“I believe all of our work will be able to help create decent jobs for many Ethiopians/Africans without them having to move from place to place. And innovative professionals are the heartbeat of Change and economic equality.”
- Rachel Boon, Founder of R&D Entrepreneurship and Outsourcing Center plc, Ethiopia
Rachel Boon, 2022 WE Empower Finalist, Sub-Saharan Africa
Rachel Boon was originally born in Ethiopia and fled to the Netherlands at a young age. After her years of studying and her return to Ethiopia, she found that the country was in a larger state of poverty than she had imagined it would be. The social enterprise of R&D came about to fuel the development of skills in young entrepreneurs and professionals to create “purpose driven leaders”. The goals of this organization circle around making decent work and opportunities for people in Ethiopia to further the efforts of sustainability and pursue UN SDG 4: Quality Education, UN SDG 5: Gender Equality and UN SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.
Quality education
Inclusive and accessible job opportunities, primarily for the youth in Ethiopia, was the main idea in mind with the creation of R&D. The company then developed a partnership with St. Mary's university to offer remote IT jobs to the students, part time for undergrads and full time jobs for graduates. This led to creating soft skill training programs as well, so that students had a well rounded education. These programs made sure they had a better chance of seamlessly merging into the workforce and have opportunities to receive higher paying jobs. So far over 6000 professionals have been trained and positions have been created for over 500 university students.
Gender equality
Noticing the difficulties that women face in the workforce to find equitable opportunities for jobs, R&D shifted their attention from IT to women owned businesses due to an issue with IT being a very male dominated field. Along with this alliance to improve gender equality, the student sponsorship program provides the finances to the mother of the household instead of the father.
Decent work and economic growth
The above two SDGs go hand in hand with the promotion of SDG 8. Fighting inequality and providing proper education and training programs to students create decent work and inspire economic change. When countries reside in states of poverty, as Boon noticed Ethiopia did, it is important to focus on developing education in the younger generations. R&D strives to improve the overall economic state by reinventing the work force and establishes a new state of accessibility.
“I believe that women are the foundation of our society and I owe it to my 4 beautiful daughters
to contribute to a women inclusive 'world' so that they do not look for a SMALL window of
opportunity but get equal opportunity to become the best version of themselves.”
-Rachel Boon
By Samantha Studstill, WE Empower Intern