Samasource Give Work Not Aid - 8822 Words

9 -9 1 2 -0 1 1 REV: JUNE 18, 2012 FRANCESCA GINO BRADLEY R. STAATS Samasource: Give Work, Not Aid Work is at the core of human dignity: it is how we define ourselves and our position in the world. The disparity in access to decent work that pays a fair wage between rich and poor represents, in my mind, the biggest threat to global stability. — Leila Janah, CEO and founder, Samasource As she landed at the San Francisco International Airport, Leila Janah reflected on her most recent visit to Samasource’s delivery centers in Kenya. Founded in September 2008, Samasource connected over 1,500 people living in poverty to work over the Internet. The company secured contracts for digital services from large companies in the United States†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"The sad thing,† she continued, â€Å"is that ‘asking,’ for them, was a rational response to severely limited economic opportunities.† The students she had in her classes weren’t lacking in human capital, but they were lacking in opportunities to deploy that human capital. Just a few years later, Janah went to Harvard University to pursue her undergraduate degree. She studied economic development with a focus on Africa. While at Harvard it became clear to her that while trade was good for developing countries at the macro level, the benefits didn’t necessarily flow to poor people at the bottom of the pyramid. During a year off, she joined the World Bank. While she found this big organization’s efforts to be well intentioned, she left after a short time, disillusioned with the process. Janah noted, â€Å"In trying to solve the problems of economic development, it was clear to me that the need wasn’t for aid to governments; the need was for dignified work to reach people.† Her next job was at a management consulting firm where she consulted for a large business process outsourcing (BPO) firm. During those engagements, she had the opportunity to learn how the industry worked. It became clear to her that digital work was a type that could yield development in emerging regions. In early 2008, she quit her job as a consultant and took a position as a visiting scholar for the Program for Global Justice at Stanford University. Later that year, Janah founded Samasource. Sama translates