Around 100,000 Ukrainian refugees currently live in Moldova, a country with a population of around 2.5 million. They face several challenges in Moldova. “On the one hand, the Moldovan labor market does not have the capacity to absorb and integrate this disproportionately large number of Ukrainians. This leads to institutional and social tensions,” explains Prof. Dr. Jörg Freiling from the Chair in Small Business & Entrepreneurship (LEMEX) at the University of Bremen. “On the other hand, Moldovan society is divided both politically and socially because of the pro-Russian sentiment in the regions of Transnistria and Gagauzia. This makes the integration of the Ukrainian refugees even more difficult.”
The project “Digital transformation of SMEs in public policy countries” aims to support Ukrainian refugees’ integration into the Moldovan labor market as founders of their own companies. “We want to develop new and sustainable integration strategies in order to relieve the existing labor market, expand it, and drive the Moldovan economy forward.” In order to achieve this, project members will perform an in-depth and empirical analysis to understand both the refugee entrepreneurs’ challenges, needs, resources, and competencies as well as the country context in which they find themselves in Moldova.
LEMEX is involved in this project because it has many years of extensive research experience with strong international visibility in the field of immigrant start-ups and refugee entrepreneurship. Together with its partner ASEM, LEMEX will analyze the situation in Moldova both conceptually and through qualitative in-depth interviews in order to develop relevant solution strategies.
LEMEX's partner in Moldova is ASEM (Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova). The Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) will fund the research project commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for twelve months.
Further Information:
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Jörg Freiling
Faculty of Business Studies & Economics:
Chair in Small Business & Entrepreneurship (LEMEX)
Tel.: +49 421 / 218-66870
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Tatevik Reit
Faculty of Business Studies & Economics:
Chair in Small Business & Entrepreneurship (LEMEX)
Phone: +49 421 / 218-66873
tatevikprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
