Hire Refugees to Improve Your Business, Says Migrant Billionaire

Businesses solely seeking profit will not survive the next generation, says the founder of the major U.S. yoghurt brand Chobani – adding that aiming to do good is key for the future of a company.

Chobani has policy of including refugees in its workforce and its founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, used a lot of his personal wealth to help refugees forcibly displaced through his Tent Refugee Partnership charity. H&M recently signed up to the charity, which aims to help refugees become more self-sufficient.

“I think businesses that do not get involved with this type of humanitarian issues are not going to exist in the next generation,” says Ulukaya to the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “I think the business community knows this better than ever before, even three years ago. You see it more and more. The sole purpose of business is making money – that’s garbage, it’s old, it’s done, it’s finished.”

Ulukaya, himself a migrant, highlights that hiring refugees “is good business”, adding that they are among his hardest working staff as they have survived tough circumstances that allowed them to be both innovative and entrepreneurial.