Careem is to hire 200 refugees ‘as its duty’

Ride-hailing company Careem said yesterday that it would hire 200 refugees as part of an initiative with the UN.

It will work with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to provide opportunities across its operations in 100 cities across 14 countries.

“Careem will involve refugees within its operations by providing opportunities for jobs and internships, as well as workshops and mentoring,” a spokeswoman for Careem told The National.

“We aim to achieve this project by 2023.”

Among the teams that will take part in the initiative are Careem’s call centres and social media departments.

The announcement was made during an event held by the World Bank and Tent Partnership for Refugees at the UN in New York, which focused on the public and private sectors together solving the refugee crisis.

“We don’t believe that integrating refugees in our business is a noble cause,” said Magnus Olsson, Careem’s co-founder. “We believe it is our duty, responsibility and it makes business sense.”

Khalid Khalifa, the UN agency’s Gulf representative, said that the UN needed the help of the private sector, governments, international organisations and the public to give those forcibly displaced from their homes a decent and dignified living.

“The refugee crisis is one that is very close to home to the people and corporations of the Middle East and North Africa region, and one that cannot be solved or supported by one organisation alone,” Mr Khalifa said.

In May last year, Careem launched a feature in partnership with the UN agency that allowed passengers to donate towards the support of refugees and displaced people.

“This was done by creating a specific car type that customers can book on the app, which was called UNHCR,” the spokeswoman said. “The car type lets customers donate Dh3 of their total fare.”

More than 250,000 journeys have resulted in donations of more than Dh1.1 million.

The initiative was started in line with the UAE’s Year of Giving, which was launched by the President, Sheikh Khalifa.

Careem also had Yousef, a refugee in a camp in Jordan, take over its Instagram handle for 24 hours.

“He showed us his life in the camp and talked about his dream to become an international photographer,” the spokeswoman said.

“When the community learnt that he aspired to become a photographer, e-commerce company Noon approached us to help send him a camera and customers approached us to send him accessories.”

Careem sent Yousef the camera on World Refugee Day, June 20, this year.