“Business skills, when well applied, can do more than just make money.” – Jeff Skol
I came across this company a couple of months ago and was immediately inspired by what they are doing and what they have already accomplished. Digital Divide Data is a social entrepreneurial technology company that was started in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 2001 by some consultants from North America.
Digital Divide Data is a digitization company that takes disabled and disadvantaged Cambodians and Laotians, gives them basic computer training and English lessons, and hires them to work half days at the firm while they spend the rest of their time studying for degrees at local schools. The company provides their employees with scholarships to make their studies possible and pays them a good wage so that they can support their families.
Poverty is a huge problem in Laos with the average wage being only $52 a month and 80% of employment still comes from subsistence agriculture. After 3 or 4 years at Digital Divide Data, the employees are educated and ready to move on to other organisations or be promoted within the company. At this time, they are now earning on average 6 times the average local wage. As a result, they can now afford for their children to go to school and get educated, breaking the cycle of poverty.
Digital Divide Data provides outsourced digitization and data entry services to many well known companies, including Reader’s Digest and many others. The company currently has offices in Cambodia and Laos, with sales teams in New York City and a new sales office in Oxford, England.
To find out more, check out the company’s website. If you are looking for a worthy cause to donate some money to, you can also donate $25 a month to fund a scholarship.
I definitely need to find out more about this great organization, maybe something similar to this could work in South Africa.