One-line solution summary:
Symba, an all female-founded tech startup, is the leading workforce development platform on a mission to open up the workforce.
Pitch your solution.
Workforce development programs, like internships and apprenticeships, are instrumental in creating job opportunities and enabling economic security and prosperity. However, there are a limited number of opportunities available and people of color are disproportionately underrepresented. In fact, black students only make up 6% of paid interns (Inside HigherEd, 2020).
Symba is on a mission to open up the workforce by enabling organizations to revolutionize their programs and deliver meaningful, impactful work experiences. Symba partners with organizations to help them scale their programs by upwards of 600% to create more geographically and socially diverse professional development opportunities. On Symba’s platform, organizations can streamline an entire workforce development program in one place from onboarding, performance tracking, and community development. Organizations on Symba track key indicators to improve their programs and foster diversity and inclusion at scale. Symba has powered over 5,000 opportunities and plans to support over 1 million in 5 years.
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
The enduring racial wealth gap in the United States is a multi-faceted issue, perpetuated by numerous factors including varying skill levels, employer discrimination, and the types of jobs workers can access locally. Research from The Urban Institute demonstrates that 46% of white people are in jobs for which prior related job experience is extremely important or required, opposed to just 26% of black representation in these types of jobs. This begs the question: who has access to preliminary job experiences? The lack of paid training & entry-level jobs available to the BIPOC community are distinct barriers to economic mobility. Combine the lack of upskilling & reskilling opportunities with the fact that “Black workers are overrepresented in 11 of the 30 jobs that employ the most Americans and are at high risk of being automated” (The Brookings Institute, 4), and we can anticipate that the wealth gap will be exacerbated.
In order to increase the number of workforce development opportunities available, we face a second challenge, a lack of resources and tools to enable organizations to establish and scale their programs. Cue Symba, the leading workforce development platform helping companies deliver meaningful workforce development experiences to more underrepresented communities.
What is your solution?
Symba’s solution is a technology platform that helps organizations design, implement and streamline workforce development programs, including internships, apprenticeships, fellowships, and more. Using Symba’s comprehensive platform, organizations can easily onboard, manage projects, design training curriculum, and foster community amongst all program participants. By leveraging Symba, organizations can collect key success metrics and build dashboards to track the long-term impact of their workforce development programs. Symba’s platform serves programs that are remote, hybrid, or in-person and works across industries, from retail and government agencies, to fin-tech and healthcare.
Symba’s web and mobile-based application gives organizations the necessary tools and resources to scale their workforce development initiatives to meet important diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. We have helped over 80% of our users grow their programs and some by over 600%!
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Symba’s end goal is to support vulnerable workers looking to enter or pivot within the workforce. Unpaid internships, high costs of education, and relocation expenses for in-person programs, are all barriers to workforce development experiences that disproportionately impact economically disadvantaged individuals. Symba aims to use technology to create equitable access to jobs and wealth creation in communities of color and underrepresented groups. Symba takes a two-pronged approach to address these issues.
As a direct solution, we distribute free resources to internship seekers around the globe to help them land, prepare, and excel in a paid and remote internship experience. Of these resources is a niche job board promoting specifically paid remote internship opportunities. This allows us to keep a pulse of these accessible workforce development programs and what industries are offering roles. We are then able to track engagement from our internship seeker community and gauge what types of workforce development opportunities they find attractive. Within our Symba community, we have a strong population of students and job seekers of color and women who actively participate and engage in our solution. We have been able to support numerous students from the BIPOC community with paid career opportunities like internships and early talent development programs.
Our primary solution impacts the learner’s experience during the program and beyond. Symba is a digital platform for Human Resource leaders to create a symbiotic solution to expand workforce development opportunities. When Symba was first getting started, the founding team sat down with over 250 HR leaders to learn how they were struggling, and what solutions they required to better manage and deliver meaningful workforce development experiences. We discovered they were using 8-11 different digital tools to manage their programs and that they often felt overwhelmed, disorganized, and needed a tool that could streamline program coordination and provide data insights. As we iterate on our platform designs, we host regular focus groups with HR leaders and maintain close communication with our current customers to improve our features and anticipate and adapt to their needs.
Some of our notable customers include MGM Resort, Genentech, and ViacomCBS. Our customers like Robinhood have shared our large-scale impact on their DEI initiatives and how Symba’s solution is enabling them to reach more students and job seekers of color.
“We’re much more efficient in engaging interns and mentors now – especially remotely. Symba is an amazing partner – responsive and receptive to tailoring the platform to our needs. With Symba, we can automate processes and focus on improving our UR Program!” says Head of University Recruiting at Robinhood.
Additionally, our partners at INROADS - a leading nonprofit dedicated to serving BIPOC youth and closing the racial wealth gap state “We are pleased to partner with Symba to ensure we provide the best in technology to close the disparity and opportunity gaps for talented underserved students for careers in corporate America and entrepreneurship for the sustainable future.” - Forest Harper, CEO and President of INROADS.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Provide tools and opportunities for equitable access to jobs, credit, and generational wealth creation in communities of color.Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.
Symba is a social impact startup created as an action project with late Congressman John Lewis in Atlanta, GA, with the purpose of addressing job security and economic opportunity for BIPOC communities. Symba’s technology platform powers leading programs like INROADS that aim to address racial wealth inequalities by providing resources and development programs for 154,000+ BIPOC students. With Symba, organizations like INROADS can now capture data to demonstrate the efficacy of their work to receive funding and scale their operations. As a result, Symba is able to revolutionize skills-training programs and support BIPOC communities with meaningful workforce development opportunities.
What is your solution’s stage of development?
Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model rolled out in one or, ideally, several communities, which is poised for further growth.In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
San Francisco, CA, USAExplain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.
Symba is now in growth mode as we are supporting over 30+ organizations with over 5,000 users around the world. We have a proven model, clear indicators of product-market fit, and are ready for large scale impact.
For more about Symba's demonstrated impact, please check out our case studies here.
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Ahva Sadeghi
If you have additional video content that explains your solution, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link here:
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new technologyWhat makes your solution innovative?
Symba is the first comprehensive solution that is purely dedicated to supporting and advancing workforce development initiatives like internships, apprenticeships, rotational programs and more. This is a growing category as organizations are now investing billions of dollars in workforce development and need a new innovation to streamline these processes.
After researching with over 250 talent leaders, Symba’s cofounders discovered that companies used 10 tools on average to manage and engage their programs, causing it to be very messy, time consuming, and expensive. With Symba’s innovative and user-friendly platform, they are able to streamline, scale, and engage their programs all in one place. Because of this, Symba is able to collect data and provide key insights to talent leaders and organizations. These analytics are captured on Symba’s Dashboard feature as seen below:
As Symba captures more data, we will be able to utilize AI to revolutionize workforce development initiatives with best practices and key learnings further driving our innovation.
In addition, Symba’s engagement and community building features help organizations strengthen their community amongst the cohort to further drive professional development and long-term network impact. This innovation has led to high adoption rates amongst all users on Symba’s platform.
Symba’s platform can also seamlessly integrate with tools that customers currently use. This allows them to set their entire program up on Symba and have it running within under an hour.
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?
Select the key characteristics of your target population.
In which states / US territories will you be operating within the next year?
In which states / US territories do you currently operate?
How many people does your solution currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?
- Currently: 15,000 people
- In one year: 100,000+ people
- In 5 years: 1,000,000+ people
How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?
Current metrics and indicators we track on Symba:
Growth in program (# of users over time, scalability within one program)
Time saved in administrative tasks
Resources saved that can be allocated for more program development
Program conversion and retention rates
Program participant engagement rates
Program participant NPS scores
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
How many people work on your solution team?
Symba's team makeup includes:
- 6 Full time
- 8 contractors
- 1 intern
How long have you been working on your solution?
3 years
How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
Symba is built and coded by a fearless all-female-founded team. Our team at Symba brings together expertise on the future of work, top-tier engineering talent, and a passion for empowering the next generation with key professional development opportunities in the workforce.
Our founding team has conducted years of research on the future of work and we are backed by leaders in talent development and remote work. Symba is founded by a diverse team of first-generation female leaders, and we resonate with our target audience. Our team has collectively experienced the challenges of reskilling in the new workforce firsthand and is eager to make a difference.
Our team members include:
Ahva Sadeghi, CEO (Business development, strategy, marketing, product, growth, sales, operations, fundraising)
Nikita Gupta, CTO (Full stack, Frontend, Backend, DevOps, Data Science, Quality, customer care, customer success, fundraising)
Paula Mora, Head of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships (Business development, customer acquisition, sales, partnerships strategy, marketing, product, growth, operations)
Ellen Zhang, Chief Marketing Officer (Experienced Growth B2B marketing leader )
Mitra LeBuhn, Head of Strategy and Growth (University partnerships, community development, matchmaking, marketing, growth)
Julianna Hamilton, Head of Experience (Customer Success, culture, diversity and inclusion)
Symba’s co-founders have recently been named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology: https://www.forbes.com/30-unde...
What is your approach to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive leadership team?
Symba’s entire mission is to open up the workforce and help organizations meet diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. Therefore, fostering diversity and inclusivity is core to our identity, culture and practices at Symba. Our DEI values and principles drive our internal and external operations on a daily basis. Symba is founded by a diverse team of female entrepreneurs and core to our mission at Symba is to drive meaningful change that enables our clients to foster diversity and inclusion in their own practices.
Our team has participated in multiple initiatives and social impact incubators to learn these best practices and embed them within our work at Symba. In order to uphold our core values and commitment to diversity and inclusion, we only do business, take capital, and hire team members who align with our mission.
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?
Organizations (B2B)Why are you applying to Solve?
We are beyond excited to be considered for the dream opportunity to become a part of the Solve community of incredible social impact founders, experts, and mentors. We have heard firsthand from many of our partners like Rumie and Laboratoria who are Solvers, about the transformative power of the Solve community.
By participating in Solve, we would leverage the 9-month program to learn from mentors and connect with actors in the MIT and Solve communities. We hope to explore new go-to-market strategies, international expansion, key partnership opportunities, and new sources of capital that will help our team scale and reach new heights. We hope to also be a resource for others in the network during the program and after. We believe in the power of partnerships and the importance of networks in entrepreneurship that the Solve community fosters.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
Please explain in more detail here.
We are excited to partner with the Solve community to support many of the workforce development initiatives and scale our impact. We have already successfully partnered with Solvers and look forward to understanding ways in which Symba could offer our platform to support economic opportunities.
We'd also love to scale our team using the power of MIT Solve's network of leaders and social impact advocates!
What organizations would you like to partner with, and how would you like to partner with them?
We are proud to partner with MIT Solver teams like Rumie and Laboratoria. Both organizations align with our mission and have been great catalysts for amplifying our work and expanding our audience. We’d like to partner with the following organizations:
1. Organizations Committed to BIPOC Economic Empowerment
We plan to partner with organizations that align with our mission support and empower BIPOC communities like our partnership with INROADS who can also benefit from Symba’s technologies.
Current MIT Solver teams that would be great partners include: Code Nation, The Last Mile, Shimmy Technologies, Refactored.ai, Ruangguru, and Open Learning Exchange.
2. Academic Institutions
We’d like to partner with colleges, universities, and high schools across the country, like MIT. Collaborating with career services departments connects Symba with corporate partners in need of workforce development tools and technologies. We are also looking to partner to support universities’ and high school in-house internship and fellowship programs. These are opportunities for career exploration and experimentation as outlined by ASA Prize for Equitable Education.
3. Recruitment Firms
We’d like to partner with organizations like WayUp, internships.com, and Handshake, to provide complementary services to each other's corporate partners.
Current MIT Solver teams that would be great partners include: Apli, D2, and Kolorob Jobs.
4. Research Teams
As we advance our scale and impact, we’d like to team up with leading researchers to share our key findings and support research and development of our product. We are currently working with The Center for Research on College-workforce Transitions.
Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.
Yes, I wish to apply for this prize
Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Prize to advance your solution?
Symba does a lot of activism and research to amplify mental health and well-being for people in the workforce. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Prize would help us further develop our platform and technologies to support inclusion and psychological safety in the workforce for BIPOC communities.
Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The ASA Prize for Equitable Education? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.
Yes, I wish to apply for this prize
Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use The ASA Prize to advance your solution?
Symba’s platform is designed to support and facilitate project-based learning and ensure equitable access as clearly stated in the ASA Prize for Equitable Education. Companies and nonprofits are able to craft and curate this type of learning and experimentation for students and job seekers at scale. Our work with INROADS College Links has prepared over 600 underrepresented youth across 12 cities in the United States for college preparedness and long term career success. By implementing Symba’s platform, BIPOC and first-generation college students are able to learn about their career options and network with peers. Similarly, Symba’s platform has powered Year Up’s Professional Arm to support a project-based learning apprenticeship program with over 200 apprentices preparing for their future career. In another case, Symba helped create a tech bootcamp for students to learn how to code over the summer in a virtual classroom setting. In this way, Symba is leading the way in career exploration or experimentation.
Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The Elevate Prize for Antiracist Technology? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.
No, I do not wish to be considered for this prize, even if the prize funder is specifically interested in my solution
Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The GM Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.
Yes, I wish to apply for this prize
Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use The GM Prize for Innovation in Refugee Inclusion to advance your solution?
Yes, Symba is dedicated to making STEM education more accessible and equitable for refugees and has directly sponsored initiatives like Na’amal who empower refugees. Na’amal works with organizations such as MIT ReACT to empower refugees through skills training, mentorship, and remote work, including paid internships. Mentees represent 22 countries and are located mainly in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and the United States, as well as in some parts of Europe and the Philippines.
Symba is excited to power the important work Na’amal is doing to open up the workforce for refugees with its platform, which helps organizations manage and scale their talent development programs. Program participants have already gone through skills training to develop advanced competencies in computer and data science and are scheduled to start the mentorship program this month.
This is just one of many examples of how Symba supports and empowers refugees to create a more inclusive environment.
Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The HP Prize for Advancing Digital Equity? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.
Yes, I wish to apply for this prize
Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use The HP Prize for Advancing Digital Equity to advance your solution?
Symba’s platform is helping companies advance digital equity for talent communities. Our customers, including INROADS, use Symba to measure diversity and inclusion amongst their cohorts. This prize will accelerate our impact to help advance inclusion throughout programs in the US and provide more economic opportunities through professional development experiences.
Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for the Innovation for Women Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.
Yes, I wish to apply for this prize
Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use the Innovation for Women Prize to advance your solution?
Symba is co-founded and led by a female Chief Technology Officer and recently recognized on Crunchbase as one of 9 South Asian Female Entrepreneurs Changing the Game. As such, our team is endlessly passionate about empowering women with STEM opportunities as we make up that population. We have partnered with leading programs that support the needs of women and girls. For example, Na’amal empowers refugee women with mentorship opportunities and uses Symba to run the program. In addition, Laboratoria, one of Symba’s partners in Latin America, has created a series of workshops to create important professional development opportunities on Symba. Our team was recently recognized on Forbes for female leaders shaping entrepreneurship and a recipient of the Tory Burch Fellowship for our work and impact in this space. Receiving the Innovation for Women Prize prize would further our impact and scale to empower women with professional development opportunities.
Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The AI for Humanity Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.
Yes, I wish to apply for this prize
Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use The AI for Humanity Prize to advance your solution?
Symba has collected data around workforce management and how programs have evolved across all forms talent development programs. Our team plans to leverage data science and machine learning on Symba’s dataset to derive insights and analyze trends in workforce development. We have an opportunity to use our data to amplify Symba’s impact through building out models to gather analytics around program participant demographics, performance, upskilling trajectories, and more. The AI for Humanity Prize will help us grow Symba’s data science arm by hiring team members skilled in data science and machine learning and implementing technologies to run models.
Initiatives for leveraging AI for Symba include automating tasks for program administrators so scale can grow exponentially. In addition, machine learning models will help to forecast program experiences, scan project documents intelligently, and the use of Natural Language Processing will help manage engagement or auto-assess text for exclusionary use of language on Symba’s community features.
Solution Team
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Ahva Sadeghi Co-Founder & CEO, Symba
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Solution Name:
Symba