University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
25 Million Sparks
Book

25 Million Sparks

The Untold Story of Refugee Entrepreneurs

Andrew Leon Hanna
Cambridge UP, 2022
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Entrepreneurship has restored hope, dignity and a measure of financial stability for millions of refugees and displaced people living across the globe, explains human rights advocate Andrew Leon Hanna. With profound humanity, he tells the story of three female Syrian entrepreneurs living in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. He examines the challenges they face and impact they make on their communities. Along the way, he weaves in sobering facts about the growing global refugee crisis. Hanna, himself a first-generation immigrant and social entrepreneur, writes with empathy and passion in his compelling, award-winning narrative.

Summary

More than 25 million refugees live across the globe, and the number is growing.

Across the globe, more than 25 million people have been forced to leave their homes and cross international borders to avoid war, conflict and persecution. These refugees include Rohingyas in Bangladesh, Syrians in Jordan, Somalis in Kenya and millions of others fleeing crises in Yemen, Honduras, Venezuela and elsewhere.

More than three-quarters of refugees live in long-term displacement, meaning unresolved conflicts in their home countries make it unlikely they’ll return anytime soon. In addition to refugees – who have a certain amount of legal protection – over four million people are asylum seekers, people who left home for the same reasons as refugees but haven’t yet qualified for legal protections in the countries where they now reside.

Together, refugees and asylum seekers make up the larger category of forcibly displaced persons. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some 82.4 million people are now displaced. That number – the highest the UNHCR has seen in the 50 years it has kept records, and likely the highest number in human history – works...

About the Author

Andrew Leon Hanna is a first-generation Egyptian-American lawyer, social entrepreneur and human rights advocate. He is co-founder and CEO of DreamxAmerica, a social enterprise that combines filmmaking and impact investing to highlight and support immigrant entrepreneurs across the United States.

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