More than one hundred million people are displaced worldwide today, and political backlash against refugees has slashed vital humanitarian aid. When given the chance, however, many displaced people have proved themselves to be resourceful entrepreneurs who can drive growth. Investing in refugee-led enterprises, companies supporting refugees, and the communities welcoming them transforms tragedy into economic and social gain for all.

Banking on Belonging offers a visionary roadmap that shows how investing in refugees not only empowers displaced communities but also builds more prosperous and resilient economies worldwide. John Kluge Jr., a social entrepreneur, and Christine Mahoney, a public policy expert, demonstrate that refugees are not burdens but instead benefit host societies through job creation, tax revenue, and innovation. They tell the powerful stories of resilient entrepreneurs displaced from places such as Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Venezuela, exploring their contributions from New York to North Dakota, Poland to Jordan, Mexico to Uganda.

Banking on Belonging presents the Refugee Lens Investing framework, a pioneering system for classifying opportunities such as refugee-owned businesses and funds targeting displaced talent. Blending on-the-ground narratives and case studies with empirical data and concrete tools, it makes the moral and practical case for private investment as a sustainable alternative to humanitarian aid. At once a hands-on guide and an inspiring global saga, this book delivers a fresh, hopeful vision of inclusion and prosperity.

John Kluge Jr. is the founder of the Refugee Investment Network, the first blended finance investment collaborative dedicated to creating long-term solutions to global forced migration. He is also the founder or cofounder of other investment funds and social enterprises, including Thistlerock Mead Company, a refugee-lens venture that combines ancient honey wine fermentation practices with modern regenerative agriculture.

Christine Mahoney is chief innovation officer and professor of public policy and politics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. Her books include Brussels Versus the Beltway: Advocacy in the United States and the European Union (2008) and Failure and Hope: Fighting for the Rights of the Forcibly Displaced (2016), which inspired the Refugee Investment Network.