Back to my roots

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Returning to your homeland, or the country from which your family originally came, is no longer the preserve of the "daredevil" highflyers looking to harness new opportunities in the developing world. Instead it has become a mainstream career and business choice for graduates and professionals.

"Now, it is not just the daredevils migrating - instead it is seen as a viable alternative to staying in the UK or US," according Chika Nwobi, co-founder and director at 440ng, a Nigerian funding programme which invests in start-ups that target Africa.

Return migrants are more attracted to playing a part in the rise of the homeland. They can be a big fish in a small pond, having greater impact in Lagos than in London - Chika Nwobi

The search for better opportunities, strong family ties and a better work-life balance are all compelling reasons for people working in the West to return to the countries where they, or their families, were born.

Nwobi believes that this "reverse migration" trend among skilled migrants is being driven by depressed economic conditions within the West and the perceived economic growth opportunities in regions such as Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

"When I returned to Nigeria in 2001, following the first wave of democracy that hit the country in 1999, there were only a few of us. We were driven by the sudden deregulation and privatisation of telecoms and other industries," he explained. "Those that came wanted to be part of the enormous opportunity and weren’t too bothered by the risks."

According to figures from the international economic organisation the OECD, an estimated 55 million people in OECD countries aged 15 and over are currently working outside their country of birth. Between 2000-01 and 2010-11, an additional 16 million international migrants were employed in the OECD, representing about 70% of the overall employment growth during that period.

But this figure could shift dramatically. The global financial crisis sparked a meteoric rise in reverse migration, according to Jim Russell, a geographer studying the relationship between migration and economic development at Cleveland State University in the US.

Lands of opportunity

"Economic opportunity is a big lure, along with the desire to help the homeland," said Russell. "Return migrants are more attracted to playing a part in the rise of the homeland. They can be a big fish in a small pond, having greater impact in Lagos than in London."

Nwobi agrees that the reverse migrants that followed the financial crisis were drawn by the increasing strength of emerging economies, as well as the tales of success from the first wave migrants. "For MBA students graduating around this time, alternatives such as the UK and US seemed to offer few career opportunities," he said.

Business surveys back up Nwobi’s own experiences. Around 70% of African students at US and European business schools plan to return to Africa to work once they have graduated, according to Jacana Partners, a pan-African private-equity firm in the UK, Kenya and Ghana. It found half of those who were planning to return home hoped to become entrepreneurs.

Against a backdrop of relatively slow growth in the UK - predicted to increase by 3.2% this year according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - developing nations seem to offer much more potential; a report in July 2014 by McKinsey & Co forecast that Nigeria would "achieve 7.1% annual GDP growth through 2030".

"The two main factors that are driving the reverse migration to Africa are the volume of opportunities here and the lack of them in the West," said Nwobi. "When visiting high-growth countries in Africa, like Nigeria, diaspora populations living abroad start to see opportunities, in terms of what they can achieve and what they can get involved with."

Dr Elizabeth Chacko, a geography professor at George Washington University in the US, believes the economic downturn meant that some migrants may have lost their jobs and saw returning home as "a coping strategy."

Chacko said migrants maintained contact with both host and home countries and cultures in multiple ways, and there have always been people who returned to the country of origin. However, she acknowledges that this flow appears to be more significant now.

"In some cases, country governments [such as China] are encouraging the return of high-skill natives who have spent significant time in a developed country, gaining knowledge, expertise and experience in cutting-edge research and work, particularly in the STEM and IT fields," she said.

Brain gain

Some are returning to help build their home country into something better. America’s Time magazine called it the "repatriate generation". Chacko calls the return of people to their native countries the "Brain Gain".

Chacko said that for highly skilled migrants, return migration isn’t always permanent. "They usually have the professional expertise and social skills to function well in both sending and receiving countries and may use these effectively to live transnational lives. Therefore, they may benefit both the receiving and sending countries."

Nwobi said that for those returning, the prospect of economic gain and a successful career are by far the greatest factors, but family considerations, especially for woman, are also a strong factor.

"We will continue to see a steady and increasing flow of people coming back to both capitalise on the growth of these countries and to reunite with their families. Europe and the US do not look set for a new economic boom anytime soon and as a result, it seems the number of people returning is likely to far outweigh the number of people leaving," he said.

Russell believes that in the future, migration will help promote international economic development and "greater equality worldwide".

"Leaders are becoming increasingly aware that more, if not all, of their planning, spending and strategising needs to be focused on how to create sustainable economies," said Mohamed Younis, senior analyst at Gallup, and expert on the Middle East and North Africa. "Migration is the secret weapon in that equation, it will either make you the next Singapore or Detroit."

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