The story of Genashtim, a global social enterprise, began with its founder and CEO Thomas Ng, who decided to support the people sidelined by the global labour market. In 2004, he left the corporate world after spending 25 years in senior leadership positions in Europe, Asia and Australia with multinational corporations such as ASEA Brown Boveri and Rexam PLC. In creating a workplace that is inclusive and accessible for those with disabilities, Mr Ng and the founding team had to develop a 100 per cent virtual company with a cloud‐based operation, focusing on e-learning. It is providential that Genashtim’s challenges in accommodating its diverse workforce had driven it to become pioneers in remote work, digitalisation and e‐learning, which fuelled the business’ exponential growth through the Covid‐19 years. Connecting disadvantaged groups to the global economyGenashtim aims to leverage technology and the internet to develop and connect disadvantaged groups to the global economy. Its goal is to provide sustainable, meaningful and gainful employment for disadvantaged groups, which include persons with disabilities (PWDs), refugees, senior citizens and women in oppressed environments.Genashtim’s diverse workforce consists of PWDs, retirees and other disadvantaged groupsThe company’s primary guiding principles are based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, and SDG 13: Climate Action. SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic GrowthGenashtim’s purpose is to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all, especially for disadvantaged groups. Today, 62 per cent of its workforce is made up of people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some have worked for over 10 years and have been elevated to senior positions. Employees are renumerated with competitive salaries.Genashtim also shared a third of its profits with employees as a reward for their contribution to the company in 2021. SDG 10: Reduced InequalitiesGenashtim constantly finds ways for all its employees to have a great corporate career. The 100 per cent virtual operation is implemented for this purpose, where everyone can perform equally well regardless of background. SDG 13: Climate ActionThe virtual operating model enables Genashtim’s diverse team to work from home and significantly reduce carbon emissions. Based on the EcoAct’s Home Emissions White Paper, Genashtim has a carbon‐negative reading of ‐639.44 kg of carbon dioxide annually from its 135 employees worldwide.In 2021, the organisation offset approximately 16.8 tonnes of carbon released from its operations. They offset an additional 639 kg of carbon using solar panels and through employees planting mature trees within their properties. Persevering in the face of perennial discriminationGlobally, unemployment among PWDs, refugees and marginalised communities is not new. While these communities can potentially contribute between 3 and 7 per cent of the global gross domestic product, discrimination persists due to the complexity of the issue and the various challenges involved.Genashtim was honoured with the "Caring Employer Award" under the PWD category at Malaysia’s career expo organised by the Social Security Organisation (PERKESO)Over the past three years, Genashtim has grown significantly, tripling its revenue between 2019 and 2022. Its impact has also increased, with the team growing from 71 in March 2019 to 102 in March 2022. In 2019, about 80 per cent of the employees were PWDs. Genashtim’s workforce has also extended to Middle Eastern refugees and other disadvantaged communities such as seniors and women from oppressed environments.Committed to its goal of providing gainful, meaningful and sustainable jobs to disadvantaged groups, Genashtim also offers opportunities to upskill its staff through year‐round training and workshops. Creating the ripple effectWhile Genashtim continues to commit to its vision and values, its impact is limited by its resources. To encourage other organisations to replicate Genashtim’s social impact on a larger scale, Genashtim launched the virtual job‐matching portal JEDI Jobs in 2021.By leveraging the international currency exchange rate, talents in developing countries will be able to secure jobs with better salaries and enjoy a better quality of living through JEDI Jobs.JEDI stands for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – the key principles in hiring with the right intention. Besides providing job matching services for the virtual workforce, Genashtim offers training services to help prepare job seekers perform virtually via a training programme that Genashtim has been developing for its staff for the past ten years. To date, there have been about 2,000 job seekers from diverse backgrounds on the portal.