When Refugees Mean Profits

Kristian and Roger Adolfsen are the two brothers behind Hero Norway, a company making millions off of the refugee crisis in Scandinavia.

Hero Norway, Bloomberg Business reports, “is the leader of a burgeoning Scandinavian industry that charges the Norwegian and Swedish governments a fixed fee—$31 to $75 per person per night in Norway—to house and feed refugees.” The company provides short-term dormitories where refugees can stay after crossing a border and awaiting security screening, a second tier area where they can wait for immigration screening, and longer-term facilities for those awaiting resettlement.

In return, Hero Norway expects 2015 revenues of “$63 million, with profits of 3.5 percent” (though there’s some debate the profit margin may be higher). Their business is second only to a Swiss company, ORS Services, which in 2014 earned $99 million in profits caring for refugees in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.

The Adolfsens have a background in hospitality and experience running everything from preschools to  nursing homes, hotels (mostly Best Westerns), apartment buildings, cruise lines, and ski resorts.

Bloomberg asks the tough questions that plague everyone thinking about for-profit immigration detention: “In their monetization of the refugee crisis, will the Adolfsens provide superior, more efficient havens, or will they cut corners and skimp on services to improve profits? And does their bottom-line approach threaten a depth of caring that transcends hard cash?” There are no easy answers.

Hero Norway is providing a much needed service, and it is managing to do so profitably. Going forward, “the prospects for Hero Norway’s continued success are high. Neither Sweden nor Norway has plans to stanch the flow of newcomers, and the Swedish government has said it will spend up to 30 percent of its 2016 foreign aid budget on resettling refugees.”

-KitJ