Egalite Inclusion & Diversity

People with disabilities (PwD) around the world have much higher unemployment rates. Egalite is committed to solve this problem using AI to match the best candidate focusing in their skills and demonstrating the value of diversity.

To connect companies and PwD, we developed an online recruitment platform and behavioral profile test fully adapted for persons with disabilities. The technology is prepared to serve people with all kinds of disability. For example, we have translation in sign language and the technology is optimized for the use of a screen reader. In our platform we understand the candidate education, skills, profile, disability and eventually thier limitations. The candidate information is compared to all job opportunities available. Our AI calculates the best opportunity for each candidate, based on geolocation, education, salary requirements, area and behavioral profile.

This solution empowers PwD to show their potential and can be scaled globally.

In Brazil, there are 45 million people with disabilities (23.9% of the population) according to census data. Out of this population, 32 million are in working age, yet only 480,000 are currently employed. There is a lack of opportunities to PWD in Brazil and most of them are in the line of vulnerability or poverty. 46% of PWD receive up to 1 minimum wage, representing a year income up to USD 2,600. 

Using our technology, the average year income of a person with disability is 76% higher than the minimum wage. If we consider all the benefits included (health insurance, bonus, etc.) the average year income goes to 120% higher than the minimum wage. So far we helped to employ 7,000 PwD and this represents and additional revenue of USD 4 million per year.  

There are over 1 billion people with disabilities in the world. In developing countries, 80% to 90% of persons with disabilities of working age are unemployed, whereas in industrialized countries the figure is between 50% and 70%. Our society does not give PwD the opportunity to demonstrate their value and this attitude has a great social and economic impact.  

Our solution is a recruitment platform built for people with disabilities unleash their potential,

fully automated that uses people analytics, AI and machine learning. The candidate fills their resume and takes a profile assessment. We understood that was very important to have a profile test to make a more assertive match. This assessment was developed in a partnership with one of the top private Brazilian university (PUCRS) and generates 3,125 different profiles. Initially we wanted to integrate existing profile tests, but we could find one that was accessible to different kind of disability.

On the other side we have companies posting job opportunities and detailing what they expect for hard and soft skills.

There are many recruitment systems that are similar, but our solution becomes unique when add the disability to this equation. Besides having AI and algorithms to match the candidates our technology also understands the candidate disability and which job opportunity is better for this person.

Today we have a database of 60,000 PwD and we helped to employ over 7,000 PwD in 19 different states of Brazil. 

Before we started developing the technology Egalite interview over 1,000 PwD. In the begging, all processes were done manually to make sure we were meeting all of our audience needs. It is very challenging to build one solution for different kind of disability (physical, hearing, seeing, intellectual, psychosocial and multiple).

We believed that was not possible to help our audience without making them a part of the developing process. Every new feature that we launch are validated and we gather feedback with candidates from our database.

In average, people with disabilities that we employ have an income that is 120% greater than the PwD population in Brazil. This improves their life quality and access to health insurance, that many times has a great impact in a person with disability life. Another very important factor is socialization, self-steam and accomplishment feeling that come a long a job opportunity. We have so many testimonials how life changing was to have a job opportunity and be able to demonstrate their potential.

Our technology was built from scratch for and by people with disabilities, helping humans to connect and removing unconscious bias.

We believe that diversity is strongly connected with the future of work. A more diverse workforce generates better results. But our society does cannot see the hole potential behind people with disabilities. Our technology helps to unleash the potential, demonstrate all their skills and creating great job opportunities.  

Egalite is unique for the methodology and technology developed to address the employment of PwD. In Brazil we are the only recruitment platform fully adapted for PwD and that has an evaluation of the behavioral profile. There is also a great advantage over other recruitment firms, the comparison of the job opportunity versus the candidate using AI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Bellow we share a link with the demo of our recruitment platform. At the end there is a graphic that is the comparasion between the candidate and the job opportunity. 

Our main focus is to match the candidates using accessible technology, that makes our solution unique and with a national reach. There are 60,000 PwD in our database that is the largest in Brazil. For the next year we intend to reach 100,000 candidates and for the next 5 years 3 million candidates. 

For the next year our goal is to reach 100,000 candidates in our database and expand our operation in Brazil. For the next 5 years our plan is to expand to Latin America and reach 3 million candidates in our database. 

For the next year we see an important economic barrier. In Brazil it is estimated to have -8% GDP in 2020.

For the next 5 years we have 2 main barriers: (1) adapting our systems to local requirements and culture; (2) partnerships with government, NGOs and other important players in Latin America. 

We are already building an important network in Latin America. Last year we were invited to meet with the president of Ecuador that is a person with disability. Egalite participated in an event to share experiences and successful cases in Brazil. In Uruguay we have a partnership with and important NGO that supports people with disabilities. In Argentina and Chile we have clients like Sodexo, Uber and Givaudan that are interested in having our services in those countries. 

We have a very diverse team with complementary skills. Our team has a total of 10 people from the following background: law, business, psychology, IT, marketing. Even though we are small team, we use technology to scale our impact. Our team is divided in 2 offices, one in São Paulo and another in Porto Alegre. We have 4 main departments that work together to achieve the program goals: Recruitment, Technology, Marketing and Comercial.

What makes our team unique is the combination of 3 areas: HR, Technology and Employment of PwD. It is possible to find HR and Technology professionals, but very few people have the experience of our combining these 3 areas. Together our team achieved the following:

2016: winner of Ruderman Prize in Inclusion, being considerate in the top 5 five innovative inclusion solutions in the World

2017: winner of Global Grand Challenges Award by Singularity University. The only Brazilian company to receive this award in the prosperity category

2018: selected to the Facebook acceleration process at Station Hack, the first open innovation center of Facebook;

2019: LEAD@MIT, chosen as one of the top 25 inclusion leaders

2019: WSA regional winner and global semi-final

In Brazil there is a law that requires companies over 100 employees to include 2% to 5% of people with disabilities in its workforce. Companies that don´t comply with the law are required to pay a fine.

Brazil has 45 million PwD according to the census and 34 million in working age, but only 1,4% is formally employed. There is a lack of opportunities to PWD in Brazil and most of them are in the line of vulnerability or poverty. 46% of PWD receive up to 1 minimum wage, representing a year income up to USD 2,600. 

There is a very clear opportunity to connect people with disabilities and companies that are obligated to comply with the law. In our business model we never charge anything from PwD and provide free online courses to help them improve their skills and follow new careers. Companies pay to use our technology to recruit the best candidates. There is a very important social impact and economic gain when they comply with the law. 

In our business model all services provided for people with disabilities are free. Egalite´s revenue comes from the companies who wants to hire PWD. We charge recruiting fees considering the job opportunity earnings. Our revenue model is sustainable and our company has been growing and making possible to innovate and develop technology by reinvesting our profit.

My good friend Carlos Pereira was chosen a Solver with his assistive technology called Livox. Last year I had the chance to meet with him in Cambridge. He was having a meeting at MIT and I was a part of the LEAD20@MIT’s inaugural cohort at MIT Sloan Executive Education (https://executive-mit-edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/blog/what-inclusion-looks-like-meet-lead20-mits-inaugural-cohort?fbclid=IwAR0owXzDt17jbYQcxVVIe4fmwtsX3OdE_ggvNbU9hQJlZMSE1aMjmqgRYvk#.XRzm0xZKjDC).

Carlos shared with me his experience as a Solver and the great impact that had in his company. Also I got the chance to learn with MIT Sloan faculty, the community and see amazing projects.

I want to be a Solver, because I believe that is the best opportunity to make Egalite global. We strongly believe that our technology can benefit millions of people with disability all over the world.