Sesamum

A free platform and non profit association which provides safe, adequate and equal job opportunities for people with disabilities

In Mexico there is a rate of 6% of people with disabilities, which are completely overlooked by our government, people who don’t receive the proper help they need in order to live a rightful life as any other human. It is rare to find schools and associations who are willing to help them get an education, find a job or in general help them live a good life.

This 6% may not seem much but it represents 7 million disabled people who live in Mexico, the majority of them (half to be precise) living in poverty and 10.2% living in extreme poverty. This is because our systems or associations which are meant to help are a total fraud. For instance only 30% of people with disabilities have a job, but not just any job; in order for them to get that “opportunity” parents or guardians need to pay a fee each month, that fee money is kept by the associations and used to pay a very small amount to the disabled person.

But that’s not all, in the majority of jobs given to people with disabilities they are taken advantage of, they either steal their money, give them a demeaning job, they aren’t allowed to make mistakes, otherwise they would cut off their salary. So regardless if they have a job or not it is rare to listen to a success story. 

 This doesn’t only affect those 7 million people who live in Mexico, but the country as well. It is one of the reasons Mexico and many other countries are still behind and can’t seem to grow despite their best efforts. 

One of our best examples are first world countries such as Italy or Spain that have developed laws and programs to truly help disabled people, and they have achieved more compassion, less employee turnover, less accidents, more productivity, lesser absents and overall a better environment work wise and society wise. 

So until Mexico and the rest of the countries don’t want to give people with disabilities a chance, they will not progress. A country isn’t only valuable for how much money, goods or how advanced they are with technologies, but by their society and inclusion as well.

Right now there are 70% of people with disabilities unemployed in Mexico. We want those numbers to go down at least 5% in our first year. 

Sesamum is a non profit platform created in order for people with disabilities to find a worthy, equal and safe job. Through our platform people with disabilities who are looking for a job must complete 2 tests which measure how independent a disabled person is and which are his/her strengths and abilities so we can link the person with a specific job and position depending on the results, Making sure they obtain a job which embraces all their potential. 

 In order to ensure the user's safety and integrity they will be assigned to a responsible college students(1) who will make sure through the employee and employer that everything is running smoothly, in addition to making sure the disabled person isn’t being taken advantage of, furthermore to make disability a part of their daily life and to make them aware of the struggle these people face ; However Sesamum also offers legal protection through a law firm in case it is needed.

Sesamum is also a platform for people whose job is to help people with disabilities, so families who are struggling finding help can have easy access to it.

1: College students will be doing their required social service through our platform.

Sesamum serves people with physical and mental disabilities. In Mexico discrimination keeps on being a serious issue, Not only academically but in general they keep on being neglected by our government, but most of all by our society. 

Associations which are meant to help people with disabilities get an education are ill-prepared, there aren’t that many of them and they are really hard to find. Not to mention , those who actually get an education are discriminated against by comments such as “If I knew you were disabled I wouldn’t have even admitted you to the University” or just mistreat them because of the challenges they face.

Let’s not talk about associations which are meant to help disabled people get a job; they charge a fee which makes it impossible for people who don’t have the money or the resources to find a job. Nevertheless the jobs that they hand out are extremely denigrating with little to no space error and in reality the parents or guardians are the ones paying the salary of the disabled person, and again, they are associations which are really hard to find. 

The idea of Sesamum is to help companies open their doors to disabled people, and most of all to serve people with disabilities, let them become their own person and increases their economic and general independence, let them know they matter and help them live in a world or at least in a country where disability is normalized a place where they are treated with respect, equality and support. Leading them to live a normal quality life

Sesamum is hoping to be the website that welcomes disability into the world, and change not only people with disabilities' lives, but their family and loved ones as well, knowing their kid, family,friend can actually manage to build a life for themselves with all the rights and advantages any other human has.

“Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones” - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The reason I began with that quote said by “Ralph Waldo Emerson” is because I may not be a professional in any field, I may not know much about any specific subject, I may only be a student who just began college. However I have had the fortune of having a vision on how to help those who the world has turned their back on, I may not have an official team for this project; however I have had the opportunity to meet extraordinary people who are actually experts in their fields and in certain subjects regarding the project and it is those same people who have helped me the most in bringing my vision and this project to life.

I think we overlook how powerful human contact is. In the course of 4 weeks (which is how long I have been working on this project) I have managed to investigate methods and concepts used in other countries to help people with disabilities through the locals, I have listened to stories about the struggle of being a disabled person living in Mexico through the parents or guardians of those who are disabled people and people who recently spend most of their time with them, in addition to learning how our country keeps on neglecting disabled people. 

I have never considered myself to be a leader, however through this project I learned that I am, I have gotten the help an inspired people who I would never have guessed would like to be part of the project, I have gotten the help of those who suffer the problem on how to perfect my vision, I have informed and made conscious schools, programs, law firms, associations, family and businesses that weren’t aware of the problem and who  are looking for a way to make “inclusion” part of their daily life as well as contributing in my project.I said before I never considered myself to be a leader, but I’ve heard through other people (and summarized in this quote by John Quincy Adams)  “that if your actions inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”. 

I started this project, inspired firstly by my parents who have always shown me the importance of giving back, of helping, and to be grateful, secondly by all those years in which my family and I gave presents to the least fortunate communities in our state, thirdly by in the pandemic preparing sandwiches to hand out to hungry people on the street, and lastly by being a finalist in the rise for the world competition with my “mental health project” back in 2021, it was there were I knew I can make an actual difference in this world. 

This project began as a solo project, however how can I say it is a project I am working on alone, when my passion, interest and the massive importance this problem has, it has driven it to become a community project.

So if you ask how am I well positioned to deliver this solution, the answer is simple, kindness, passion, communication, modesty, curiosity, understanding, patience, the good regard for others and to listen go a long way, what started out as a solo project of someone who didn’t know much but cared enough to do something about it, got me the help, the partnerships, the relationships, the contacts, the professionals and everything I needed to be sure I and we (as a community) can actually make a change, starting with this solution

During the time I have been working on this project I have made new contacts, talked, visited  and listened to people who work with/for people with disabilities, I have shared my project with the parents/guardians of several people with disabilities, as well as some people with a physical disability (people with Asperger’s, Autism, Down syndrome, Deaf, Brain paralysis, people on a wheelchair) I have listened to their recommendations on how to improve the concept in order to build a solid proposal and project that will really benefit those who are affected. 

In addition “Sesamum” has several partnerships in order to serve our future potential users the best way possible, those partnerships are:

• Collabore: An association in Guadalajara, Mexico which helps people with disabilities develop their skills or to teach them a specific occupation, the idea is that through “Collabore” once the disabled people have completed their “studies” they are directly linked through our platform with a job at a company with a position that applies to the skills of the disabled person.

• La puerta roja: A socially responsible restaurant located in León, Guanajuato. The majority of their employees are people with disabilities; the owner “Ricardo Ayala” is currently working on teaching “team building “ courses (along with his staff from “la puerta roja”) in order to teach companies what it’s like to work with disabled people, the advantages it has, and if they have areas or positions available, through our platform we will help the company fill the position with people from our platform who are looking for and are qualified for the job.

• Universidad Panamericana Campus Aguascalientes and Universidad Panamericana Campus Guadalajara : UP is one of the best Colleges in Mexico, the idea of the partnership with these schools is so the students do their required social work with Sesamum, so they go once a week to visit the establishments where our users are placed making sure that everything is running smoothly between employee and employer, it is mostly so the companies and people who work in it don’t take advantage of disabled people.

• Estrada y Abogados: A law firm located in León Guanajuato which ensures that our users have the protection they need if they are ever found in a situation where legal help is required. 

• Deocomunicación: A Human Resources and head-hunting Agency which will help us look for companies that have positions available as well as helping us with all the norms that are set to protect all Mexican employees.

There are many platforms such as “occ”, or “linkedin” which help people and companies find a job or fill a position, however I have never seen a platform specifically for help people with disabilities get the same opportunities as the rest of the people. This last form will not only increase equality, but will also help the poverty rate go down significantly, and it can easily impact other countries as well, not only Mexico.

- To get the financing for the project and to promote it as much as we can in order to reach as many people as possible so they can start using this revolutionary platform. The way to achieve it is by winning the MIT contest, submitting the project to other challenges and to have a meeting with the Governor of the State to get the financing for the project.

- To reach more schools such as “Montessori” or public schools which are specifically for disabled people so they can be aware of the platform and know there is a future for them outside of school as well. Sesamum will achieve this through the promotion campaign (social media, radio, news)  as well as through word of mouth.

- To get more partnerships from several Universities such as “tecnológico de Monterrey”, “Tec milenio”, “UG”, “UVM” among others… So we can ensure more students make sure everything is running smoothly between employee and employer. Sesamum will achieve this by setting zoom calls, meetings, phone calls.

- Through our partnerships get through to more companies, show them the advantages employing people with disabilities. Sesamum will achieve this through team building courses, word of mouth, setting meetings with companies, talking to the Government so the State advantages are known as well.

- The core technology would be Java Script since it is the core technology of websites nowadays.

- HTML5 for the pacific contents of the web page

- jQuery so JavaScript is much easier to use 

- Google analytics in order to provide the insights of the platform.

- Algorithms to optimize searches and links between the users and companies.

If we get the funding to make “Sesamum” a reality, the idea is to serve on the first year to 1% of people with disabilities in Guanajuato, which represents 2,000 people in our first year.

I am currently a college student, I just finished my first semester of college studying “international business”. I don’t have the money nor a job to get the financing this project needs to come to life.

• Collabore: An association in Guadalajara, Mexico which helps people with disabilities develop their skills or to teach them a specific occupation, the idea is that through “Collabore” once the disabled people have completed their “studies” they are directly linked through our platform with a job at a company with a position that applies to the skills of the disabled person.

• La puerta roja: A socially responsible restaurant located in León, Guanajuato. The majority of their employees are people with disabilities; the owner “Ricardo Ayala” is currently working on teaching “team building “ courses (along with his staff from “la puerta roja”) in order to teach companies what it’s like to work with disabled people, the advantages it has, and if they have areas or positions available, through our platform we will help the company fill the position with people from our platform who are looking for and are qualified for the job.

• Universidad Panamericana Campus Aguascalientes and Universidad Panamericana Campus Guadalajara : UP is one of the best Colleges in Mexico, the idea of the partnership with these schools is so the students do their required social work with Sesamum, so they go once a week to visit the establishments where our users are placed making sure that everything is running smoothly between employee and employer, it is mostly so the companies and people who work in it don’t take advantage of disabled people.

• Estrada y Abogados: A law firm located in León Guanajuato which ensures that our users have the protection they need if they are ever found in a situation where legal help is required. 

• Deocomunicación: A Human Resources and head-hunting Agency which will help us look for companies that have positions available as well as helping us with all the norms that are set to protect all Mexican employees.

Firstly it will be through sustained donations and a contract with the Governor of the State of Guanajuato (if she agrees), as well as once the platform starts growing, charge a small fee (enough to be financially sustainable) to the companies which are trying to recruit people with disabilities.