Transforming Displacement into Development Business Analytics for Rohingya Microenterprise Sustainability in Bangladesh

This study applies a business-analytics lens to examine how displacement economies can be leveraged for sustainable microenterprise development. Using primary data on 326 enterprises operating inside and around Rohingya settlements in southeastern Bangladesh, we profile market structures, transaction behaviours, and performance differentials between Rohingyaand Bangladeshi-run firms. Descriptive analytics and multivariate decomposition reveal: (i) refugees engage in a diverse portfolio of active businesses; (ii) both communities operate firms and are economically interlinked through local goods, services, inputs, and labour markets; and (iii) credit underpins enterprise continuity, with approximately 50 percent of transactions occurring on credit. Yet Rohingya-run businesses are systematically smaller and less profitable, and refugee workers receive lower wages than local workers. About half of the observed performance gap is explained by disparities in start-up capital, scale, location, and education. Framed within a displacement-to-development perspective, these findings identify actionable levers for sustainability—targeted access to working capital, skills upgrading, and improved market access and siting. The contribution is twofold: empirically, we document the structure and financing mechanics of refugee-host enterprise ecosystems; methodologically, we demonstrate how business analytics can isolate constraint- binding factors that, if relaxed, can enhance the resilience and long-term viability of Rohingya microenterprises while strengthening host-community market integration. Such disparities highlight the importance of innovative financing mechanisms, including integration with sustainable green finance approaches (Rashid & Ullah, 2023). Digital platforms for entrepreneurial training may help reduce these barriers, provided adequate facilitating conditions such as infrastructure, stakeholder support, and digital literacy are established (Tasnim et al., 2025).