Marjorie Tenchavez On The Layered Impact Created By Supporting Refugee Founded Businesses
Marjorie Tenchavez is a Filipina-Australian social impact practitioner. She is the Founder & Director of Welcome Merchant, a certified social enterprise that provides a free, consolidated platform for entrepreneurs and artists who identify as a refugee, a former refugee and/or as a person seeking asylum.
Welcome Merchant is challenging the status quo through their refugee-powered Curated Events, online directory with over 140 refugee entrepreneurs from across Australia, free skill building workshops for the entrepreneurs and refugee-led merchandise partnerships. Through Welcome Merchant, refugees and people seeking asylum entrepreneurs and artists can demonstrate their unique stories and talents in their own voice.
In 2023, Marjorie was awarded the NSW Humanitarian Award - Outstanding Achievement in Business by the Refugee Council of Australia & STARTTS; the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Third Sector Media and the Asian-Australian Leadership Award in Community & Advocacy.
Marjorie discusses why removing barriers to economic inclusion for refugees and people seeking asylum results in prosperity for us all, and how diverse communities are leading regenerative change across Australia.
Highlights from the interview (listen to the podcast for full details)
[Indio Myles] - To start off, could you please share a bit about your background and what led to your work in inclusion and social impact?
[Marjorie Tenchavez] - I am from a Filipina Australian background. I came to Australia in 1997 at the age of 12, which is already a hard age for anyone, but imagine moving to a new country when you’re in your preteens and Australia at that time was not welcoming towards people from Asian backgrounds. This was because of the likes of Pauline Hanson; I think I moved here two years after she was elected.
There was this whole Asian discrimination movement happening, something about the ‘Asian takeover’ which I think I blocked out! That time was hard for us, and we had a conservative Prime minister at that time also (John Howard).
I didn't think about until a few years ago how I had internalised a lot of that racism, and one of the things I wanted to do as soon as I arrived was just fit in. I remember actively working on trying to sound more Australian, I really wanted to get rid of this so called ‘freshy’ accent I had.
My English-speaking skills were fine because the Philippines was colonised by Spain and then Japan, and then America at some point, so a language barrier wasn't the issue. Even then I just wanted to fit right in.
Those were my early teenage years, and around my early twenties I started becoming interested in volunteering. I was volunteering for various causes, and I remember the first one I had volunteered for was OzHarvest when they first started.
OzHarvest is huge now all-around Australia and even the world too, I think they have a branch in Vietnam. That's a food waste initiative, and I signed up to be a volunteer in their first year of operations. I didn't do it for very long, and then I did other volunteering here and there.
One day I just thought, “I actually want to get paid doing this work." I enjoyed doing community development work, so that's when I decided (I'd finished high school by then) to become a mature age student. I signed up to do social science degree at the ripe old age of 25, and I know it's not that old, but it was older than the fresh out of high school kids I was in classes with.
Because I was one of the mature age students I wanted to find other mature age students in class, and that was when I met Jess Compton. She and I were the same age, and she was running an initiative at that time called Villawood Volleys. Villawood Volleys (which no longer exists) was a project named after the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre; dare I say one of the most infamous detention centres in Southwest Sydney.
It was 2011 when I met Jess and she had organised visits on weekends for people any community member to sign up and get to know these people who were being vilified in the media and by the government.
That's how I got into working with refugees and people seeking asylum, and coming from a migrant background influenced all these decisions. I don't think I understood this relationship until later if that makes any sense, I always just said, "I am drawn to this work.”
That was the beginning for me, volunteering at the Villawood Detention Centre for almost a year on weekends.
As the founder and director of Welcome Merchant, can you elaborate on this social enterprise and its core mission?
I never thought I would be running Welcome Merchant. I've always wanted to start a social enterprise, and I remember thinking at one point I wanted to run an eco-lodge! I was this close to signing up to sustainability post graduate studies when COVID happened, so then I thought let's forget about tourism for now.
Villawood Volleys was where it all started for me in terms of getting to know refugees and people seeking asylum. That shaped the jobs I got after university. When I started Welcome Merchant in 2020, I was literally sitting in my old job at the office thinking, "what would be good is if people knew more about refugee entrepreneurs," because I always found myself buying from businesses who were in some ways impacting communities.
The purchases I was making I kept justifying to myself because I was buying from businesses that were impacted by the drought. This was in 2019, and we had bushfires as well at that time. I kept buying online, and I decided I should just start something for refugee entrepreneurs as well.
That's how the idea was born, I thought I already know of a few refugees led businesses, so let's start this Instagram account. That was in March of 2020, and then it just grew organically from that. I must give a shout out to my close friends who saw the potential in Welcome Merchant before I did, because I'm very much a community development professional or social justice advocate as some might say.
I wasn't thinking about how we could turn this into a business, that certainly wasn't my initial thought. I just thought that an Instagram account would do, and then we received great feedback from the refugee and wider community as well. That's when I saw it could be more than an Instagram account.
Then we launched the online directory, and a year after that we started running the events in partnership with some of the refugee entrepreneurs. Now we're selling hampers and running free skill building workshops for the entrepreneurs.
Why is it necessary or in the best interests of businesses and organisations to prioritise inclusion of diverse communities and people?
Since we started, we have featured over 140 businesses, but they don't want to call themselves entrepreneurs. They're artists who come from refugee and people seeking asylum backgrounds from across Australia. They come mainly from Sydney and Melbourne, but there's still so much out there in cities across Australia and our regional towns. We haven't even tapped into these places yet, but people should go and support them.
There are so many reports out there which have said refugees are the most entrepreneurial out of all the people who start a business, they're just go getters. When you buy from them, you're experiencing something new. You're buying a new product, it’s often something you're tapping into that you've never heard of.
People who have come to our events have never eaten Syrian food before for example. They’ve never tried Sri Lankan food or even bought a product that was inspired by a recipe in Sierra Leone. These examples are just with some of the products and businesses we feature, so why shouldn't people buy those new products and try something new? Then you learn about a new story as well.
YOU KNOW WHEN YOU ARE BUYING FROM THESE BUSINESSES YOU'RE NOT CONTRIBUTING JUST TO THEIR BUSINESS, IT'S ALMOST THREE Layers OF IMPACT. OFTEN, THEY’RE SUPPORTING FAMILY MEMBERS IN THEIR HOME COUNTRies’ AS WELL, SO THAT PURCHASE FROM THESE BUSINESSES GOES A LONG WAY AND CAN BE THE SOLUTION TO A LOT Of INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA and empowerment.
What systemic barriers exist that are preventing refugees and people seeking asylum from engaging in economic prosperity, opportunities, development, and capacity building?
There are so many unfortunately. We just finished working with a group of students from Macquarie University in Sydney, and we asked them to do a survey and put together a report for us regarding the importance of having an online platform like Welcome Merchant.
We can't address all the barriers, there are just too many. What we're trying to do is at least bridge the digital gap. Refugees and people seeing asylum are different groups entirely, so for those who are not familiar, a person seeking asylum is someone still awaiting the outcome of their refugee application process. This could be anyone who falls under the bridging visa.
You have those in the community who are on bridging visas, and they could be on the bridging visa for years. It’s even been a decade for some of the Merchants who we've featured, and then there are those who are on temporary visas, but I know that the government has gotten rid of some of those temporary visas recently (which is a good thing).
Some of them are given work rights, some are not, and so we've featured on Welcome Merchant two artists who weren't given any work rights. I had no idea how they were getting by, but it’s through the power of community, that's how they were getting by.
Then you have those who are given work rights and start businesses because no one else wants to give them work. They want to start their own businesses, but they’re limited from being able to borrow from a financial institution because they don’t have a credit history like you and I or an everyday Australia would normally have.
Also, because of their visa uncertainty, no one wants to lend money to them either. They don't get much support from the government, it’s very limited at least. They do get Medicare cards, so that's something, but we've had to do a fundraiser recently for a Merchant (she’s a person seeking asylum) who had a health emergency. She couldn’t work for a few weeks, and because she couldn't do any catering jobs how else was she going to pay for her rent? We had to do a fundraiser, and we reached the target (and then some) within 24 hours. It was just amazing.
Those are some of the issues that people seeking asylum face, and then you have the refugees who are given their protection visa, but often again they won't be able to borrow money because of their lack of credit history. Before they even get to think about starting a business, they face other barriers like finding a home to live in.
The whole of Australia is very unaffordable, so imagine you're trying to crack into the rental market, and you have no rental history. Of course they face job discrimination as well, so that's why they started businesses because no one wants to give them jobs. Even though they're unable to borrow money from a bank, somehow, they just find other ways to borrow money (often from someone else in the diaspora also).
This community support I see is just beautiful. Finances are a huge barrier, and we just did this report with Macquarie University students. We would have liked more survey respondents, because we had 30 survey respondents out of a potential 140 (which isn't a huge sample).
We found the overwhelming barrier for them is financial. They don’t have the capital to sustain their business because of the institutional barriers as well for refugees and people seeking asylum, there are financial barriers, language barriers and then also digital barriers for some.
How have you seen the business for good sector in Australia evolve and what is required to help this movement gain more traction and create change?
I still count myself as a newbie, because it's only been a bit over three years since we have had an ABN. I've seen more support for social enterprises and business for good, but so many people still don't know what a social enterprise is. You always must explain it's a business with a social or environmental cause, but it's growing as a movement.
I've just moved from Sydney to Melbourne, and there's a larger social enterprise movement in Melbourne. There seems to be more down here, and in terms of government support in the recent budget they announced there would be more money allocated or targeted at social enterprises which are trying to address employment issues or provide training.
I've also seen more businesses are interested in engaging businesses for good as part of their supply chain. For Welcome Merchant, we've had some great support from a lot of tech companies. Shout out to Canva one of our biggest supporters, it all started with someone from Canberra ordering 90 hampers out of the blue, I'll never forget that day. From there it just grew into this beautiful supportive relationship, they've let us run events for free in one of their spaces in Sydney, and we have attended lunches, panels, and mini markets.
I've seen more companies reach out to Welcome Merchant wanting to support us, whether it's through buying hampers or wanting someone to do catering.
There is increasing popularity (which is very welcome), but there are still many issues we face. As social enterprises, we do not have our own legal entity, and that can be tricky for some. For myself, time is always an issue and finances are as well.
I’m talking about the financial constraints many of the entrepreneurs we're supporting face, but we also have financial issues because we're not a nonprofit.
That limits us from applying for certain grants, and a lot of the big grants still would only want to give money to those who are a charity or have a DGR status, but we don't have either one. In saying this, the reason why I chose a social enterprise model is so we don't have to rely on aid and donations.
What piece of advice would you give to an aspiring change maker or individual who wants to help people seeking asylum or refugees?
If you’re someone who wants to provide support, we welcome it in the sector. There are many ways people can support others:
I’m not saying everyone should start a social enterprise or charity that's supporting this cohort. It's tough and tHE WINS ARE VERY SMALL, BUT THE BEAUTY with WHAT WE'RE DOING at WELCOME MERCHANT IS in our STORYTELLING. WE’RE SHOWING THIS COMMUNITY IN A POSITIVE light, IN A WAY THAT SHOWS THEM AS NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS. THAT'S WHAT WE LOVE doing.
There are many ways people can support others, even if they’re just volunteering their time. I have an amazing team of volunteers, there are 24 of them last time I counted. They're helping in many ways, and some of them are bringing actual skillsets to the table. I've got someone helping with writing blogs and things like that, so you might think you don't have something to offer, but you will.
Everyone has something to offer, all they need to do is reach out to someone like the Refugee Council of Australia, who would have a list of organisations looking for volunteers. Of course, people should also buy from one of these businesses that we promote. There are over 140 of these Merchants, and they sell all kinds of products. Honestly there are so many to choose from skincare, candles, beauty products, clothing, and art.
I’d say buy directly from the Merchants because some online marketplaces out there take a cut. We don't make any commission, so people can jump on our directory and buy directly from these merchants. Listen to their stories, read about them, and just educate yourself.
What inspiring projects or initiatives have you come across creating a positive change? What books or resources would you recommend for our audience?
One fellow social enterprise I came across through Welcome Merchant is called ReLove. What they're doing is providing quality furniture to survivors of family violence, and that's such a big issue in Australia now.
The impact they’re creating is firstly they're saving things from going into landfill, so this is good for the planet. Then they're also supporting these survivors of family violence in a dignified way, they’re not just giving these victims any old mattress or whatever furniture was donated by someone.
It's a beautiful project and I've seen them grow. I think they do have a charity status as well, but recently I've been seeing them deservedly get recognised for the work they do. ReLove was co-founded by Ren Fernando and Ben Stammer, and it was also a COVID project like mine, it also started in 2020 and ballooned into more than what we both imagined. The side hustles took over our lives!
Then I’m impressed with one of the Merchants we've supported. He runs his own social enterprise, but he would never call it that. For the refugee community, they're always will ask, “what's a social enterprise?” For them it’s just normal, and he runs SalamaTea House in West Melbourne. It's a cafe, but it's also restaurant in the evenings. He also employs people seeking asylum in his business and giving back to his community.
I already mentioned Refugee Council Australia, so that's refugeecouncil.org.au. They have a great list of organisations who are across Australia, and then they also have good fact sheets with the things you want to know about refugees and people seeking asylum.
In terms of books, in my downtime I don't read many books about social entrepreneurship or refugees, because I need my own time to relax! I can’t recommend other books relevant to what I do, but I do listen to podcasts like Impact Boom where they interview other founders and inspiring people.
One favourite podcast of mine that is more scientific is called Ologies. The host interviews different types of ‘ologists’, specialists basically. It could be zoologist, or the other day I listened to someone who's an expert on pigeons which they call vidologists!
I just love this podcast because I feel like I'm learning something new and it's always good to learn new things not just about what you're doing in your daily and professional life. It's always good to like branch out and get some new ideas.
