1 Introduction

Although global migration is a phenomenon that has increasing importance in the world in recent years, it has an important economic, social, and cultural structure (Heilbrunn & Iannone, 2019). Refugees are actors that play an important role in global migration. Although research on refugees started in the 1980s, more research is needed as the theoretical foundations are not mature enough, and recent important events increase the interest in this concept (Shneikat & Alrawadieh, 2019; Wahlbeck, 2002). From this point of view, a refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, or political opinion and had to cross international borders to find a secure place and cannot or is not willing to return home. These people are also defined as those who leave their homes, possessions, jobs, and loved ones and flee by taking a little more than their clothes (UNCHR, 2022; UN, 2022).

The expression of “refugee” differs from the term “immigrant.” While refugees have rights arising from international law, immigrants have to comply with the immigration laws of each country that accepts them (Bizri, 2017). In addition, refugees act because they are compelled to when they are compared to immigrants who act on their own will (Bernard, 1976). In recent years, there has been an internationally accepted understanding that refugees want to leave the countries they have sought asylum from. Many reasons in many countries such as economic barriers, legal restrictions, and regulations in the labor market cause people to be forced to second migration after being accepted (Long, 2015; Schuster et al., 2013). For example, in 2020, resettlement files of 6100 people in Türkiye were submitted to a third country and 4050 people, 77% of whom were Syrian citizens, left Türkiye to be resettled in 14 countries. While Syrian refugees are among those who need to settle in a third country continuously for the last six years, they are followed by refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Eritrea (UNCHR, 2022). According to UNCHR, 84 million people left their homes in the middle of 2021, and 26.6 million of this number are refugees (UNCHR, 2022). Since 2014, Türkiye has been the country that hosts the most people seeking international protection in the world. As mentioned in Fig. 6.1, while the number of refugees in Türkiye was 1,587,365 in 2014, this figure reached 3,652,362 in 2020. It has been observed that the number of refugees has more than doubled in a six-year period.

Fig. 6.1
A bar graph witnesses an exponential rise in the number of refugees in Turkiye from 1990 to 2020. The number of refugees peaked in 2017.

Number of refugees in Türkiye by years. (Source: World Bank, 2022)

Full size image

Among these, more than half of the individuals who are denied access to basic rights such as education, health, employment, and freedom of movement are under the age of 18 (World Bank, 2022; UNCHR, 2022). As can be seen in Fig. 6.2, the countries hosting the highest number of refugees in the world are Türkiye, Colombia, Pakistan, Uganda, and Germany, respectively (UNCHR, 2022). While the majority of refugees in Türkiye are Syrians fleeing the war, the number of those seeking protection from other nationalities is 333,000 (UNCHR, 2022).

Fig. 6.2
A bar graph of the number of refugees in millions versus countries. There are 4 million refugees in Turkey, 1.5 million in Columbia, 1.2 million in Pakistan, 1.3 million in Uganda, and 1 million in Germany. Values are approximated.

Countries with the most refugees. (Source: UNCHR, 2022)

Full size image

The increase in the number of refugees seeking asylum has brought along many concerns. Refugees’ integration problems into the host society and problems such as housing are some of these integration problems (Bakker et al., 2017). It is also known that refugees experience some difficulties due to the cultural and social norms in addition to having a sense of exclusion from their homeland and host countries (Coventry et al., 2003). For this reason, entrepreneurial activities have a positive effect on refugees’ adaptation to the labor market, their social and cultural adaptation to their host communities, overcoming the difficulties of starting a life again in the host country and improving their psychological state (Meister & Mauer, 2019; Rath & Swagerman, 2015; Kong, 2019, p. 1).

Social entrepreneurship, emerged in 1980, has become a concept that provides benefits to society and social satisfaction to individuals and produces solutions to problems. Although it is known that the concept of social entrepreneurship has always existed in societies, they were called visionaries, philanthropists, reformers, saints, or just great leaders. However, the concept, as used today, was first used by Banks in 1972 in the book The Sociology of Social Movements and was practically used with the establishment of Ashoka (Forouharfar, 2018). Social entrepreneurship, which is a field of practice and scientific research, is a form of entrepreneurship that aims to gain social benefits compared to obtaining economic value and promoting development (Mair & Marti, 2006, p. 36). Social entrepreneurs are seen as agents of social and economic change in society (Volkmann et al., 2012, p. 4).

The idea of “social entrepreneurship” is a combination of images of business discipline, innovation, and determination commonly associated with technology pioneers. Social sector institutions, which have difficulties in producing entrepreneurial approaches to social problems, are generally seen as inefficient, ineffective, and unresponsive. The demand for new models that include social entrepreneurial approaches is increasing day by day by those who adopt social entrepreneurship (Dees, 2001, p. 1). Literature review shows that social entrepreneurship is defined as “people who discover areas that the current system is not aware of, aim to satisfy undefined needs, organize resources in this direction by gathering them together, and ultimately ensure that all parties benefit from it” (Budak, 2015).

Creating social capital, which is one of the most important missions of social entrepreneurs, has a positive effect on the development of countries (Budak, 2015, p. 32). Based on this mission, the field of social entrepreneurship is growing rapidly and attracts increasing attention from many sectors. The term itself frequently comes up in the media and is used extensively by public officials. There are many reasons behind this popularity of social entrepreneurship. At the most basic level, stories about entrepreneurs and what they do, and even how and why they do it, have always attracted attention. The reason why people find social entrepreneurs such as Nobel Peace Prize winners Mohammed Yunus and Steve Jobs so attractive in previous years is that they come up with extraordinary ideas and, after all, come up with new products and services that significantly improve people’s lives. While social entrepreneurship points to the necessity of directing social change, what distinguishes people who focus on this field from others is the potential returns they bring by providing permanent and transformational benefits to the society (Martin & Osberg, 2007, p. 30). Besides individual social entrepreneurs, one of the strongest types is non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These structures, which were established under the name of association or foundation, are important economic actors in the field of social entrepreneurship, as well as being an employment door especially for disadvantaged groups (TÜSEV, 2012).

Non-governmental organizations that undertake the task of social entrepreneurship seek the most effective methods to serve their social missions (Dees, 2001, p. 1). To do so, they try to identify the most painful problems of society. Its main purpose is to solve the problems of the society, meet the social needs, and provide the social balance in this way. In the field of immigration, which is one of the factors that change the social balance, the most important regulatory actor, apart from universities, professional chambers, local administrations, and trade unions, is non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (Kılıç, 2014). In this regard, NGOs that try to ensure the integration of refugees into a society provide health support, legal consultancy, psychological support, and social consultancy services. For these organizations that provide basic aid, it is especially one of the most important goals for refugees to gain their economic competence without the need for these aids. One of the most effective ways in this situation is entrepreneurial activities. This is how the role of NGOs with social entrepreneurship activities as a driving force for refugee entrepreneurship begins. Refugee entrepreneurs often have difficulties in starting a new life in host countries. For example, country-specific restrictions, personal and structural discrimination, lack of knowledge for jobs in the host country, language problems, and difficulties in transferring their workforce experience to the host country are some of these barriers they encounter. Refugees often cause discontent in host countries due to their higher unemployment rate. Therefore, one of the methods of creating suitable conditions for these people is social enterprises (Freudenberg, 2019, p. 93; Kerr & Kerr, 2016; George, 2010, p. 379; Kong, 2019).

With the increase in refugee mobility in the world, the number of studies examining the relationship between social entrepreneurship and refugee entrepreneurship has increased (Fairlie & Lofstrom, 2015; Bedi & Wiseman, 2021; Mickiewicz et al., 2019; González-González et al., 2011; Neupert & Baughn, 2013; Levie, 2007; Brzozowski, 2017). The majority of these studies have examined the effects of social entrepreneurship on refugee entrepreneurship, and therefore, on the economic structure of countries. The relationship of this social integration, which is aims to be created, with social capital is also a reflection of these concepts, provides an opportunity to examine the relationship of these concepts (Bizri, 2017; Lyon et al., 2007) from another dimension. Lyon (2007), one of these studies, concluded that social enterprises have positive effects in the social and economic integration process of refugees and that social entrepreneurship contributes to the development of social capital as well as plays an important role in the development of the skills of entrepreneurs and certain employees. In this context, it has been concluded that it is important to examine social entrepreneurship activities in Türkiye, which has been experiencing an intense refugee influx since 2011.

2 Associations Interviews

In line with the investigations, many social entrepreneurship activities carried out in Türkiye have been identified, and those who have striking examples of these, those who have ties to international organizations, and those who work in the local context and try to develop a system were selected from the field and interviews were held.

2.1 Innovative Business Women and Youth Association (İNKAD) Gözde Koygun/KONYA

Innovative Business Women and Youth Association (INKAD) was established in Karatay, Konya, in 2021. INKAD is a non-profit association whose goal is to produce joint projects with young people and businesswomen. It aims to build a bridge between the business world and education to enable young people and women to have an entrepreneurial mindset and to actively participate in business life. Since the way of economic development in the world and in our country is through entrepreneurship, another way of empowering young people and women is innovation and entrepreneurship. The association has different age design, learning-based education programs, and applicants from high school to graduate school doctorate programs. With the programs developed and implemented by Inkad, students are provided with experience and knowledge sharing and mentoring is provided to them. By participating in these educational and experience-oriented programs developed according to age groups, young people have the opportunity to acquire the necessary knowledge and equipment at an early age to prepare for the business world. Within the body of the association, mentoring support is provided for a more motivated business life with the trainings and workshops they receive in their monotonous business life in industry, company, education, and institution. In addition to personal development, the participants are provided with the opportunity to create new opportunities for themselves with the trainings they attend in order to increase their investment and business potential. Again, with the network created within the scope of the INKAD, it is possible to be aware of many issues such as increasing business opportunities, reducing foreign dependency, being directed to the target according to the deficiencies in the domestic market, and preparing projects together at the point of bringing solutions.

In this context, to the questions asked about the relationship of the association with refugees, they mentioned that they are working on the adaptation of refugee women, especially refugee students, within the scope of the association. Gözde Koygun, the head of INKAD, also a doctoral student in the Department of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials at Selcuk University Advanced Technology Research and Application Center, mentioned that she has the opportunity to identify refugee students who are educated within the scope of basic sciences and who are prone to entrepreneurship. Through this research and application center, the development of professional skills of Turkish and Refugee graduate and postgraduate students is supported, and it is said that their competencies are increased through their participation in projects. Through the association, he expressed his support for the social adaptation problems of refugee students in particular. Koygun stated that though the association helps the students with social adaptation problems, they provide training to those who have entrepreneurship skills and support them as well as providing language training to those with language problems. Moreover, she stated that within the scope of projects they help the students to overcome social barriers they experience due to their refugee status. Koygun stated that refugee students are less advantageous when compared to Turkish students, which makes it difficult for the association to discover the talents of the refugee students. For that reason, they provide a lot of support for adaptation and encouraging them to believe that they can do it. In this context, she stated that some of the students they supported returned to their own countries and supported the post-war restructuring, while some of them found employment opportunities in Europe. She met the Iraqi entrepreneur through a project they carried out as a consultant and helped these refugee students within the scope of her own competencies. This specific entrepreneur, who was an industrial engineer in his country, came to Türkiye after the Iraq war and started working as an intermediate worker in Konya industry. They realized that this person they met while working in the industry as an intermediate staff had entrepreneurial features and outstanding engineering knowledge, and they supported him to start his own business after the project. This support was primarily through finding angel investors, introducing the refugee entrepreneurs to people from the industry who would be their patrons, ensuring that they receive training, and even supporting them to establish business contacts in order to carry out their first business activities. Expressing that this Iraqi entrepreneur currently has a facility of his own, Koygun stated that by designing pyrolysis devices in this facility, he filled an important deficit in the industry. Koygun explained that in his post-entrepreneurship interviews, he saw that he got rid of the psychological pressures of being a refugee and the sense of lack of belonging he felt. She said that these people, who received training for their personal development with this association and established their own company, gave scholarships to successful students.

When we asked if there was another refugee entrepreneur whom they supported within their association, she told the story of a refugee graduate student they met within the scope of the research and application center. She stated that the reason why this student was noticed among other students was that he was happy while doing his job at the research center and was understood by his inquiries about production. Koygun mentioned that this student could not have an entrepreneurial spirit due to the obstacles arising from his cultural characteristics, but his professional competencies were high and mentioned that they managed to break his social barriers while working on projects. Koygun stated that this student fought with the disadvantages of being a refugee and they supported him both through the works in the association and thanks to the projects at the research center. She stated that he is actively working in one of the projects of the center as well as supporting other refugee students as a social entrepreneur. She also stated that he prepared a ground for his ideas on entrepreneurship.

They said that they are trying to support both the social adaptation and psychological development of refugees through their association work. They stated that refugees have great problems in terms of trust and that the association continues to work with public institutions to help refugees who can become entrepreneurs by increasing their social competencies in this area.

2.2 Habitat Association/Buğra Avcı—Gizem Kara

Habitat Association was established in 1997 by young people who came together for the “Copenhagen Social Development Summit” held in 1995 and the “United Nations Habitat II Summit” in 1996. The mission of the association is to establish a communication link between young people in the world and in Türkiye. As a goal, the association adopts the understanding of acquiring the skills required by the age, acquiring digital competencies, providing access to opportunities, supporting their participation in decision-making processes, and increasing their environmental and social sensitivity in order to ensure the adaptation of disadvantaged people in the society. Contributing to sustainable development is among the main objective of the association. Among the stakeholders of the Habitat association are local administrations, governments, the private sector, and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In order to develop Türkiye’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, GEN leads Türkiye, which is a part of the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN Global), active in 178 countries, and undertakes the administrative management of GEN Türkiye (Habitatderneği, 2022). Habitat Association, which works intensively on refugees, has implemented many programs on skill development, entrepreneurship, and qualified workforce. Some of his projects for refugee entrepreneurship are “Imece Circle” and “Equal Future” projects.

Equate the Future: The project was realized as a joint project of UNICEF and Habitat Association. In this project, it is aimed to improve the digital skills and technological knowledge levels of Turkish and refugee youth in Türkiye to develop their entrepreneurial skills and to increase their employability. The project, active since November 2021, takes place in two different categories. One pillar of the project is the entrepreneurship support program and the other is the digital skills development program. In the digital skills development program, trainings are provided for the development of digital skills of both Turkish and refugee youth between the ages of 15 and 24. For the creation of this program, first of all, Turkish and refugee trainers were found, and then these trainers were trained on blockchain literacy and computer-oriented thinking. In addition, digital expertise trainings are given by experts under the name of “Digital Master Academy.” Within the scope of these trainings, three different programming languages ​​are taught to Turkish and refugee youth. These programs are taught at the level of expertise, and at the end, successful students are given a certificate of achievement, and moreover, internship programs are arranged for successful students. In cooperation with UNICEF, the entrepreneurship support program of the project provides training for groups to participate in the “The Generation Unlimited—GenU-Youth Challenge” event. It has been stated that the people included in this program are given trainings for the development of their entrepreneurship skills, and preparations are made for their participation in the marathon with the support of mentors. Participants from over 40 countries are accepted to this marathon. One hundred and twenty-five participants are determined for the people to be selected for the marathon. Gizem Kara said that the teams selected here show their talents on the subjects that change for each event, and the subjects vary from country to country. In addition, it was stated that they developed initiative ideas related to these issues and presentations were made in the marathon. These teams, who received trainings to improve their entrepreneurship, continue on their way with the support of mentors, and she said that eight teams were selected from these teams. These eight teams received intensive training. At the end of the program, a technology gift set worth 25,000 TL was given to 5 selected teams, and the top 2 or 3 teams were sent to the “Global Challenge.”

Gizem Kara stated that they give great importance to the participation of refugees in their entrepreneurship programs, so they try to reach the minimum number of refugees by 30% in this program, but she admitted that they cannot always reach this number. She stated that the reason for this is that refugees, who do not have the certain standard of living and motivation required to participate in such activities, cannot be included in the program and that they experience losses even if they are included in the program.

Gizem Kara, who stated that 300 refugee entrepreneurs are currently receiving training within the scope of the “Equal Future” project, responded to our question of how they choose those who can become entrepreneurs among these refugees. She stated that the motivation question in the application forms helped them to decide. Many of the refugee applicants said that they had applied to other competitions as well and that their experiences in this hackathon also supported this program. Gizem Kara stated that she continued to communicate with refugee entrepreneurs when the projects ended, and she explained that the refugees continue their processes with such projects that support their social adaptation.

İmece Circle: It was implemented in 2016 in cooperation with the “United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees” (UNCHR) and Habitat Association. The target audience of the project consisted of entrepreneurs in Türkiye, free entrepreneurs, and mentor with entrepreneurial spirit and motivation. Buğra Avcı, whom we interviewed with as the project representative, stated that the aim of the project is to contribute to Türkiye’s economic growth, to improve livelihoods for Syrians under temporary protection and refugees with international protection status in Türkiye, and to implement digital skills development programs, life skills programs, and entrepreneurship programs. He mentioned that within the scope of the project, besides digital literacy, social and financial skills, specialization training, and social cohesion activities, entrepreneurship and business establishment supports and grant programs were implemented.

He mentioned that within the scope of the project, basic entrepreneurship trainings were organized to increase the awareness of refugees in the field of entrepreneurship. In addition, idea producing camps were organized for the formation of entrepreneurial ideas, and then bootcamps and accelerator programs were organized to support refugees to get to know the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Türkiye and to be included in this ecosystem. Buğra Avcı stated that after these trainings, successful entrepreneurs supported within the scope of the project were included in the entrepreneurship summits and ecosystem meetings held in Türkiye. It has been said that the people who will be preferred for the project are selected among the refugees who meet the criteria of being an entrepreneur and establishing their business in the Turkish market, employability, and economic and social cohesion with the host community. When choosing entrepreneurs or entrepreneur candidates, attention is paid to issues such as the evaluation of the business idea, the motivation of the person, and the long-term nature of the business idea. It was stated that these evaluations were made through interviews. It was stated that refugee entrepreneurs were provided with direct grants and business establishment support, as well as training and activities encouraging them to enter the field of entrepreneurship within the scope of the project, and they were provided to meet with angel investors at “Demo Day” events. However, it has been mentioned that the main support given is in the form of covering the costs in the business establishment process and in the form of cash grants. As for the inspections of the refugee entrepreneurs included in the project, since the entrepreneurs who are entitled to receive grants and business establishment support are required to register for a business, their development status is followed up to the business registration process, and accordingly, information is updated at certain intervals.

When we asked about the effects of the refugees’ cultural patterns on the project, considering the economic dimension of the integration process of refugees, they stated that they could not fully adapt, but they especially wanted to have a job. Accordingly, he stated that they observed that the refugees had a high motivation at the stage of participating in the projects that would be given to be accepted into the working life, since it was foreseen that they would like to work in the labor market and in good conditions for their own economic independence.

In addition, he stated that the rate of women’s participation in the training and capacity building programs organized online has increased due to the pandemic and that the reason for this is that they have been given the chance to participate from home and that they have the opportunity to participate in capacity building activities in addition to their responsibilities at home.

2.3 Kaced/Yaşar Yeğen

Established in 2002 with the mission of “A Strong and Democratic Civil Society” in the Black Sea region, the Kaced Association is dedicated to the works in the fields of European Union integration process, refugee rights studies, women’s studies, multiculturalism, local democracy and strengthening of civil society, human rights and citizenship, rule of law, environment protection, cultural and artistic activities of disabled and youth (Kaced, 2022).

Kaced’s work on refugee entrepreneurship started with the “Integration of Syrian Refugee Women” project. Yaşar Yeğen, with whom we interviewed within the scope of this project, stated that they aim to bring together the women of the local people and refugee women in the provinces of Rize, Trabzon, and Artvin and ensure their integration. Stating that they started the process with the women of two different cultures getting to know and understand each other, Yeğen also added that they gave refugee women training on their own competencies. He stated that they placed the successful ones in the Ayder region for trainings, especially in ecological tourism, and 22 of these women started to work actively before the pandemic process started. He stated that these refugee women are especially competent in Arabic-Turkish translation, and they can find a job easily.

Talking about the “Entrepreneurial Idea Development and Empathy Workshop” in this project, which was realized with the participation of refugee women, Yaşar Yeğen said that, in these workshops, women with entrepreneurial ideas suitable for their competencies were introduced to Turkish women living in the region, so that they could both mentor them and provide employment through brainstorming. He explained that they were working on the emergence of their ideas. He also underlines that there were seasonal workers from Georgia in this region before the migration from Iraq and Syria and that these workers have now turned into immigrants, and they have changed to ecotourism workers from seasonal tea workers, so the local people are sensitive about the integration of refugees or immigrants.

He stated that the information materials to be used in the workshop were prepared in Arabic and Turkish for the “Entrepreneurial Idea Development and Empathy Workshop” within the scope of the project and that the women who are willing to participate in the project, especially in the field of entrepreneurship through immigration management and security, were invited to the project. He explained that they held a workshop after being involved in this project and that they were a reference to those who participated in the trainings within the framework of the project and successfully completed the project. On the other hand, on a question whether they provided any cash aid, he stated that they provided capital through angel investors they found from the region.

When we asked whether the oppression and sanctions against women in the cultural structure of the refugees constituted a problem in this process, we are told that women who solved these problems applied to them, and women who could not get their husband’s permission due to cultural reasons participated in the events with their husbands, and their thoughts about the activities of the association changed in a positive way, so they, as an association, had the opportunity to express themselves better.

2.4 Dost Eli Derneği

The NGO, which started aid activities in 1996 but was officially established in 2001 under the name of “Friendly Help and Solidarity Association,” primarily provides food and clothing aid to refugees, immigrants, and Turkish families in need; it does not limit the service it provides to people only with these, but also provides services in many new areas in the country and abroad with a different understanding of aid in the field of emergency aid, social assistance, education, and health. The organization, which put the food bank system into operation for the first time in Türkiye in 2004, gained the status of an association serving the public interest in 2014 (Dosteli, 2022).

The association, which supports both Turkish and refugee families within the scope of its mission, provides both aid in-kind and cash. Within the scope of these aids, they stated that they are trying to bring together those who are donors of the association and those who can provide employment, and those who seek opportunities to work, in order to eliminate the financial dependence of especially refugee families on the association. They stated that this process sometimes met with entrepreneurs who were especially refugees and lost their entrepreneurship in the war zone, and they started to support refugee entrepreneurs, although not systematically. They stated that they are trying to support refugee women, who have lost their spouses in the war zone but have personal competencies and want to create a livelihood for their family in entrepreneurship. Lastly, they told that they obtained machines from their donors for a Syrian refugee who wanted to produce clothes by sewing, enabling them to become operational, albeit not officially. They stated that these activities of their association are not specific to refugees; the official of the association said that refugees are more willing in this regard and that they request support from the environment regarding references. He explained that the process usually starts with the application for food or financial aid, and when they listen to the stories of the association officials who take special care of families, they try to support them when they ask for an opportunity to be independent. They stated that they want to develop a system that brings together both donors who are willing to be angel investors and those in need with entrepreneurship competence in the same framework and that especially entrepreneurial women who cannot leave their homes due to their cultural texture and who do not have a spouse need this more.

3 Overall Evaluation

When Türkiye’s refugee process is evaluated in general, it is a country that is a party to the 1951 convention and the 1967 protocol. In recent years, many institutional reforms have been carried out in order to establish a national asylum system. The first of these, the “Foreigners and International Protection Law,” which was Türkiye’s first asylum law in April 2013, was approved by the Turkish Grand National Assembly and enacted on April 11, 2014. The “General Directorate of Migration Management” was established, which is responsible for the determination of new policies by revealing the basic principles of the national asylum request in terms of the content of the law, as well as the execution of the procedures regarding foreigners in Türkiye. In addition, the temporary protection regulation was adopted on October 22, 2014, in order to draw the general framework of the rights and responsibilities for the persons under temporary protection in Türkiye (UNCHR, 2022).

Since Türkiye is in the route of immigrants, the people who use it the most after them are refugees. With the acceleration of globalization, it started to become the most sought-after asylum country in the early 1980s. The first refugees of Türkiye were those who fled the country in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Because it is a massive group, it is known as the first refugee group to come to Türkiye. 1988–1991 is the second largest refugee group known to have taken shelter in Türkiye because of the massacre of approximately 600,000 Iraqi Kurds in Halabja and the Gulf War by Saddam Hussein (Kara & Korkut, 2010, pp. 157–158). In 1999, 17,746 and 32,577 people from Kosovo came as refugees from Meskhetian Turks who were exiled. After these, the largest refugee group known recently came due to the conflicts that started in Syria in March 2011. With this refugee movement that has been going on since 2011, the number of refugees in Türkiye has been determined as 3, 762,385 people as of April 21, 2022 (Mülteciler, 2022; Ergüven & Özturanlı, 2013, pp. 1012–1013).

Both public institutions and social entrepreneurs are engaged in various activities for the adaptation of this population of over 3 million in the country. Entrepreneurship is one of the important activities, especially in terms of accelerating economic adaptation. Although there are many more social entrepreneurship organizations working on refugee entrepreneurship in Türkiye, it was seen that they unfortunately do not have a systematic approach. It has been understood that social entrepreneurs, whose data storage is found to be lacking in the studies on refugees, mostly turn to problem solving by giving a quick reaction to regional problems. They generally support refugee entrepreneurs by means of regional patronage, referrals, or angel investors with the support of donors, except for social entrepreneurs, public institutions, and organizations working in the EU or the international arena. In the preliminary interviews with the associations, it was observed that the NGOs, which are a dimension of social entrepreneurs, still work according to the situation and that even the records of their work on refugees are not regular. It has been observed that social entrepreneurs who develop projects related to refugees prefer not to interfere with the cash aspects of the business, but rather aim to develop their competencies.

The fact that the people of Türkiye, displaying their cultural embrace toward refugees, are more willing that the refugees to stand on their own feet with the prolongation of the process. This concern has been reflected in the work of social entrepreneurship activities. It has also been observed that most of the current studies of these organizations, which previously tried to support only in-kind and cash aid, are on entrepreneurship or adaptation projects, since they also support social integration.