A Singapore-based non-profit helps refugees in the region gain new skills for remote work opportunities.

BY RAHIMAH RASHITH
 

In terms of size, this is roughly equivalent to the population of Germany. And for refugees and displaced people around the world like Sehrish Riaz Ahmed, living in a perpetual state of uncertainty is a fact of life. As a member of Pakistan’s minority Ahmadiyya community that has faced persecution and life-threatening attacks at the hands of local extremist groups, she and her family fled to Malaysia in 2016.

Due to her refugee status, Ahmed, 28, can neither officially work nor attend a local school. She has travelled along every train line in Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur, seeking job opportunities without any success. “Employers tell me that due to my immigration status, they are reluctant to offer me a job for fear of running afoul of the local law,” she says dejectedly.

Her plight is similar to over 178,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered in Malaysia, as well as millions more around the world, all of whom cannot find legal employment while waiting to be resettled to a final country. The process of resettlement can sometimes stretch over a decade.

The lack of a source of income, and ineligibility to receive any financial aid in their host countries, leave refugees vulnerable to exploitation. Many resort to working illegally, with minimal wages and no social protection.

Katrina Too, a professional at a Singapore venture capital firm, started Open Door Policy to match mentors and partner companies from around the world with refugees in Malaysia, and help the latter to upskill and, ultimately, find suitable remote jobs located anywhere that allow them to work from home.

A DOOR OF HOPE
Across the border from Malaysia, a Singapore-registered non-profit, Open Door Policy (ODP), is hoping to throw a lifeline to these refugees who find themselves living in limbo. ODP trains refugees in workplace skills before connecting them to sustainable and remote job opportunities. Refugees undergo an eight-week training that prepares them in business fundamentals and customer experience.

The programme also pairs refugees with industry professionals who provide mentorship on soft skills and career advice. Qualified refugees are then connected to remote work opportunities that allow them to work from anywhere in the world. The entire initiative is run online.

“BEING ABLE TO HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME. ODP HAS TRULY HELPED ME TO OPEN DOORS TO NEW POSSIBILITIES IN MY LIFE,” SAYS PAKISTANI REFUGEE SEHRISH RIAZ AHMED.

ODP’s founder, Katrina Too, was inspired to set up the programme in 2020 after learning about a friend’s Singapore-based snack company that hired refugees in Indonesia to provide remote customer support. The Malaysian was intrigued to find out more about this business set-up and was invited to Indonesia to see the business model for herself.

“The trip [to Indonesia] sparked a light in me,” she says. “I was convinced something needed to be done to help marginalised individuals find work.” Her biggest takeaway? The refugee community had a talent pool, which could be tapped for a wider range of jobs.

This, however, wasn’t Too’s first brush with the refugee community. Having spent her childhood among immigrant and refugee children at school in Australia after her family relocated there more than 20 years ago, she has always been sympathetic to their situation. “I understood from early on that these are people like you and me, who have families, dreams, aspirations. The biggest difference is that the refugees had to leave their countries for survival. They arrived with barely any possession, some even with no shoes.”

Now a consultant at the Singapore-based venture capital firm 500 Global, she realised that the technology sector alone offers a vast number of entry-level remote job openings, which could be matched with refugee employment seekers. She reached out to companies that were keen to hire remote entry-level staff for nontechnical work, and mid- and senior-level professionals to provide mentorship to the programme participants. Mentees are then paired with mentors based on their professional interests and experiences.

PARADIGM SHIFT
Ironically, it was the outbreak of one of the world’s worst health crises that paved the way for a more remote-friendly hiring landscape. “Organisations across the world responded to Covid-19 by moving online, creating a remote workforce we have never seen before,” shares Too, adding that some companies even provide the refugee workers tools like laptops, mobile phones and Wi-Fi connection to work from home. “Today, there are more opportunities than ever to employ displaced people.”

ODP works with refugee community leaders and institutions focused on education and livelihoods to identify employment-ready refugees. Most learners in the programme have at least an undergraduate degree, out of which 80 per cent have five years of work experience. So far, ODP has trained some 70 refugees worldwide, including those from Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Around 75 per cent of its qualified graduates have landed remote jobs.

Summing up her experience in the paradigm shift, Too admits that the refugees she meets keep her grounded.

She recalls talking to a young Afghan who was worried about not being able to contact his parents back home after the Taliban took over their village.

Another spent years sleeping at a “prison-like” detention centre. “The refugee community is my motivation to serve. Coming from a place of privilege that has allowed me to fulfil my dreams and goals, it is my duty to help others with the skills and resources I already have,” she reflects.

Her thoughts are echoed by Australia-based mentor Han Soh, who joined the programme so that he could empower refugees with the tools that would enable them to earn a livelihood. For 90 minutes every week, the boutique corporate advisory director would offer career guidance to a 26-year-old Ethiopian student living in Indonesia. Displaced at the age of 16 due to civil unrest in his country, Soh’s mentee spent two years at a detention centre in Indonesia, where he learnt to speak Bahasa.

“The refugee community is my motivation to serve. Coming from a place of privilege that has allowed me to fulfil my dreams and goals, it is my duty to help others with the skills and resources I already have.”
Katrina Too, founder, Open Door Policy

“The language barrier was one challenge we both had to overcome,” observes Soh, who helps his mentee brush up on English. “While my mentee has a decent command of English, it is largely colloquial. At times, it is hard to explain the more technical parts of job requirements and interview questions.”

To help him overcome this hurdle, Soh sets out homework for his mentee. “I found training videos online and based some writing and reading questions around those for him,” he elaborates.

Evidently, the learning process is not onesided. To prepare for his role as a mentor, he watched a documentary and discussed best practices with other mentors.

The mentorship process also entails finding out what his mentee’s strengths are and tailoring his curriculum vitae towards his strengths. “I want my mentees to know that if they have worked in some form or function before, a lot of the skill sets and knowledge are transferable,” he says.

For Too, helming the initiative is not without its challenges. As a non-profit that is still in its infancy and relies on volunteers, finding the right formula is crucial to ensuring the programme’s sustainability. “Moving forward, the organisation aims to seek a sustainable way to scale up,” she says, adding that more employment partners are now keen to join the initiative.

Media exposure has helped with a wider outreach. In 2020, a story and video on the non-profit published by Our Better World, Singapore International Foundation’s digital storytelling platform, garnered close to 680,000 views and led to many volunteer sign-ups on its platform.

FULFILLING ASPIRATIONS
Lebanon-based Syrian refugee Shaher Homsi is one such successful alumnus of the programme. After undergoing remote training, the 28-year-old business administration graduate found a job on his own as a customer assistant at a boutique selling accessories. Homsi reveals that the customer interface know-how that he picked up during the programme, along with marketing and communication skills, are essential tools of the trade for his job today.

“What I am doing now is an important building block for my aspirations,” says the budding entrepreneur, who dreams of running his own business one day. “ODP has helped me to acquire the skills and confidence needed to pursue my dreams.”

To mentors like Soh, witnessing the growth of their mentees and helping them find worthwhile employment opportunities that help the refugees regain their selfesteem is a meaningful process.

“I knew that refugees faced a lot of challenges, but before this, I never really thought about how to help them come out on the other side,” he comments. “Everyone knows about donating food and money to refugee camps, but there is also another way to help the refugees who are trying to make a life outside of the camps.”

Over in Malaysia, Ahmed landed a job with an ODP employment partner at the end of the programme. For the past year, she has been working remotely as an operations administrator for an international employment agency based in Hong Kong, managing daily tasks such as report writing.

“Being able to have this opportunity is very important to me,” she says. “ODP has truly helped me to open doors to new possibilities in my life.”