Virtualahan, Philippines

Project name: Virtualahan

Project location: Davao City, Philippines

Website: http://virtualahan.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/virtualahan/

Project description:

Virtualahan is a social enterprise that trains and employs people who are victims of employment discrimination because of their medical condition and disabilities to work online in the outsourcing industry. We have taken advantage of the power of the internet and the growing outsourcing industry in my country to fulfill our mission which is to promote inclusive and sustainable employment, decent and productive work for all, and a workplace that treats everyone as an equal.

Our beneficiaries range from people with living with Hepatitis B, quadriplegics, visual and hearing impaired, people with autism, spinal cord injury patients, stroke survivors, single mothers and others.

What we do is recruit, screen, and qualify candidates to undergo our intensive six weeks’ skills and
capacity building program. Successful graduates are then provided with employment support to help them increase their income and improve their quality of life. We create structure, accountability, management and the opportunities for advancement and set these people to deliver maximum value. In the process, we are building a support network that meets in person and online to nurture confidence, teamwork, and social equality among our members.

Goal and purpose of the project:

Virtualahan aims to end employment discrimination by promoting inclusive, sustainable, and meaningful employment for all by empowering people to become productive members of our society. Specifically:

1. Equip disadvantaged people with digital skills to start a career as an online service provider. Annual target is 150 people.
2. Provide employment support to place graduates with companies so they can have a sustainable source of income. Annual target is 70% employment rate.
3. Increase the income of beneficiaries and improve their quality of life. Annual target is 30-50% increase in income.
4. Build a support group that nurtures social equality and inclusiveness. Annual target is 70% engagement rate.
5. Educate the public about different medical condition and disability to break stigma and discrimination. Annual target is 50K reached.

Motivation of the applicant / applicant team:

When I was in freshman in university, I was diagnosed with Hepatitis B, an incurable disease of the liver and in countries like my Philippines- it will not only cost you a job but also your future, it's a death sentence for my career as a licensed medical laboratory scientist because hospital policy says they cannot admit you if you have an incurable medical condition. I was also advised not to proceed to medical school because I have no future in the field. All that despite being in the upper 10% of my graduating class and upper 15% of the national board exam passers.

Now, what if I tell you that there are currently 1 out of 7 Filipinos ages 20-49 years old, our prime working population, who tested positive for Hepatitis B that suffer from this incurable disease and considerable employment or workplace discrimination? And that’s just Hep B; people with an autoimmune and congenital disease and people with physical and mental disabilities are not just battling for their lives but enduring the inequality of the society on daily basis.

That's why I founded Virtualahan with a vision to create a workplace free from discrimination where people like me is empowered to step into our bigness!

Use of prize money:

1. To build a virtual classroom and fully automate our training design so we can train 1,000 students and help them in finding meaningful online jobs by 2018. Budget- 8.5 EUROS
2. To improve our capacity in building an impact driven outsourcing business focused on delivering data related manpower services for digital startups around the world through workshops, benchmarking, online marketing, process building, and attending networking events. Budget- 8.3 EUROS