Working Capital for Innovation (WCIF) Makes Pioneering Investment in Honest Jobs Holdings Ltd
Published 09-02-21
Proposed by Working capital
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 2, 2021 /CSRwire/ – The Working Capital Innovation Fund (WCIF) today announced a $500,000 investment in Honest Jobs Holdings Ltd, a Hong Kong-based responsible recruitment holding company. Honest Jobs will use the funding to help local entrepreneurs meet the demand for responsibly recruited workers in domestic services and supply chains. The result will be the creation of safe and ethical alternatives to today’s generally exploitative labor migration pathways, improving financial outcomes for tens of thousands of migrant workers and reducing the risks of forced labor.
Labor migration is usually facilitated by intermediaries – labor recruiters – who charge workers a fee to place them in employment. The system is plagued by exploitation and often leads to forced labour. Honest Jobs will use WCIF’s investment to capitalize responsible recruitment start-ups in several countries in Asia. These companies will meet a growing demand for workers in global supply chains who have been recruited according to ethical “employer-pays” standards. The risks of worker-paid recruitment have been well documented in sectors as diverse as electronics, apparel and construction. Until the creation of Honest Jobs Holdings, no company had been designed to provide a systemic answer to this problem.
Honest Jobs Holdings is the newest company of the Fair Employment Foundation. The Foundation’s first initiative, the Hong Kong-based Fair Employment Agency, successfully demonstrated the influence that ethical recruitment agencies can have at the industry level. Honest Jobs will work with local entrepreneurs across Asia, adapting the Fair Employment Agency model to various markets and industries.
“If the business community is to address the well-documented risks faced by migrant workers in global supply chains, there must be alternative recruitment pathways that enable workers to access good jobs without putting them at risk. “, said Dan Viederman, chief executive of WCIF. “In Scott Stiles, we work with an entrepreneur who has proven he can deliver ethical recruitment and who combines a vision for the future with the practical business management skills to make it happen.
Scott Stiles, Founder and CEO of Honest Jobs Holdings, added, “Over the years, we’ve been encouraged by the number of aspiring social entrepreneurs who have approached us, wanting to replicate Fair’s model. They want to set new standards for ethical recruitment in their own country. The Honest Jobs approach allows us to fund and mentor social entrepreneurs dedicated to driving new standards in ethical recruitment. We are grateful and excited to work with the working capital team. There is no more qualified partner to help us raise the rest of our funds and amplify our impact.”
About the Innovation Revolving Fund
Working Capital Innovation Fund is a seed-stage venture capital fund that invests in scalable innovations to meet the growing demand from businesses for more transparent and ethical supply chains, addressing the urgent need to protect vulnerable workers and s sourcing responsibly. It was initially incubated by Humanity United, which is founded by The Omidyar Group, a diverse collection of independent organizations and initiatives. The Fund has made eleven investments to date.
www.workingcapitalfund.com
About Honest Jobs and the Fair Employment Foundation
Honest Jobs Holdings is an affiliate of the Fair Employment Foundation. Since 2014, the Fair group has been building market solutions to eliminate the forced labor of migrant workers. Their first initiative, the Fair Employment Agency, is a non-profit employment agency that is one of the largest employment agencies in Hong Kong and applies industry standards for hiring migrant domestic workers to Hong Kong. Fair then worked with local leaders in the Philippines to establish the Fair Training Center, a nonprofit social enterprise aimed at preparing migrant workers for life and work abroad. It is an “Innovation Hub” for the development, testing and distribution of pre-migration training. Now, with Honest Jobs Holdings, Fair is focused on funding, connecting and mentoring entrepreneurs who are dedicated to building ethical recruitment agencies across Asia. This is the next strategic step for Fair to expand ethical recruitment, making it the norm in Asia and around the world.
In addition to this support from Working Capital, Fair receives a programmatic grant from long-time partner, the Macquarie Group Foundation. Initial support from Macquarie Group Foundations allowed Fair to move forward with Honest Jobs Holdings and ready it for the investment.
Working capital
Working capital
Working Capital is a seed-stage venture capital fund that invests in scalable innovations to meet growing corporate demand for more transparent and ethical supply chains, addressing the urgent need to protect vulnerable workers and source responsibly. It was initially incubated by Humanity United, which is founded by The Omidyar Group, a diverse collection of independent organizations and initiatives.
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