TERN Hosts London’s First Refugee-Led Pop-Up Store in the Iconic Truman Brewery

The UK’s leading refugee business network has just run the first refugee-led pop-up, with 5 business showcasing their products, in celebration of the business talent refugees bring to the UK.

By SWB Team

The UK’s leading refugee business network,  TERN, has just run London’s first refugee-led pop-up in the iconic Truman Brewery in the bustling heart of Spitalfields.  In a celebration of the business talent refugees bring to the UK, TERN will be hosting 5 emerging refugee founded businesses in the Brewery’s iconic Dray Walk.

“Over the last 3 years, we have consistently seen a huge amount of interest to support emerging refugee-led businesses. We are incredibly excited to be running our first-ever pop-up to give people the chance to buy from amazing businesses lead by a very talented community,” says Charlie Fraser, Partnership Director at TERN.

Founded in 2016, TERN is an ambitious social enterprise and ever-growing community with a mission to enable refugees to thrive through the power of their own ideas. The organization estimates that there could be as many as 18,000 refuge entrepreneurs in the UK, but less than 5% are able to access the business support they need to move forward.

There could be as many as 18,000 refuge entrepreneurs in the UK, but less than 5% are able to access the business support they need to move forward.

Backed by an experienced volunteer community of over 200 industry experts, entrepreneurs and consultants, TERN are supporting 100 entrepreneurs in 2019 alone, with a goal of launching 1,000 refugee-led businesses by 2025. This could provide employment for more than 3,000 people over the next 5 years.

Between 11am – 4:30 pm on 11th December they be took over Shop 4 on Dray Walk in The Truman Brewery, with products ranging from Sidr Honey, luxury lingerie, and handmade tote bags, which bear testimony of how refugees are creating some of the most inspiring new products in the London market.

The pop-up has been made possible through collaborations with The Truman Brewery, MoneyGram and Square.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with TERN on this project, and to have the chance to give back to our local community in this way. We look forward to a long standing relationship through our work at our newly repurposed space on site, The Boiler House,” says Juliet Kennedy, Creative Director, The Truman Brewery.

Truman Brewery have been facilitating creativity for the past three decades in a bid to regenerate 11 acres of industrial derelict buildings. Recognising the need for a new form of regeneration, Truman place social and environmental enterprise at the heart of everything they do and the collaboration with TERN represents a further exciting step in embracing these values. These are values celebrated by long-term TERN partners MoneyGram and Square, who are providing payment terminals for all of the entrepreneurs selling in the pop-up.

“I am very excited to showcase my lingerie on the 11th of December with TERN. This is an amazing opportunity for me to launch Maria Callisto to the public and I honestly can’t wait,” says Maria Igwebuike, Founder of Maria Callisto.

Together with TERN, they have ensured that for the first time people will be able to buy products uniquely from one of London’s brightest, most hidden, business communities, on 11th December.

Find more information about the event here.

Photos: Courtesy of TERN.