About TERN

(The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network CIC)

Enabling refugees to thrive through the power of their own ideas.

We are a nonprofit helping refugees to become entrepreneurs, launch their businesses and take control of their own futures. We have supported over 750 founders since 2016.

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Volunteer your skills
An entrepreneur pitching to an audience.

What we believe

Our Vision

A world where refugees have a fair chance to build a livelihood​

Our Mission

is to enable refugees to thrive through the power of their own ideas.

Our Way

We build and grow start-up ecosystems and marketplaces tailored to the needs of refugee entrepreneurs.

Our values

We are compassionate

We value and respect the life experiences, energy and cultures of everyone in our community. We make time to listen first and understand those around us.

We are participative

Refugees are leaders who decide TERN’s future. We ensure that the ideas of our community, volunteers, partners and team members are heard and nurtured.

We are ambitious & enterprising

With curiosity and creativity, we shape the ‘crazy’ into reality. We seek to grow our impact exponentially.

We are always improving

We identify and seek out learnings in our work and share them with each other to improve how TERN achieves its mission now and in years to come.

"The TERN community are a family - they are both friends and colleagues, the community cuts across all of these strands. At TERN I have got a place that I can go that’s comfortable, where I don’t feel judged - a place where I can go to get help or even inspiration."

Picture of Yeukai Taruvinga

Yeukai Taruvinga

Founder, Active Horizons & Shumba Boutique

What we do

Community building
Through networks and events, we co-create space for refugee entrepreneurs to connect, inspire and support one another.
Business support programmes and 1:1 advice and support
We offer free, bespoke business support to refugee entrepreneurs in the UK.
Training organisations to do what we do
We provide expert advice and tools to organisations looking to grow their support offering for refugee entrepreneurs.
Explore our services

Our community

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Our partners

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Meet our partners

Our team

Erin Tandy

Community Manager
Linkedin

Jill Gardener

Community Facilitator
Linkedin

Mai Brightling

Communications Lead
Linkedin

Wai-Leng Chon

Programme Manager: On Demand
Linkedin

Ely Ahamed

Food & Beverage Portfolio Manager
Linkedin

Ozie Amadi

eCommerce Portfolio Manager
Linkedin

Lucas Farthing

Social Enterprise Portfolio Manager
Linkedin

Hanna Morozova

Ukrainian Entrepreneur Support Manager
Linkedin

Saman Taherimoud

Digital Service Officer: TERN On Demand
Linkedin

Nora Tawfiq

Enterprise Team and Operations Lead
Linkedin

Charlie Fraser

Partnerships & Strategy Director | Co-founder
Linkedin

Fréd Kastner

Social Innovation Director | Co-founder
Linkedin

Isobelle Ford

Head of Community Ventures
Linkedin

Emily Leonard

Head of Knowledge & Insights
Linkedin

Isabella Gräble Govender

People & Culture Lead
Linkedin

TERN Champions

We aim to be 51% refugee-led by 2025. This will be led in part by training of TERN
Champions – community members who use their entrepreneurial experience to take an active leadership role within the community and TERN.

Since 2022, 80% or more of our digital training content and storytelling has been co-created by TERN Champions.

Coming soon: Our future leadership team

In 2025 we’ll be introducing a community council made up exclusively of members with lived experience of forced migration. The board will inform our strategic decision making and ultimately develop a leadership pathway into TERN’s Directors Board.

Join our team

Follow us on LinkedIn

to see our latest vacancies.

Visit our Employer Profile

on Escape the City.