The Cedar Review

An Independent Review into Refugee Entrepreneurship in the UK

The Cedar Review is an independent review into refugee entrepreneurship in the UK. The Review will examine the current state of refugee entrepreneurship, assess the economic value of refugee-led businesses, draw on international best practice, and develop evidence-based recommendations for Government, business, and support organisations to drive economic growth by increasing the success and scale of refugee-founded businesses.

The Cedar Review aims to evaluate the economic contribution of refugees across the UK, through entrepreneurship, innovation, and job creation. By combining data, lived experience, and expert insight, the review will identify practical ways to remove barriers, improve access to finance and networks, and strengthen business support, ensuring that refugees can start and grow commercially successful businesses and contribute to a more competitive UK economy.

Objectives

The Cedar Review will:

Understand the landscape of refugee entrepreneurship in the UK: identifying key barriers, enablers, and areas of opportunity.
Investigate the economic opportunity of decreasing barriers into entrepreneurship for refugees.
Learn from global best practice, benchmarking the UK against initiatives from the OECD, UNHCR, and other international examples.
Gather lived experience through interviews and focus groups with refugee entrepreneurs across backgrounds, sectors, and regions.
Drive policy change with evidence-based recommendations on business registration, access to finance, and work rights.
Support refugee founders to see entrepreneurship as a viable route to economic participation.

Our Approach

The Review will:

Launch a Call for Evidence from organisations, academics, NGOs, and policymakers.
Conduct interviews and focus group sessions with refugee entrepreneurs.
Host in-person events: a launch, a midpoint event, and a final report launch.
Lead a storytelling and advocacy campaign celebrating refugee entrepreneurs and their contributions.
Produce a final report with clear, evidence-based recommendations for Government and industry.

Governance

The Review will be guided by a Steering Board of refugee entrepreneurs, academics, NGOs and business leaders - ensuring lived experience is central to every stage of the process.