Immigration and the 2019 European MoneyGram Awards

Syrian refugee Obada Otabashi (Belgium) Lawrence Richards (Germany) and Giuliano Dore (UK) were the three top winners at the first European MoneyGram Awards 2019 on Thursday 7 November in Brussels. There some interesting immigration stories too.

The awards ceremony in Brussels rewarded migrant entrepreneurs for supporting local economies and reinforcing integration in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

Several representatives of MoneyGram such as Michael Schütze, Head of MoneyGram Europe, Grant Lines, Chief Revenue Officer and prominent guests participated at the award ceremony, including Christos Stylianides, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid & Crisis Management, Sabine de Bethune, Senator and Honorary President of the Belgian Senate, Ibrahim Ouassari, entrepreneur & tech incubator and,  Pierre Kompany, Mayor of Ganshoren.

How is Immigration linked to the 2019 European MoneyGram Awards?

EU Commissioner Christos Stylianides in charge of humanitarian aid & crisis management said : “I believe these awards are a wonderful example of what can be achieved when we remain true to our European values. When we create an environment that welcomes and empowers people and fosters innovation. Every participant today is a living proof of empowerment and determination. It is also proof that people do not want charity. They want a fair chance to shape their life and pursue their dreams.” The Mayor of Ganshoren in Brussels, Pierre Kompany and first black Mayor of Belgium, has received a Special Award for Outstanding Social Engagement.

Despite several studies showing that migration represents a positive contribution to the countries of destination, a large part of Europeans believe that it’s more a cost rather than a benefit.  However, immigration is not only about asylum. Immigrants complement native-born workers and raise general productivity through entrepreneurship and innovation. Contrary to what some populists tell us, immigrants strengthen the EU economy by filling jobs in important industries, starting businesses and creating new products.

Within the EU, migrants represent an important pool of potential entrepreneurs. The promotion of entrepreneurship is incorporated in EU’s entrepreneurship 2020 action plan which aims to create the conditions for smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth. This action plan also provides a common policy framework and supporting measures to help EU countries in their national integration policies for third-country citizens.

The European Commission supports several training and mentoring programmes for potential entrepreneurs in migrant communities. It funds projects such as M4CHANGE and EUStartGees focusing on the identification of potential entrepreneurs among migrants, raising the awareness about entrepreneurship within migrant communities.

MoneyGram, is funding different integration projects in the UK, Italy and France. In the UK, the company is supporting numerous integration projects in the frame of the PARTICIPATE. iNTEGRATION initiative and in the areas of sport, education and culture. One of the most exiting projects is “Feel at Home” aiming to bring communities together to create video messages around integration and belonging, and produce video resources on how we can all play a role in making integration happen.

Through this project, NGO Migrant Voice is organising trainings for migrants and hosts community members to learn skills in video making and create audiovisual material with messages around home, belonging and integration. These will be shared widely online in order to provide positive stories of role-models and examples of what we can do to make integration happen and get more to join in.

In Italy we have the Coffee Break project of the  Fondazione Leone Moressa, a research institute based in Venice, dedicated to the study of the economics of immigration. The project aims at promoting an understanding of the migratory phenomenon in Italy based on reliable official data, in order to unmask and weaken the main fake news concerning this field.

The project aims to develop a public discussion about stereotypes concerning migration. The fake news to be debunked during the debates are : They steal our jobs; They are invading us; They represent a cost for the state; They harm our businesses; They don’t want to be integrated; Let’s help them at their own home. The first debate “They steal our jobs ” took  place on 11 November at the Representation of the European Commission in Rome.

Another interesting project in Italy, is Le Mie Radici, a drawing & painting contest for children of Italian residents and adolescents born abroad or with at least one parent from another country

In France, MoneyGram is supporting Action Emploi Réfugiés, a service network that brings employers and refugees together. The objective of this organisation  is to restore dignity to individuals in exile, and facilitate their journey towards economic inclusion.

Migration is a great tool to fight poverty in the world. Societies that incorporate people from different ethnic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds are also technologically more advanced. Nevertheless, migration is at the top of the political agenda in the EU, and the anti-immigration movement is surging. The EU should define balanced policies by supporting legal channels of migration based on the demand of the job market and better education and retraining structures to manage local workforce transitions.

See more events here.

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