Making Cents International, a social enterprise that fosters human potential and advances economic opportunity globally, and Kiva, the largest microfinance crowdfunding platform in the world, are building Hawiyati (“My Identity” in Arabic) as the digital identity solution for refugees, migrants, and national populations in the Middle East and beyond.
Founded in 2017 by Marcela Torres, Hola seeks to unlock opportunities for forced migrants in Latin America by preparing them for successful careers in the region’s rapidly growing technology sector.
Seek is a social enterprise that aims to support refugees into employment. They provide CV help, job-seeking advice, interview practice and – most importantly – connections to employers in the UK.
WorkAround was founded by CEO Wafaa Arbash out of her desire to create a sustainable solution to the challenges faced by displaced people. WorkAround offers refugees, displaced persons, and other marginalized communities the opportunity to engage in “micro-work.” Individuals are hired as consultants through the WorkAround platform and then hired by a variety of technology, health, and education firms to provide data management, annotation, and cleaning services.
TaQadam is a technology start-up which makes visual data AI ready. They offer on-demand image annotation using a mobile application and a team of agents trained on a growing number of use cases.
Sona Circle is the world’s first networking and recruitment app that connects refugees with their immediate surroundings, local opportunities and each other. Formed as a response to the global refugee crisis, Sona Circle connects refugees with potential employers and each other; enabling them to share their skills and gain employment to support their livelihoods. Sona Circle also created Sona Translate as the world’s first translation services agency committed to creating employment and opportunities for refugees.
Skilllab is a social business developing technology-based solutions to empower the integration of refugees into local labour markets. Skilllab develops software technology that captures the employable skills of disadvantaged job seekers such as refugees and migrants and matches their skills to local labour markets. They are motivated by a belief that the dignity of independence through work is a fundamental right that functioning labour markets should provide.
Shiffer is a peer-to-peer online logistics platform that connects travelers willing and able to transport physical shipments with individuals needing to ship documents. The company was founded by Azhar Al Madani and a team of refugees living in Iraq, Turkey, and the Netherlands. They were motivated by their difficult experiences maintaining accurate documentation across borders. The prohibitive costs of sending led them to establish Shiffer. Their goal is to reduce costs and shipment times, while lowering carbon emissions for transportation by finding more natural synergies.
SEP is a Jordanian social enterprise sourcing and producing high quality fashion and lifestyle accessories hand-embroidered by refugees in the Jerash and Azraq camps. Established in 2017 by Roberta Ventura, and working in partnership with the UNHCR, SEP is transforming the lives of over 500 Palestinian and Syrian refugee artisans living in Jordan. The SEP artists benefit from above-market rates and performance-related bonuses while producing fashion items of superior quality. The artists are at the core of SEP’s business model, providing creative input on all the company’s designs and products.
ROAR for Good is a women-led and mission-driven technology company dedicated to creating safer workplaces for women and other at-risk populations. Founded by Yasmine Mustafa, a refugee from Kuwait in 2014, ROAR for Good is currently headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. Their staff safety platform, AlwaysOn, protects staff no matter where they are. The patent-pending security solution is powered by fail-safe technology to empower employees to feel secure and connected.
Pawame believes that affordable, modern energy is the surest foundation for financial empowerment and the gateway to limitless opportunity. Pawame sells off-grid solar home systems across Kenya and to refugees in Kakuma who are already paying for dirty and expensive kerosene or diesel. The solar home systems work on a 19 month rent-to-own model with low daily payments that are cheaper than the solutions that they displace. Pawame customers benefit from improved indoor air quality, longer productive light hours for commerce and study, connectivity, time savings, and cheaper energy. But energy is just the beginning. By tracking repayment, Pawame can confidently offer further loans and product financing to their established customers. Pawame is currently seeking debt financing to expand their operations.
NeedsList is a global B2B marketplace connecting local non-profits working with displaced people with INGOs and corporate donors to create efficiency and transparency in the humanitarian aid system. We offer real-time information sharing and tracking tools to first responders from vetted charities and make this data available to the private sector in order to engage their communities in direct, measurable, authentic giving, to meet real needs for real people with their products, services and talent.
