‘Win-win’ in UK as highly skilled refugees find work
December 19, 2019, 10:23 am

‘Win-win’ in UK as highly skilled refugees find work

A pedestrian passes a European food store in the town of Boston in Lincolnshire. (File photo AFP)

In a deprived town in northern England, reeling from the death of its fishing industry, a handful of ambitious professionals have arrived with a mission - to improve residents’ health.

The Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project (LRDP) - which aims to help refugee doctors join Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) through training, language courses, and volunteer placements - welcomed its first cohort to Grimsby in October.

“I’m yearning to work as a doctor,” Ahmed Hashim, who arrived in Britain this year and is one of about seven refugees on the programme, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

While a variety of social enterprises - or businesses that aim to do good - seek to find refugees jobs, from handicrafts to cafes, this project is one of a handful trying to get them into careers that match the qualifications they gained back home.

For the refugees, it offers a chance to pursue the career they trained for. For the state-run NHS, it goes a small way to plugging almost 100,000 staff vacancies, exacerbated by funding shortages and poor working conditions.

When war broke out in Syria, Iraq-born Hashim, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, had to flee to Jordan as soon as he completed his medical degree in 2013, putting his childhood dream to become a doctor on hold.

Hashim has yet to practice medicine but he is excited to be back in the classroom.

“Even though I couldn’t practice when I was in Jordan, I didn’t see myself doing anything else - this what I do, this is what I trained for, this is my passion,” he said.

Struggling to cope with record demand due to a growing and aging population, as well as cuts to social care, the NHS, which provides care for free at the point of delivery, has seen droves of doctors and nurses quit, retire early or go part-time.

Towns like Grimsby, with a population of about 88,000, struggle to compete for doctors, who often tend to favor working in bigger, busier city hospitals.

The programme, during which the refugee doctors spend three days a week in the classroom with two days free to work or volunteer, is “a win-win for all,” said Andrew Mowat, clinical programme director of LRDP and a retired doctor.

“They bring hugely different experiences of their journeys - professional journey and I also mean journey as a refugee,” said Mowat, who estimates it will take the refugees up to two years to pass the General Medical Council’s vetting tests to practice.

“That means that they will be much more empathic towards patients if they understand suffering and pain and distress,” Mowat added.

Jobseekers

It is often hard for refugees in Britain to find work, particularly well-paid jobs that their skills qualify them for, according to research by the Centre on Migration, Policy, and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford.

Recently arrived refugees, lacking the local contacts of other jobseekers, often rely on public agencies and job centers to find lower-paid work, the study found, and earn on average 284 pounds a week - about half that of UK-born workers.

“Being out of the labor market might also affect your way of perceiving yourself in society,” said Zovanga Kone, a COMPAS researcher. “This could lead to more severe consequences, such as mental health problems.”

The struggle to find a job that matches his qualifications has made Usman Khalid, a refugee from Pakistan living in London, feel at times “sad and upset”.

He has a Master’s degree in business from Pakistan, is studying for a Master’s in marketing and communications in Britain and has taken on various internships and contracts within the charity sector, but says it is very competitive.

“Being not very familiar with the society and not growing up in the society is sometimes a bit of a challenge ... different jargon, different expressions ... the employer may think sometimes this person might not be suitable,” he said.

Khalid is among almost 240 refugee professionals who have registered with London-based Transitions, a decade-old social enterprise that works to find them skilled jobs in fields such as architecture, engineering, and business services.

In the past six months, it has found jobs or returner placements for 60% of its current pool of candidates, despite challenges like gaps on their resumes as a result of fleeing

their homes.

“Typically they will have an 18 months’ gap - sometimes much longer than that - and it’s very difficult for them to explain to employers that they were in a lorry trucking across Europe,” said Sheila Heard, founder of Transitions.

“(Professional refugees) are left at the mercy of whatever recruiter or piece of software sees their Afghani Master’s, which usually means that sets off alarm bells and it gets a rejection.”

Often employers are unaware that refugees have the right to work in Britain and that professional bodies will help assess qualifications from around the world, she said.

Rather than purely hiring refugees out of a sense of moral duty or charity, it makes business sense, said Heard.

“There are so many studies to say that if you have diverse teams, you’re going to be a healthier, more profitable, more engaged organization with better retention - and of course you have better access to global skills,” she said.

source :Thomson Reuters Foundation

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BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the company’s headquarters in the Seef District.
During the meeting, shareholders approved all items listed on the agenda, including the ratification of the minutes of the previous AGM held on 26 March 2024. The session reviewed and approved the Board’s Annual Report on the company’s activities and financial performance for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2024, and the shareholders expressed their satisfaction with the company’s operational and financial results during the reporting period.
The meeting also reviewed the Independent External Auditor’s Report on the company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Subsequently, the shareholders approved the audited financial statements for the fiscal year. Based on the Board’s recommendation, the shareholders approved the distribution of a cash dividend equivalent to 10% of the paid-up share capital.
Furthermore, the shareholders endorsed the allocation of a total amount of BD 172,500 as remuneration to the members of the Board for the year ended 31 December 2024, subject to prior clearance by related authorities.
The extension of the current composition of the Board was approved, which includes ten members and one CBB observer, for a further six-month term, expiring in September 2025, pending no objection from the CBB.
The meeting reviewed and approved the Corporate Governance Report for 2024, which affirmed the company’s full compliance with the corporate governance directives issued by the CBB and other applicable regulatory frameworks. The AGM absolved the Board Members of liability for any of their actions during the year ending on 31st December 2024, in accordance with the Commercial Companies Law.
In alignment with regulatory requirements, the session approved the reappointment of Ernst & Young (EY) as the company’s External Auditors for the fiscal year 2025, covering both the parent company and its subsidiaries—Sinnad and Bahrain FinTech Bay. The Board was authorised to determine the external auditors’ professional fees, subject to approval from the CBB, and the meeting concluded with a discussion of any additional issues as per Article (207) of the Commercial Companies Law.
Speaking on the company’s performance, Mr. Mohamed Al Bastaki, Chairman BENEFIT , stated: “In terms of the financial results for 2024, I am pleased to say that the year gone by has also been proved to be a success in delivering tangible results. Growth rate for 2024 was 19 per cent. Revenue for the year was BD 17 M (US$ 45.3 Million) and net profit was 2 Million ($ 5.3 Million).

Mr. Al Bastaki also announced that the Board had formally adopted a new three-year strategic roadmap to commence in 2025. The strategy encompasses a phased international expansion, optimisation of internal operations, enhanced revenue diversification, long-term sustainability initiatives, and the advancement of innovation and digital transformation initiatives across all service lines.
“I extend my sincere appreciation to the CBB for its continued support of BENEFIT and its pivotal role in fostering a stable and progressive regulatory environment for the Kingdom’s banking and financial sector—an environment that has significantly reinforced Bahrain’s standing as a leading financial hub in the region,” said Mr. Al Bastaki. “I would also like to thank our partner banks and valued customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their ongoing encouragement. The achievements of 2024 set a strong precedent, and I am confident they will serve as a foundation for yet another successful and impactful year ahead.”
Chief Executive of BENEFIT; Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi commented, “The year 2024 represented another pivotal chapter in BENEFIT ’s evolution. We achieved substantial progress in advancing our digital strategy across multiple sectors, while reinforcing our long-term commitment to the development of Bahrain’s financial services and payments landscape. Throughout the year, we remained firmly aligned with our objective of delivering measurable value to our shareholders, strategic partners, and customers. At the same time, we continued to play an active role in enabling Bahrain’s digital economy by introducing innovative solutions and service enhancements that directly address market needs and future opportunities.”
Mr. AlJanahi affirmed that BENEFIT has successfully developed a robust and well-integrated payment network that connects individuals and businesses across Bahrain, accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies in the banking and financial services sector and reinforcing Bahrain’s position as a growing fintech hub, and added, “Our achievements of the past year reflect a long-term vision to establish a resilient electronic payment infrastructure that supports the Kingdom’s digital economy. Key developments in 2024 included the implementation of central authentication for open banking via BENEFIT Pay”
Mr. AlJanahi concluded by thanking the Board for its strategic direction, the company’s staff for their continued dedication, and the Central Bank of Bahrain, member banks, and shareholders for their valuable partnership and confidence in the company’s long-term vision.