Today's Edition
Kuumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi)
Hafsa Qadeer’s company Iminclusive, a start-up by many parameters and a social enterprise based in Abu Dhabi, works with UAE government entities and the private sector to facilitate jobs for people of determination.
Iminclusive recently held a job fair, its second, for the differently abled where many corporate executives were present. The event is part of the on-going Atmah Programme, the GCC’s first Social Impact Bond, launched by the Authority of Social Contribution – Ma’an, in partnership with the Zayed Higher Organisation. Iminclusive aligns with the mission of Ma’an to foster inclusive and collaborative communities within the Abu Dhabi Emirate.
It is not just that a hundred-plus candidates appear with some walking out with job offers in hand. The bi-annual job fair from Imminclusive is immersive in the whole process from end to end. “We spend a lot of time training not just the candidates and even the possible employers on the entire hiring mindset that needs to be different as compared to a normal hiring,” says Qadeer while sitting down to chat with Aletihad, presenting some success stories as well from the past job fair.
Initially starting alone, she now has a team of 16 people, some working remotely from various parts of the world. Behind the scenes, it is two philosophies of life which define the young woman, 29, behind Imminclusive as she distributes her life between home in Dubai and work at the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the Emirates financial district on Maryah Island.
“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” says Qadeer while elaborating on what drives her in doing what she is doing. For her, it is not about somehow making two ends meet in providing short-term support to people of determination (PoD).
If “charity begins at home” then Qadeer found her purpose of life because her brother Ahmed, eight years younger, was in mid-teens when she realised that she could not stop being protective of him – “almost as a mother”, she says – but also that she could not be with him all the time. Importantly, she did not want it to be a support system that only ends up as charity in the short-term for Ahmed, who suffers from spina bifida (incomplete spine), or any person with any disability for that matter.
That thought always troubled her while she finished her graduation in Business Management, during which she also volunteered for Special Olympics and for a short period after that too, while she worked at an events management company.
With that building up in the back of her mind, an incubation period at the ADGM with the Zayed Higher Organisation proved to be a starting point.
“Our mandate is to get people trained and job-ready in a year and we fulfilled more than our target in quick time. It is not just the PoD but the employers we found that needed a lot of training. So ahead of the job fair, we need to sit with the prospective employers and train them.
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“They may be keen to hire but would never have put much thought that they may need to have a dedicated lift or wheelchair support, or something similar for them to even come to the office and appear for the interview. Then there is an awkwardness on what kind of questions or how to ask them.
“For instance, even in daily life, when someone comes across a PoD, the instant reaction is that tongue clicking sound, ‘tch tch’. They may mean well, but it is not what they [PoD] want to hear nor does it help. But over the time, I realised that people generally just don’t know or are prepared on any other alternate way to react because it may not be a daily thing in their lives.”
Yet, a study cited by a parent on a radio show in the UAE last week suggested that one in 33 people around the world are born with a disability. According to a 2023 report by the World Health Organisation, 1.3 billion people have significant disability of any sort; that is 16% or one in six people. The report also highlights the fact that disability inclusion is a crucial aspect of the Sustainability Development Goals on health laid out by the United Nations.
Alfan Alketbi holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D in public health. While not exactly a preferred choice, but she is now working at a leading Dubai bank after some amount of frustration over the lack of opportunities and awareness.
“Over the last five years, I have applied for countless positions, attended numerous interviews, and been met with rejection time and time again. Each rejection led me to question: ‘Was it my qualifications or my condition as a person of determination? Or was it something deeper – a lack of understanding from employers?
“It often felt like many employers were simply filling quotas set by ministries. This lack of awareness is something that must change if we are to create a more inclusive and equitable society. Thankfully, through Iminclusive, I found not only support but real opportunities. We are not defined by our challenges but by how we rise above them. We have so much to offer the world, and all we need is the chance to prove it,” she said.
In a short span of time, and in Abu Dhabi at least, Iminclusive is helping bridge this gap with over 40 organisations already ensuring a commitment to engage, upskill, interview or hire people of determination.
Prominent among them are institutions such as Etihad Airways, Masdar, Seha (Al Ain), e&, Ernest Young, Daman, Deloitte, Khidmah, Alshaya Group, Presight AI, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, many prominent five-star hotels, VFS Global, the US American Embassy to the UAE and many more.
Life-changing opportunity for them
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