Steven Koltai advocates entrepreneurship solution to refugee crisis

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Managing Director Steven Koltai explains how promoting entrepreneurship can both stem the flow of migrants to Europe and leverage the maximum benefit from those that arrive.

In the article, Koltai notes that “joblessness and general economic insecurity are one of the primary reasons that people destabilized by war or local chaos finally decide to flee. And jobs are the first thing they need when they arrive in their new homes.”

Koltai explains how entrepreneurship programs can help startups succeed, and that young firms are the primary job creators in any economy. A solution to the refugee crisis, therefore, exists in policies that bolster entrepreneurship ecosystems and increase the quantity and quality of startups in a given region.

Koltai’s piece draws from his book, Peace through Entrepreneurship: Investing in a Startup Culture for Security and Development, newly out from Brookings Institution Press. More information about the book, including links to other articles expanding on the book’s themes, are available at peacethroughentrepreneurship.com.