Displacement does not erase skill. It compounds resilience.
Entrepreneurship for displaced communities
Rock Forward exists because the tools to convert resilience into enterprise have never been equally distributed. We equip African refugees with the skills, capital, and networks to build sustainable businesses — transforming displacement into dignity.
From displacement to economic agency
Refugees arrive with skills, drive, and community trust. What they lack is market knowledge, capital access, and connections. We bridge that gap.
Displaced individual
Skills, resilience, community, entrepreneurial drive
Rock Forward program
Training + capital + mentorship + peer network
Launched venture
Registered, revenue-generating business
Community impact
Income, jobs, role models, reduced aid dependency
Systemic change
Stronger economies, Africa bridge
US registered, tax-exempt
Cohort-based, intensive model
Fastest-growing displaced population
Connected to Mazano Hub, Africa
Built on conviction. Driven by evidence.
Mission
Rock Forward equips refugees and marginalized entrepreneurs with the skills, capital access, and networks they need to build sustainable livelihoods — transforming displacement into dignity and economic independence, one venture at a time.
Vision
A world where every displaced person has a credible path to economic self-determination — where entrepreneurship is available not only to the privileged, but to anyone willing to build.
Values
Our model is built on what works
IRC research confirms
Bundled services — combining training, capital, and mentorship — consistently outperform single-service programs in refugee livelihood outcomes.
Poder program (Cadenas et al., 2023)
A 5-week culturally responsive entrepreneurship intervention produced measurable gains in self-efficacy, business knowledge, and economic agency among refugee participants.
UNHCR Global Roadmap (2022)
Most refugee entrepreneurship programs abandon entrepreneurs after launch. Sustained post-launch support is the single strongest predictor of venture survival.
Peer cohort models
Cohort-based learning structures reduce dropout, build social capital, and create accountability networks that persist well beyond program completion.
A community with extraordinary potential
African refugees represent one of the fastest-growing displaced populations globally — yet the infrastructure to support their economic integration remains thin, fragmented, and under-resourced.
Explore our programsFastest-growing displaced population
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than 26% of the world's refugees. US resettlement is growing, but economic support has not kept pace.
Informal micro-enterprise expertise
Many arrive with deep experience running market stalls, trade businesses, and service operations — skills that transfer directly with the right support.
Untapped diaspora networks
Strong ties to home countries create natural trade corridors and mentorship pipelines that no other program leverages.
Mazano bridge
US-based graduates connect back to Mazano Innovation Hub across Africa — creating a diaspora-powered development loop.
Rock Forward is the US chapter of a larger story.
Every business our graduates build in America adds to a diaspora of skilled, networked entrepreneurs. That diaspora is the bridge.
Refugee arrives in US
Skills, drive, community — but no market access
Rock Forward bootcamp
12-week cohort: training, capital, mentorship
US venture launched
Revenue, independence, community impact
Mazano bridge activated
Mentorship, investment, advocacy flowing to Africa
Mazano Innovation Hub runs cohort-based trade incubation programs across Africa — covering apparel, food, carpentry, cosmetics, and manufacturing. Rock Forward graduates become mentors, investors, and advocates for Mazano's work.