World War 2 and whom I never knew. On this day that I am running a workshop for migrants together with Rakesh Chand, CEO of the Kaura Foundation, I am thinking of my grandfather realizing how quickly destinies can change for people who live in zones of war or who are otherwise vulnerable. Who might be the people with whom I will work this afternoon? I look at the list: Afghanistan, Argentina, Colombia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mexico, Serbia, Syria… What are their stories? How did they come to Switzerland? What are their aspirations?

The participants introduce themselves by explaining what “entrepreneurship” means in their native language. “Life is so beautiful” is one definition. Using one’s skills and passions to do something that is fulfilling. Another definition: “A man or woman who comes first”, in other words someone who does not accept the way things are but is ready to take a risk to change them. By now, Rakesh and I have realized that we can learn as much from the participants as they can learn from us.

A key approach we use for our workshop is Effectuation which basically means: Rather than creating a project or venture based on mere dreams, people look at what they have – cultural capital: my knowledge and skills, my social capital: people I know as well as financial capital – and think of what venture or project they can create. To illustrate the concept: When you cook a meal, rather than going food shopping, you look at what you have in the kitchen and think of what you can do with what you have (see blog post – Practice of Collaboration 4: Cooking as Collaboration). Prior to the workshop, the participants were asked to bring along something eatable for the workshop and are now assigned the task to create a buffet experience with what they brought. They have 20 minutes to do so.

Trainers and facilitators leave the room. After the 20 minutes we come back. The participants wanted to play music but could not find the necessary equipment so one of the them is singing a Serbian song to welcome us to the buffet: What an inspiring application of effectuation! The buffet is beautifully decorated, the food delicious and people are simply having a good time with lots of laughter and engagement everywhere. How did they do it? Chantico from Mexico emerged as a natural leader by listening to people’s ideas then quickly distributed tasks and everyone went to work to co-create and support each other.

Participants now move on to work on their own ventures rethinking how they use their skills, knowledge, networks and other means to move forward. Each one of them presents their project using the Business Model Canvas, a way to structure your business idea on one page. Trainers, facilitators and participants collaborate by asking questions and sometimes giving advice to fine tune ideas and bring them to the next level. Here are some of the projects presented:

Projects include both traditional businesses and social ventures but all of them not only benefit the migrants and refugees but make a significant contribution to the local economy and the peaceful living together.

Everyone is leaving the workshop inspired by this collaboration of different cultures, perspectives, experiences and skills and curious to follow the ventures of the participants. But above all, we asked ourselves the questions: What if our society and economy started leveraging the skills and inspiration of these refugees and migrants?  What if we started seeing helping as a form of collaboration that goes in two directions? And what if we started creating better systems that allowed us to develop our common potential to positively impact society? I am sure that the experiences working together with the migrants and refugees in the following months will provide interesting insights into those questions and how we can create a stronger social fabric together.