ACS Celebrating World Refugee Day: Connecting refugee talent across Australia
ACS Celebrating World Refugee Day: Connecting refugee talent across Australia
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About this event
Finding a job in the tech sector in Australia can be challenging, especially for refugees who are new to the country. They face various obstacles such as limited access to education, language barriers, and a lack of local professional networks, which can make it difficult to compete in a highly competitive job market.
On World Refugee Day, ACS is taking the step to make a difference. In collaboration with Settlement Services International (SSI), Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB), and TechFugees, ACS will examine skills recognition and pathways for connecting refugee talent across Australia in this event.
The event will include a fireside chat with four exceptional panelists who will share their experiences and insights.
Long time friend and ally of Techfugees, Qualgro Capital’s Peter Huynh, will be talking about his journey from Refugee to venture capital and a panel discussion with Jacqui Gilligan from Settlement Services International and Sathya Dharmini Gnanakaran from Talent Beyond Boundaries will cover employment pathways for refugee talent.
Michael Ascharsobi, who taught himself computer skills in a South Australian detention center, will share his story of how he became a successful IT professional. Jacqui Gilligan, Head of Commercial & Strategic Ventures at SSI, will deliver an advocacy report that provides a roadmap for unleashing the economic potential of refugees and migrants by 2025. Sathya Gnanakaran, Australian and New Zealand Director, will showcase pathways to employment offered by TBB.
By seamlessly integrating skilled refugees and migrants into the workforce, Australia can harness their unique perspectives, experiences, and capabilities, thereby fostering a vibrant and dynamic economy that thrives on diversity and inclusivity.
Join us and be a part of a global conversation supporting UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, about how to ensure hope for refugees.
Speakers
Sathya is the Australia and New Zealand Director at Talent Beyond Boundaries.
As an immigration lawyer of 14 years, I’ve watched refugee clients grapple with traditional humanitarian programs; feeling like they’re constantly on trial about whether their circumstances are really ‘bad enough’ to justify seeking a life of safety and dignity - something that everyone on this planet wants and deserves.
When I first connected with TBB in my capacity as Manager at EY, it blew my mind. Here is an organisation empowering refugees and other displaced people to lift themselves out of displacement by harnessing their own talents! I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be a part of such an impactful mission, and focus the conversation on how refugees can help address global skill shortages as key contributors to global economies.
Social enterprise strategy and operations | Executive leadership | Community led innovation and development | Portfolio and Program Management (certified) | Empowering Teams | Innovative solutions to complex and wicked problems | From micro to macro enterprise strategy and development | Economic, Social and Environmental balance/trade-offs
Peter is a Venture Partner at Qualgro, actively contributing to our firm since 2015, and has led investments in SaaS, data, AI, marketplaces and B2C tech.
He is a Board Director at Brighte, Curious Thing and Hevo Data, and helps Qualgro portfolio companies with international expansion and product/business/talent development.
After spending the past ~10 years in venture capital, Peter joined harrison.ai and it’s group of companies, who are using AI to help scale global healthcare capacity.
Peter is the Chief Strategy Officer & Board Advisor of harrison.ai, and Board Director of franklin.ai. It’s a privilege for me to work with Aengus & Dimitry Tran, our incredible founders, and the very special team across harrison.ai, franklin.ai & annalise.ai.
After escaping persecution in his home country, IT graduate Michael Ascharsobi has forged a successful tech career at Google.
Michael Ascharsobi clearly remembers his first encounter with a computer. It was 2001; he was 16 and detained at the Woomera Detention Centre in South Australia with his extended family, who were seeking asylum seekers after escaping from Iran. A computer room at the facility provided detainees with access to four PCs.
“What is this box and what is it capable of?” was his immediate reaction. Ascharsobi was fascinated and taught himself computing through trial and error during confinement. He had always liked to tinker. “I pulled apart any toy that moved,” he laughs. “As I grew older I got into opening up TVs and VCR players, trying to figure out what’s going on in there—even fixing them at times. I was just very curious how anything electronic worked.”
A UTS Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and Master of Science in Internetworking graduate, Ascharsobi now balances work at Google, where he’s currently reimagining the entire customer support experience, with teaching a Network Fundamentals course at UTS.
Master of Science in Internet working, 2009; Bachelor of Science in Information Technology Senior Technical Program Manager, Google
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