Background
Bindaas Social Ventures is focused on the development marginalized urban populations to participate in the growing field of information and communication technology jobs (ICT). Our efforts will help program participants obtain secure and sustainable jobs within private sector ICT employers through coordinated social services support from existing non-profit and community based organizations.
The creation of Bindaas Social Ventures is the result of my time volunteering in Nairobi and with the help of others met during my travels. We further developed our ideas to facilitate greater participation of the urban poor in the field of business process outsourcing and over the course of 2011 we established Bindaas Social Ventures as a nonprofit. We will visit Kenya in May 2012 to meet with potential partner organizations, private businesses and establishing deeper connections within the community.
The Mission
Our mission is to assist individuals from Kibera who currently do not meet the education standards and computer literacy skills required by current pathway organizations and private sector employers. Our goal is to enable an increasing percentage of individuals to meet the requirements of participation. Individuals will have the support of coordinated social services provided by partner organizations and the competency skills necessary to participate.
Through our research, we learned that while pathway organizations have proven to employ individuals who are in need the standards for employment are out of reach for many. Individuals from Kibera and similar urban areas are unable to successfully participate within pathway organizations for a number of reasons related to inadequate social support services and lack of education and job skills.
Those who can manage to obtain training often cannot attend work on a steady basis due to family obligations and hardships of living in the community. The truth is that those who do not have solid family structures and social support services are never going to matriculate into private sector jobs. We want to change this and believe we can help facilitate the social support services and soft skills training along with the required technical skills so those who are less likely to have an opportunity can successfully participate in this growing field of employment.
In partnership with local NGOs, existing pathway organizations and through the application of a structured program Bindaas Social Ventures will provide a conduit of able and ready employees to work in ICT related industries. Participants will develop the social support and computer skills necessary to work within pathway organizations on the road to stable employment and will matriculate into full time private sector jobs alongside college educated middle class young adults. As individuals graduate through the system more opportunities are created for new participants.
Why Kenya, why Kibera?
We are collaborating with existing nonprofit organizations based in our target community of Kibera. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi and the second largest urban slum in Africa with a multitude of existing non-profit organizations allowing Bindaas Social Ventures to test ideas and approaches that maximize our impact and effect. Currently, there are several organizations supporting the needs of marginalized individuals with point solutions in the areas of literacy, medical care, substance abuse, job training and others. By leveraging the work of others in a coordinated effort we believe our participants will make measureable accomplishments in qualifying for and maintaining employment.
We are not only working to contribute to the solution that will help to end the cycle of poverty in in one community. We aim to develop a deeper understanding of this problem so we can share our knowledge throughout Nairobi and further contribute to the overall solution in Africa, India, the Philippines or even impoverished communities in the United States. Wherever marginalized individuals exist, our work would provide knowledge from our experiences to implement a solution.
Email partners@BindaasVentures.org to inquire about partnering with Bindaas Social Ventures.
To contribute by check or via please email Contribute@BindaasVentures.org for instruction.
To contribute by PayPal please visit PayPal.com and use PayPal@BindaasVentures.org.
