The Ukraine crisis, perhaps more so than ever before, brought home a brutal reality – that those who are displaced by war and conflict are normal people whose everyday lives have been ripped away. It is a savage reminder that this can happen to anyone, at any time. Much more than refugees – a label that perhaps makes it too easy to dissociate from one’s own everyday life – these are all people with skills, jobs, valuable experience and careers.
On reaching our shores, those seeking sanctuary in the UK are often syphoned into low paid survival jobs rather than contributing to the professions where they might add most value. The reasons for this might include needing intensive English language tuition, UK re-accreditation in order to continue the practice for which they are qualified, and a requirement to undertake exams or further training. All this can be prohibitively expensive and complex for a person that has been suddenly displaced, severely traumatised and, indeed, has been unable to work.
finnCap is delighted to be sponsoring RefuAid, a charity focused on supporting refugees with access to language tuition, education, finance and meaningful work – where people can apply their skills and qualifications and are enabled and empowered to use those skills here. Whilst the UK government has backed the Homes for Ukraine scheme to put a roof over their heads, these individuals and families also desperately need work as well as English language skills. RefuAid is a huge help in this regard and we are proud to be part of business’s contribution to these efforts.
Sam Smith, CEO, finnCap Group comments:
"We’ve been impressed by the speed with which Emma Sinclair and her team at Enterprise Alumni acted in launching the Ukraine Business Consortium, which is already helping thousands of refugees overcome the barriers to finding employment that aligns with their experience and qualifications. Businesses of all sizes have an important role to play in addressing social issues and finnCap is delighted to support the second cohort of refugees in the programme."