AI Immersion, Incubation, and Placement for Equitable Employment

While equitable employment offers the potential for a more egalitarian and inclusive society, the path to realising its ideals comes with significant challenges.

• For individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds, the high costs of adult education alongside their immediate need for income creates a tough choice, often forcing them to prioritize short-term earnings over long-term career growth.

• For individuals managing mental health conditions, traditional workplace structures rarely provide the support and flexibility needed for them to thrive, forcing them to choose between sustained employment and mental wellbeing.

• For individuals with disabilities, the current one-size-fits-all approach to training and employment is unable to meet their highly individualized needs, making it a challenge for them to find and succeed in a career that taps into their strengths. 

These challenges are in no way new, and existing solutions are being actively reviewed and fine-tuned by experts in their respective domains. In Singapore where we are based, the education ministry is monitoring the affordability of adult education, the health ministry is expanding recognition for mental health conditions, and the social development ministry is increasing access to resources for persons with disabilities. 

These solutions, while effective in supporting the individual, do not help build the business case for employers, who are the ultimate stakeholders in creating and sustaining employment. As a result, realisation of actual employment outcomes remains limited, with a large part of it reliant on government policies (ie. wage offsets).

There is indeed a clear case that businesses with equitable employment practices build stronger teams that perform better, but employers need to be able to see - and feel - its benefits for this model to scale at speed that we need it to. To do that, we need to prove that case at the level of work effectiveness and productivity.

As much as AI is rapidly changing the way we approach and complete tasks, we believe that the fundamental “jobs-to-be-done” in our economy will remain. Hiring managers today have a strong preference for AI-enhanced talent, particularly individuals who can effectively utilize AI tools to augment their productivity and capabilities.

AI - and technology in general - also presents an enormous impact opportunity to realize the promises of equitable employment. By integrating technology into the design of tasks and workflows, we minimize the inherent barriers associated with disability and neurodivergence. Instead of conforming to the entirety of traditional job roles, individuals can focus on aspects that require empathy, creativity, strategy, trust-building, and ethics - all of which demand a distinctly human touch.

To translate technology’s advantages into tangible impact, we have built an integrated ecosystem that meets learners where they are, helping them discover their strengths and grow into AI-enhanced professionals.

Our ecosystem model provides learners with:

• Technical Skills Training: We teach essential skills that solve the same fundamental “jobs to be done” but with a focus on applying AI tools to significantly increase task effectiveness. This ensures that our graduates can enter into their job roles as contributing members from day one.

• Social Emotional Learning: Our focus on personal management and workplace communications, delivered through a combination of short-term workshops and long-term mentoring, ensures learners are at the same time all-rounded and adaptable. 

• Incubation Support: We offer paid project-based opportunities to our graduates within a controlled workplace environment. This setup is invaluable for many of our learners entering formal employment for the first time, allowing them to gain confidence and real-world experience without being immediately overwhelmed by the demands of full-time work.

• Placement Opportunities: We cultivate and expand a network of forward-looking employers who not only hire based on skills and cultural fit, but are also committed to creating a positive work environment for their team. By matching our learners with these companies, we ensure that they are placed into careers that are both exciting and fulfilling.

• Holistic Support: We address the full spectrum of financial, psychological, and systemic barriers by partnering with philanthropic funders to provide scholarships for learners from low-income backgrounds, collaborating with mental health charities to support learners in recovery, and integrating our services with disability and neurodivergent support professionals to best adapt our curriculum and delivery to the individuals.

We have chosen an ecosystem approach as it allows learners from diverse backgrounds to chart and walk their own paths and ensures seamless transitions from one stage to another, with our support every step of the way. Additionally, learners can progress at their own pace, accommodating a variety of learning styles and life situations.

At present, our ecosystem provides accessible and achievable pathways for learners to develop into AI-enhanced marketers and designers, with the option to add additional pathways in the future. We have chosen these two career tracks as a start as they have minimal barriers to entry combined with a sizable demand by employers.

Over the past 5 years, we have journeyed with over 800 learners from truly all walks of life. Here is the breakdown of who they are and how our ecosystem addresses their needs: 

• 30% of our learners are paying adults who are either recent graduates or mid-career individuals looking to switch into tech roles. Many have faced prolonged job searches that negatively impact their self-esteem. We support them by equipping them with essential tech and AI skills, significantly enhancing their attractiveness to potential employers. We also provide personalized career coaching, and upon their graduation, match them with companies actively seeking tech talent.

• 30% of our learners come from lower socio-economic backgrounds and find it difficult to afford the full cost of upskilling. These individuals are particularly income-sensitive, which can make financial stability a pressing concern as they seek to improve their skills. We help mitigate these pressures by offering financial support and connecting them with employment opportunities quickly through our network of employers.

• 20% of our learners are young adults who have either dropped out of school or are managing mental health challenges. This group typically has limited workplace skills and often faces additional family complexities. We support them through providing a longer training duration with a greater emphasis on social-emotional learning, and progressively transiting them into supportive work environments. Through close collaboration with social sector professionals, we also provide a comprehensive network of support that includes casework and counseling.

• 20% of our learners are persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities. As they are unable to fulfil the needs of traditional job roles, we offer greater incubation support while ensuring that employers have the suitable infrastructure to support their disability needs before placing them out into open employment. 

While our learners come from different backgrounds with their unique needs and strengths, they benefit from the same ecosystem by tapping into the resources that best match their abilities and aspirations, and deciding for themselves the pace that they want to adopt for their journey. 

This is our contextualisation of universal design, where our ecosystem defines a unified taxonomy of technical and social-emotional competencies, while communicating and adopting them across our network of employers, an approach that has thus far shown to improve learning and placement outcomes across all learner groups.

The co-founders came together 5 years ago when we saw and felt the barriers that people around us faced in pursuing and achieving their aspirations. 

I had then just completed my National Service (Singapore's compulsory enlistment) where I saw first-hand how a number of my peers had to settle for jobs outside of their interest simply to make ends meet.

Wan Qing had finished a teaching stint at a special education school for students on the autism spectrum which got her thinking about the post-18 "cliff effect" for parents and children with special needs and if there is anything tangible that can be done. 

Li Ying had been volunteering regularly for a number of years, which helped her realise the deep sense of meaning she derives from meeting folks from all walks of life, and being a supportive part of their journey.

None of us are disadvantaged in the same way as the groups we serve, but the resounding "why" behind the work that we do is to empower those in our community - whom we care deeply for - to become the best and proudest versions of themselves.

We adopt a person-centred approach in the implementation of our solutions, which we translate into practice as the belief and reminder that the individual is the expert of his or her own life. 

Our ecosystem is designed to accommodate each individual's unique aspirations and abilities, allowing them to chart their path, plan their approach, and set milestones that correspond to their goals.

Today, we have assembled an ambitious team of innovators, specialists, enablers and operators, collectively grounded in our mission to unlock the benefits of equitable employment for every individual who comes through our doors.

Through our ecosystem design, we have developed a consistent approach that can adapt to the needs of diverse individuals to prepare them for incubation through project-based opportunities or placement into our network of employers.

To date, we have supported over 800 learners who have not only advanced in their careers but also found more nurturing environments that they can thrive in. In a recent evaluation exercise, we have found that over a period of 5 years, the average graduates earn a total of $62,126 USD more than their baseline pre-program income. The percentage of learners who are in unstable modes of employment (either casual employment or unemployed) have also reduced from 69.8% to 4.7%.

While we have not conducted a formal investment round, we have brought on strategic investors, including a private angel, a venture fund, and a sector builder, to provide growth capital and networks. Moving from the stage of product validation to market expansion, we see this strategy of values-based partnerships to continue on a global scale.

With the stabilisation of our local operations, we have started implementing our solution on a regional level (ASEAN) and are concurrently charting our plans for global expansion. While there is no one-size-fits-all playbook in reaching new markets, we have found early successes in working with local implementors while leveraging Singapore's position as a knowledge hub for curriculum development.

I see Solve as a platform that encourages boldness in tackling important societal challenges while demanding a high level of rigor in developing solutions that are impactful and sustainable. 

With the partners that it attract and the community that it has built, we hope to receive support in advancing two of our current focus areas: 

• Expansion into new geographies: With the track record that we have developed in Singapore, we are looking to broaden our impact internationally. Through Solve, we would like to connect with potential implementation partners (ie. public or private education partners) across different countries who not only share our values but also bring essential local knowledge and networks. 

• Expansion into new groups: We see opportunity to further extend our impact by working with niche impact profiles that tend to be overlooked. Examples include individuals who are recluse (akin to the Hikikomori in Japan) as well as individuals with rare disabilities who require specialised employment support. As they do not have the same economies of scale, we would like to collaborate with technical or philanthropic partners to develop and implement solutions that work for them.

• Application-focused AI training: We see the value of AI not in the technology itself but in the functions and tasks that it can augment to complete for businesses. We equip our learners with the skills needed to excel immediately in the roles, facilitating both their immediate placement and setting them up for meaningful progression in their future careers.

• Incubation integration: We incorporate an incubation phase to support learners who need more time transitioning into formal employment, allowing them to gain real-world experience in a controlled and supportive environment. This unique approach enables us to support individuals that are often overlooked by traditional programs, such as those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds or those with disabilities. 

• Ecosystem design: We build our solution around an ecosystem model, with a unified taxonomy of technical and social-emotional competencies that are continuously communicated and adopted across our network of employers. This strategy not only improves learning and placement outcomes across all learner groups but also enables the solution to scale effectively and sustainably.

• Enhanced career outcomes for individuals: By preparing our learners to be AI-enhanced marketers and designers, our solution not only guarantees a high placement success but significantly improves the career trajectories of our graduates. For instance, over a five-year period, our graduates have on average seen a total increase in earnings of $62,126 USD above the pre-program baseline. Moreover, we've successfully reduced the rate of unstable employment among our learners from 69.8% to just 4.7%. Beyond these quantitative measures, we have also found that our program boosts learners self-confidence and readiness for the workforce, equipping them with the resilience and skills necessary to thrive in dynamic job environments.

• Expanded access of tech opportunities for diverse groups: The integration of an incubation phase within our model allows us to accommodate learners who require more time to transition into formal employment. This approach is particularly effective for individuals from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and those with disabilities, offering them the opportunity to build confidence and gain real-world experience in a controlled environment. At present in Singapore, we have built our trust and reputation as the go-to organisation for individuals from these groups who wish to pursue a tech career.

For every individual who comes through our door, we want them to graduate with AI-enhanced skills that are immediately applicable in modern tech roles. We measure this by evaluating how they complete their final capstone project and benchmarking their abilities to industry standards. Currently, 85% of our learners graduate meeting the full competency level requirements of the role, an indicator that we plan to continue tracking and refining over time.

As our learners build their careers, we want them to command competitive salaries and follow career trajectories marked by meaningful growth and professional development. We measure this through our regular alumni engagement sessions, which allow us to track their professional journeys as well as income levels. As we continue tracking over time, we aim to eventually publish longer-term findings on growth journeys in 10-year and 20-year horizons.

In the long run, we want learners, particularly those from more socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, to be able to feel a greater sense of autonomy over their lives and control over their narratives. We are in the process of measuring and analyzing this through mixed methods research conducted in partnership with a university, and we plan for this set of findings to contribute to our collective knowledge of empowering diverse groups through equitable employment opportunities.

Beyond doing right by every learner, we want to expand our capabilities to serve even more diverse groups. We currently serve learners from lower socio-economic backgrounds, who have dropped out of school, or who are managing mental health conditions, as well as learners with intellectual and developmental disabilities. With the right partnerships, we hope to be able to serve niche impact profiles that tend to be overlooked. Examples include individuals who are recluse (akin to the Hikikomori in Japan) as well as individuals with rare disabilities who require specialized employment support.

Finally, we want our solution to scale and reach as many learners who can benefit from this as possible. There is an enormous pool of diverse talent that can be tapped if only we can curate the right environment that helps them build their confidence and skills, and match them to opportunities where they can thrive. Riding on the fast-growing demand for AI-enhanced talent, we aim to have bridged 10,000 diverse learners into tech careers by our 10-year mark. While this requires a step up from our current scale of operations, we see this as an ambitious but realistic target that we have set our eyes on.

AI is the key differentiator of our solution as a technology that can augment the diverse abilities of our learners and enhance the productivity and capabilities of our graduates. For instance, AI-powered marketing tools can automate content creation and optimization, helping businesses tailor messages to distinct audience segments based on engagement metrics. In the realm of design, AI tools help streamline the creation of sophisticated and responsive design elements that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. In integrating AI into our curriculum, we help learners better harness this technology to produce more engaging campaigns and customer-centric products, ensuring that our graduates are highly sought after in the job market. 

The design of our ecosystem model also taps into the knowledge and insights of self-determinism theory, which states that individuals are most motivated when they have control over their lives. This guides us to create a learning environment that respects learner autonomy, promotes competence, and fosters meaningful connections among participants. By allowing learners to progress at their own pace, we cater to their unique needs and personal goals, supporting not just their career growth but also their personal development.

We have a team of 10 full-time staff and >30 project-based collaborators.

5 Years. 

Our work requires us to convince companies to hire inclusively and equitably. I think a large part of why we can do this is because we adopt these hiring practices ourselves, with a number of our full-time staff and collaborators being past learners who face barriers to opportunities in one way or another.

We know - and we tell companies - that it is not always easy or straightforward, but it’s the right thing to do, and it will bring them very tangible benefits in the long term. We see the successes of our alumni, in both their career growth and personal wins, and it reaffirms for us the “why” behind the work that we do.

As a team, we comprise individuals from different cultures with different backgrounds and at different life stages. Our company is majority women-owned, with a leadership team that is neurodiverse. I find this diversity to contribute a big part to what makes our work great, and more importantly, to what makes us a great place to work at.

Our primary source of revenue comes through program fees.

• This can come directly from learners looking to transit from non-tech to tech roles. Within the adult education space, our incubation and placement offerings help set us apart from traditional education providers (ie. polytechnics, bootcamps) by providing more tangible post-program opportunities. The vast majority of learners who enter into tech roles also enjoy an increase in income, which gives us a clear value to capture.

• This can also come from philanthropic funders providing scholarships for low-income learners. Working with individuals with potential waiting to be tapped gives us a clear theory of change with measurable outcomes, with impact that is easily visible through seeing the transformation of our alumni. With our technology focus and relatively shorter training duration, we deliver higher social returns than corresponding vocational programs while requiring lower investment than university scholarships. Collectively, this means that our programs have a substantially higher SROI to funders looking to maximise their impact of their dollar.

• This is also increasingly coming from the Singapore government, which is known globally for its proactive investment into workforce competitiveness and productivity. Specifically, Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents receive additional support and subsidies when they choose to go for upskilling in areas which are in demand by the future economy. We see this as a growing source of revenue, particularly as we scale, by being able to cater to the learning needs of diverse groups and to bridge them to inclusive employment.

Our secondary source of revenue comes through our agency arm which provides digital services to businesses and non-profits. These include website builds, social media and paid ads retainers, asset development, and CMO-as-a-Service offerings, which we provide to clients while scoping out individual paid projects for learners in incubation. Our revenue here has been steadily increasing as we build up our reputation in the industry as well as trust with individual clients, which gives us the opportunity to work on bigger projects as their organisations grow.

Where the different parts of the business model come together is where we see the strength of an ecosystem approach really shining through.

• By taking on a steady stream of client projects, we ensure that our skills and expertise remains up to date with the latest industry advancements (particularly in the incorporation of AI to do the tasks better and faster), which gives us greater confidence in delivering training and placing graduates.

• With our diverse pool of current and past learners, we help companies (including our agency clients) find suitable candidates to meet their growth needs. With the learners having trained and incubated with us, we have data that extends beyond the resume and interview that can guide placement recommendations and help companies further narrow down values and culture fit.

We crossed the milestone of profitability last year with the diversification of revenue streams providing us with a stable cash position. Our decision to prioritise revenue from the onset has not only helped us retain control and ownership, but also kept our growth iterative and responsive to stakeholder needs. 

Correspondingly, we are able to bring on investors that are more values-aligned, who see success through the scaling of impact while trusting the future multiplier returns of the ecosystem approach. Beyond providing capital to accelerate our growth, they have also contributed time, expertise, and networks to building the organisation that we envision.

The integration of AI into our offerings helps provide clear and measurable value to those that we serve, significantly increasing the ease of monetisation on our side. At the same time, we are seeing greater interest - and urgency - to expand solutions for equitable learning and employment on a global scale. 

We expect our next stage of growth to be powered by a combination of business revenue and catalytic capital, and we hope that Solve as a platform can help bridge us to partners that would like to join us on this journey.