Hiding in plain sight: Report unearths $27 billion power of Africa's displaced people

Refugees and IDPs across Africa generate an estimated 27 billion dollars (about Sh3.5 trillion) in annual income, pointing to a huge potential for host communities and governments.

A new report by the Amahoro Coalition shows refugees and internally displaced persons are rebuilding their lives, starting businesses and farming lands to create value for themselves and their communities.

The report “Hiding in Plain Sight: Africa’s $27B Displacement Market Opportunity" documents the economic scale of displacement across Africa and the commercial case for private sector investment in the affected communities.

The central finding shows that Africa’s displaced population generates income that is equal to an economy the size of GDPs of many countries.

Amahoro Coalition, a private-sector platform that drives job creation and funding for forcibly displaced people, says in its report that this population manages to generate that income with no banking sector, formal retail chains and no structured access to credit.

“Africa’s displaced communities are not waiting for rescue. They are running businesses, farming land, and moving goods across borders with almost none of the financial infrastructure available to everyone else. That gap is where the opportunity is,” says Tito Mbathi, head of partnerships at Amahoro Coalition.

The report released in Kampala, Uganda last week, documented refugees and internally displaced persons in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Chad, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria among others.

The report mapped the investment potential across five sectors of entrepreneurship, agriculture, finance, supply chain, and manufacturing, with primary data, market sizing, and case studies drawn from working models already generating commercial returns.

The coalition said discussions about displaced populations across Africa often centre on what has been lost in homes, livelihoods and stability.

The crisis is measured in numbers that capture absence rather than presence. What is far less visible is what displaced communities are building in the wake of that loss, Mbathi said.

In Kenya, the research focused on refugees in Kakuma, Turkana County, and at the Dadaab camp in Garissa County.

It examined opportunities available and found that most constraints are structural rather than inherent. For instance, most refugees are denied financial services because they lack documentation.

When financial institutions deny services due to documentation requirements, space emerges for adapted financial models. When supply chains bypass concentrated settlement markets, opportunities arise for new distribution networks,” Amahoro Coalition's overseer Isaac Kaku Fokuo Jr said.

Already, the coalition had partnered with DFCU Bank in Uganda to translate the report’s findings into concrete financial products and pathways for displaced entrepreneurs across the country.

With more than 43 million refugees and displaced people across the continent, Amahoro urges private sector players to tap into the opportunities presented by these populations for economic development.

“This research challenges prevailing perceptions of displacement. Behind humanitarian statistics are viable customers, capable workers and innovative entrepreneurs. The question is whether the private sector is ready to recognise what has long existed,” Fokuo added.