【雅思课外精读】在难民营中成为企业家会面对哪些挑战
【雅思课外精读】在难民营中成为企业家会面对哪些挑战 *注：本文摘自9月26日《经济学人》
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Bartleby
巴特比专栏
The world’s toughest business school
世界上条件最艰苦的商学院
The challenges of being an entrepreneur in a refugee camp
在难民营中成为企业家会面对哪些挑战
1. IN 1996 CIVIL war erupted in what was then Zaire and is now the conflict-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Karasira Mboniga managed to escape, eventually settling in the Kiziba refugee camp in Rwanda, and working as a secondary-school teacher. But he says that his life changed forever when he started his own business in 2008, selling food and performing money transfers.
1996年，扎伊尔内战爆发，扎伊尔就是我们现在那饱受战争蹂躏的刚果民主共和国(DRC)。Karasira Mboniga成功逃离刚果，来到了卢旺达的Kiziba难民营，在那里做了一个中学老师。但是他说，2008年开始自己做生意之后，他的人生彻底改变了，他现在主要就是在出售各种食品和转账。
2. That business came under threat when the pandemic hit earlier this year. But Mr Mboniga was one of many refugees to be helped by the African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC), a charity which started to disburse grants from a special covid-19 relief fund in June.
当今年早些时候疫情爆发，他的生意受到了影响。但Mboniga先生是众多接受非洲企业家团体(AEC)帮助的难民之一。AEC是一个慈善机构，设有一个新冠特别救助基金，今年6月开始发放救济款。
3. AEC, which started in Rwanda in 2012, has had a focus on job creation from the start. Eventually it realised that helping refugees would serve that aim, as jobs would also be created in the host community. Until the pandemic, it focused on making loans, rather than grants, to small businesses.
AEC成立于2012年，致力于创造就业机会。该组织意识到，帮助难民可以促进就业，因为这样可以在收容社区创造就业机会。在新冠爆发之前，该组织主要是向小企业发放贷款，而不是采取直接拨款的方式。
4. Its new covid-19 fund was established with help from the MasterCard Foundation, the payment processor’s charitable arm. It has already helped almost 4,000 entrepreneurs; 91% of the businesses that were closed have since reopened. On average, the ventures have managed to increase their staff by a third within a month of receiving a grant.
在支付服务商的慈善机构万事达信用卡基金会的帮助下，该组织成立了新冠基金。该基金已经帮助了近4000名企业家；91%被关闭的企业已经重新开业。平均而言，这些企业在获得资助后的一个月内就招募了三分之一的员工。
5. Sara Leedom of the AEC says the charity has put few restrictions on how the refugees can spend the money. Some have used it to settle debts; some to pay their employees; some to restock the business; some on covid-related issues, such as sanitation; and some have invested in new technology. Many operate small shops, kiosks or cafés; several work in agriculture; and a few in tourism and hospitality. “We were blown away,” she says.
AEC的Sara Leedom表示，该慈善机构对难民如何使用这笔资金几乎没有限制。有些人用这笔钱来偿清债务，有些用来支付员工工资，有些用来补充库存，有些用来购买新冠设施；还有一些用来投资新技术。许多人经营小商店、报摊或咖啡馆;一些人做农业相关的生意；还有一些是在旅游业和酒店业。她说:“我们被震撼到了。”
6. All the residents in the camps tend to rely on grants from the UN refugee agency for their monthly income. When people do buy goods, they often have to purchase them on credit. As a consequence, the camp’s entrepreneurs can get easily into debt as they wait to be repaid by their customers. That, in turn, helps explain why loans and grants from charities can be necessary to tide them over.
难民营里的所有居民都依靠联合国难民机构的补助金。人们买东西的时候，经常要赊账。因此，难民营的那些企业家在等顾客还款的时候，往往会欠债。而这反过来也解释了为什么慈善机构的贷款和补助能够帮助他们渡过难关了。
7. As well as a grant, however, Mr Mboniga has received business training from the AEC and says he would advise other refugees to join the programme. In the long run, he hopes that “my business will help me to support my family, to be self-reliant”. But he also wants to “create jobs for other refugees who don’t have other sources of income”.
不过，除了补助之外，Mboniga还接受了AEC的商业培训，他表示，他会建议其他难民加入该项目。从长远来看，他希望“我的生意能帮助我养家糊口，自力更生”。但他也想“为其他没有收入来源的难民创造就业机会”。
8. Another person to make it out of the DRC was Muzaliwa Rushama, who reached the Nyabiheke Camp in the Gatsibo district of Rwanda in 2008. For many years, he had part-time work delivering goods. Starting a business was difficult, he says, because he did not have enough capital and it was also hard to find somewhere to conduct his trade and to acquire business knowledge. From his part-time income, he would save around 20,000 Rwandan francs ($20) a month until eventually he was able to accumulate 300,000 francs. That allowed him to start his business, selling food, such as flour and rice, in 2017.
另一个从刚果民主共和国逃出来的人是Muzaliwa Rushama，他2008年来到了卢旺达Gatsibo地区的Nyabiheke难民营。多年来，他一直兼职送货。他表示，创业很难，因为他没有足够的资金，而且他不知道如何开展业务，获取商业知识。从他的兼职收入中，他每个月可以存下大约2万卢旺达法郎(20美元)，他一共攒下了30万法郎。这让他得以在2017年自己做生意，销售面粉和大米等食品。
9. Mr Rushama started working with the AEC in 2018 and has benefited from training, particularly in book-keeping, which he found immensely useful. “I know how to count money in and out, my expenses and stock,” he says. He was able to borrow $100 in 2018 and is currently servicing a $300 loan; he estimates that the value of his business has risen more than threefold since it began. His dream is to diversify into selling other products, for example shoes and clothes.
2018年，Rushama开始在AEC接受培训，他发现这些培训很有用，尤其是簿记知识培训。他说，“我知道如何计算存入和支出，也就是我的支出和库存。”2018年，他借了100美元，目前正在偿还一笔300美元的贷款；他估计，他的商店价值自创办以来已经增长了三倍多。他的梦想是将业务范围扩大到其他产品，例如鞋子和衣服。
10. The challenges of operating a business in the middle of a refugee camp are enormous, to put it mildly. Almost everyone there relies on aid. Access to traditional sources of finance, like banks, is extremely limited and expensive. Many goods need to be brought in from outside but the Kiziba camp has only a dangerous road linking it with the nearest town. On the plus side, the Rwandan government at least does not tax the enterprises run within the camps.
委婉地说，在难民营中经营企业面临的挑战是巨大的。在难民营，几乎每个人都依赖援助。获得银行贷款等传统融资渠道的途径极其有限，而且成本高昂。许多货物需要从外面运进来，但是Kiziba营地只有一条危险的道路连接距离最近的城镇。从有利的方面来说，卢旺达政府至少没有对在难民营内经营的企业征税。
11. Creating a business gives refugee entrepreneurs two things: a degree of control over their own lives and hope for the future. For those who have languished in such places for years or decades both are invaluable.
创业给了难民企业家两样东西:对自己生活一定程度的控制和对未来的希望。对于那些多年来一直在在难民营艰难度日的人来说，这是极其重要的。
12. AEC is expanding its operations. A year ago it began helping refugees in a Kenyan camp called Kakuma. Its entrepreneurial wards may never become the next Apple or Facebook. But turnover is not the only measure of business achievement. Small can be beautiful.
AEC正在扩大其业务。一年前，该组织开始帮助Kakuma难民营的难民。其覆盖区域可能永远及不上苹果(Apple)或Facebook。但营业额并不是衡量企业业绩的唯一标准。小也可以很美。
