Crowdfunding Capacity 2020: Fund 5 scholarships
Capacity was born with the goal to build a society that is open and supportive of everyone, regardless of their background. We make a clear call for refugee and migrant talent to be taken into consideration in the public and private sectors. At the core of what we do, we use entrepreneurship as a vehicle of social change to provide democratized access to startup high-quality education for refugees and migrants who wish to develop a business or a non-profit idea.
However, in moments of crisis like COVID-19, as the social and workforce inequities increase, labor market integration and access to subsidized education get restricted. Recently UNHCR reported that COVID aggravated these and many other existing inequities in all parts of the world and basic necessities like education are a challenge for those with limited resources. This has slowed up the rate of integration of refugees and migrants into new societies, and eventually hindered the holistic growth of the society.
As we interviewed our refugee entrepreneurs, we realized that fulfilling our community’s basic need for belonging has become more difficult this year. This is in addition to the existing hurdles for integration and inclusion, such as language and networking barriers.
At the moment, Capacity is only operating with two-thirds of its bare minimum funding. We do not know what 2021 holds, while we have a commitment from a few partners, we want to mobilize our community to ENGAGE and help subsidize at least five scholarships for refugee entrepreneurs.
We are committed to providing unhindered support to these entrepreneurs, but we can NOT do it alone with our limited funds: that is why we need your help!
WHY support us: THE CAPACITY EFFECT!
Our team at Capacity Zurich supports the challenging life of asylum seekers and refugees by providing a platform to shine. We achieve this by offering
- subsidized bilingual (EN/DE) entrepreneurial education for aspiring business owners,
- access to a business network through mentoring and coaching from our corporate volunteers,
- pitching opportunities to practice verbal and non-verbal communication skills and most importantly,
- safe space and community to grow. All to actively contribute to the Swiss economy. Our training programs focus on business plans, new product development, pitching skills, and offer individual mentoring, coaching, and market entry advisory to our participants.
By backing up this crowdfunding campaign you help not just the entrepreneurs, but the entire Swiss community as well with:
- socio-economic integration and inclusion of refugees and migrants by unfolding otherwise wasted potential and building personal self-confidence.
- benefit from business generation and from a diverse and competent pool of migrants and refugees.
WHO will receive your support: IMPACT STORIES!
Your support will help to create life-changing experiences for many of our entrepreneurs. Capacity has helped build many ’stories of change’ - and we invite you to be a part of this journey of our entrepreneurs and their stories. Here, we share with you one of the stories from Tashi Lama, from Nepal who founded ’Thank god it’s fair wear’ in St. Gallen in Switzerland, with his wife, Carmen.
Tashi shares «My education was also only made possible thanks to a sponsor from Switzerland. I had no idea who he was, and yet he supported me financially for ten years. To this day, I remain grateful for this.» Read more about him and our other stellar entrepreneurs on our webpage (linked below).
Finally, HOW can you support us?
- Donate! Donate! Donate!
- Share this among your circles (professional, friends, and family)
- Engage your company or partner with us!
Help us empower refugees and migrants! Let’s do our role in helping humanity.
