M-UP: The Network for Migrant Entrepreneurs to Scale Up and Grow

In 2017, Youth Business International (YBI), supported by the European Union’s COSME programme, co-founded the M-UP programme. The project brings together key players in the field of migrant entrepreneurship support to share best practice, deliver new solutions and better support migrants to scale their businesses and become successful entrepreneurs. 

Programme overview

YBI is a co-founder of the network alongside SPARK, YBI members KIZ and MicroLab and Youth Business Spain’s sub-member Autoocupació. The network brings together over 20 expert organisations from across Europe to help migrants navigate the challenges of turning their existing microbusiness into a successful small to medium sized enterprise (SME).

To achieve this, it takes a bottom up approach, reaching out to entrepreneurs, who are at different points along their journey, including: 

1. Those that have successfully transitioned to a SME
2. Those that are on the path to doing so
3. Those that have potential but have not started yet

Impact

M-UP shares these findings and work collaboratively to create transnational, scalable solutions that tackle the problems head on. Findings are then used to advocate for government policy changes and ultimately break down the barriers that prevent migrant entrepreneurs from creating successful businesses and improve communities and economies in their new countries.

Learn more about M-UP and how to get involved by visiting the website and following the programme on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.