Seyedeh Zahra Hejrati

Graduate Student Research Funding | 2023–2024 Academic Year

Refugee Entrepreneurs Network Disruption & Opportunity Recognition: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Uganda

This proposal explores leveraging digital platforms and data-driven algorithms to foster entrepreneurship among forcibly displaced persons (FDPs), addressing the challenges they face in network formation, access to entrepreneurial education, and overcoming structural challenges of displacement. Building on a foundational framework developed through a pilot phase in Ethiopia, the initiative aims to expand with a focus on mentorship's role in entrepreneurial process. Initial findings from Uganda highlight mentorship's significant impact on business idea quality, prompting further exploration into different mentorship models, including the potential of Generative AI mentorship. This research seeks to create a scalable model for empowering refugee entrepreneurs, contributing to their self-reliance and economic empowerment globally.

Seyedeh Zahra Hejrati, Department of Management Science & Engineering

Zahra Hejrati is a PhD candidate at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program in the Department of Management Science & Engineering. Zahra's research interest is at the intersection of entrepreneurial venture formation, particularly team formation and opportunity recognition processes, and minority entrepreneurship. This research is based on the premise that founding team formation and entrepreneurial opportunity recognition processes are central for the success of the venture, as they set the foundation for all subsequent decision-making, resource allocation, and growth. Zahra's work leverages Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) conducted in unique global settings, including Ethiopia, Uganda, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon.

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