Understanding the process of starting up and managing the performance of a refugee enterprise. A Critical Realist case study

This study applies a critical realist framework of agential reflexivity to investigate the process by which an African refugee woman and her family established and developed a social enterprise in London. More specifically, the study examines how agential reflexivity can help to understand the process through which a refugee entrepreneur transforms potential business opportunities into a successful business. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from a case study conducted at Bravo from 2010 to 2023. The findings show that over the years, the entrepreneurial process progressed through fractured, autonomous, communicative, and meta-reflexive processes. The entrepreneur combined strategic decisions with routine actions that were adapted to each business context. Potential business opportunities continued to emerge, and the reflexive entrepreneur transformed them into a successful venture, illustrating how the process of structural conditioning and internal conversation actualised the realisation of business potential.