Today, on World Refugee Day, Salesforce announced a partnership with Tent.org to upskill 1,500 refugees and support the hiring of 600 refugees through the Salesforce Talent Alliance. This builds on Salesforce’s existing efforts to support displaced individuals through the company’s ecosystem of customers and partners, refugee-serving nonprofit partners, and employee action.
Significance: UNHCR estimates 110 million people around the world are currently displaced, including refugees and asylum seekers affected by conflicts, natural disasters, and other crises. Skills training, access to jobs, and support for basic needs are critical to helping refugees move beyond displacement and rebuild for the future.
Go deeper:
- Salesforce leverages its ecosystem of customers and partners, where 9.3 million new jobs are expected by 2026, to create pathways to employment for refugees. In the last 18 months, the Salesforce ecosystem has helped over 1,500 refugees access training opportunities and connected 550 more to job opportunities in full-time, high-paying career paths.
- Salesforce technology is key to helping people upskill. After fleeing her home country for safety reasons, Sima Samara had to restart her career in the Netherlands. With no prior technology industry experience, Samara used Salesforce’s free online learning platform Trailhead and the Blue Road Academy program to become a Salesforce developer in just five months.
- Through its nonprofit partnerships and employee volunteering, Salesforce also supports refugee organizations such as Blue Road Academy, Code Your Future, and INCO, which focus on helping communities rebuild after crises.
- Salesforce also empowers employees to take action and support when a conflict or natural disaster displaces a community. For example, following the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, which are estimated to have displaced ~18 million people, Salesforce employees raised more than $1 million in employee donations and corporate matching to support those affected.
Soundbites:
- “The refugee crisis is one of our generation’s defining social issues. At Salesforce, we harness the full power of our company – including our employees, ecosystem, partners, and customers – to unlock economic opportunity for thousands of individuals and change lives for the better.” – Stuart Mills, Vice President Trailhead Go to Market EMEA & Ecosystems, Salesforce
At Salesforce, we harness the full power of our company – including our employees, ecosystem, partners, and customers – to unlock economic opportunity for thousands of individuals and change lives for the better.
Stuart Mills, Vice President Trailhead Go to Market EMEA & Ecosystems, Salesforce
- “The nice thing about Salesforce is that you really don’t need to study four or five years at university. You just need a Trailhead account. It tells you what you need to learn. Then you follow some steps, read the database, and then you understand. You can get a lot of knowledge out of trails.” – Sima Samara, Salesforce Trailblazer
- “The mission of our organization is to create more opportunities and access for refugees. Many refugees are struggling to integrate into society on their own terms. They don’t have the right degree or can’t translate the degree they do have into the job description — if the degree from their home country is even accepted in the host country. We saw an opportunity to solve that problem through helping them develop the skills to find roles in the Salesforce ecosystem.” – Gaspar Rodriguez, Co-founder and Director, Blue Road Academy
Learn more:
- Pledge to grow and diversify the ecosystem with Salesforce Talent Alliance
- Those seeking career opportunities can explore on Trailhead Career Paths
- Explore INCO’s guide for nonprofits on how to help job seekers land their next job in tech
- Learn how Blue Road Academy is advancing the Salesforce careers of newcomers
