socialbee brings together refugees and migrants who want to build a career, companies looking for new talent, and the institutions and initiatives helping to make it happen.
As a Munich-based non-profit, every cent flows back into our mission: A world in which everyone can make it.
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We set high goals, and we mean it: system change, real participation, a labor market that values ability over origin. We work on it every day, improving our offering, our processes and ourselves. Past successes aren’t a place to rest. They’re the starting point for the next milestone. Our energy moves forward, never back.
Impact is non-negotiable. We measure ourselves by concrete outcomes, not activity, so we never start anything without a clear why. Our time, energy and money belong to our mission. Everything else distracts from what really counts.
High impact takes courage. The courage to say what others avoid. To leave paths that no longer work, no matter how much has gone into them. To try something new without a guarantee. If you see a problem, you solve it. Here, courage to change isn’t the exception, it’s the expectation.
We work in a culture where honesty is a form of respect. Without trust, there is no impact, so we invest in real relationships: within the team, with talents and with partners. We listen, keep our word and have each other’s backs. Feedback here is direct, and always given in the trust that it’s meant well. Psychological safety isn’t an HR buzzword for us. It’s what allows people to show what they can really do.
We reach our first 100 job placements, move into a bigger office in Munich and open a second location in Stuttgart.
At a dinner hosted by Susanne Porsche, Zarah tells Chancellor Angela Merkel about socialbee. It’s the first step toward political engagement.
In recognition of her entrepreneurial commitment to social impact, Zarah becomes an Ashoka Fellow. With its innovative model as an intermediary employer, socialbee builds the crucial bridge between companies and refugees. This opens lasting access to the labor market and society, and strengthens integration and community.
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The award, presented in cooperation with the German federal government, honors outstanding sustainability achievements in business, municipalities and research. Alongside the honorary award for US actor Richard Gere, socialbee wins the Next Economy Award (the start-up prize of the German Sustainability Award) in the People category.
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A spectacular start at Bits & Pretzels 2019: alongside Barack Obama as the main speaker, Zarah is one of three inspiring female founders on stage, delivering a keynote on real impact.
The Covid-19 pandemic hit our placement business hard, with revenue dropping by as much as 40% at times. But we used the crisis as an opportunity and strategically shifted our focus to preparatory qualification programs in industries with a future. This is where two groundbreaking formats were born: the SAP program “Changemakers” and “Care Champions” for the care sector.
The Audi Generation Award, in its newly created Start-Up category, recognizes our commitment to bringing refugees and socially disadvantaged people into the labor market and society.
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With “Strengthening Perspectives”, we kick off a long-term partnership with IKEA. The results of the runs so far across Germany show what working together can achieve: we’ve already opened new paths for many women. Most of them gained valuable internship experience at IKEA, and a good number have already made the leap into permanent employment!
In April 2022, Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger appoints Zarah as the new Commissioner for Social Innovation at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). She now has a dual role: in politics, she advocates for better conditions for the entire social entrepreneurship scene, and as a founder, she keeps driving impact at socialbee.
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Together with 360Learning, we digitalize all of our training content. With a completion rate of 93%, we now reach five times more participants than before.
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Our talents with refugee and migration backgrounds are regularly coached in online sessions by high-profile role models from politics, business and society, all on a volunteer basis. Our mentors include entrepreneur and TV host Judith Williams, Anahita Thoms (Country Managing Partner at Baker McKenzie Germany), Ali Mahlodji (founder of whatchado and EU Youth Ambassador) and Katrin Haberschaden (manager and former local politician).
With our first HR and business summit, socialbee creates a unique platform that sees migration as an opportunity for business and society. On site, 500 HR professionals meet leading voices from politics and integration, along with more than 80 talents. The event is backed by strong partners including Handelsblatt, GermanDream and Deutschlandstiftung Integration.
To build career paths into lasting employment that are even more holistic, socialbee is significantly expanding its network of strategic partners. By bringing education partners onto our platform, we’ll be able to refer talents to the right training programs based on their skills. At the same time, we’re working more closely with job centers, municipalities, volunteer groups and other NGOs. The goal of these partnerships is to noticeably increase our reach and connect more people with what we offer.
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Jasmin Seipp becomes Co-Managing Director and Jasmin Music becomes authorized signatory (Prokuristin). Melike Bilbey also joins as CPO / Product & UX.
We’re opening our nationwide talent pool, giving companies direct access to more than 7,000 pre-qualified talents, whether for an urgent vacancy or strategic workforce planning. This is pool-based recruiting with a social twist: while traditional headhunters only celebrate the signature, we focus on long-term success. Our talent pool is strictly pre-qualified and prepared for your job profile. We don’t stop once the contract is signed, either: we support onboarding and retention along the way. The result for companies? Productivity from day one, noticeably lower turnover and social impact.
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Explore the impact with our shared success stories with talent and partner companies. More stories→
DOUGLAS fast-tracked Aiseosa from newcomer to integral team member through an inclusive-hiring partnership.
For 4+ years, IKEA has built innovative, practical solutions for a more inclusive labor market with socialbee by their side.
See how Carina Rauscher, Head of HR at B4B Solutions, turn refugees into certified SAP consultants, strengthening teams and careers.
Uniper swapped conventional hiring for a human-centred approach that turned Priscilla and Neda into certified Scrum Masters.
After a three-month upskilling sprint, Juan became a certified SAP consultant, proving that targeted training unlocks refugee talent.
Through tailored training programs and successful certifications, BAUDER offers refugees a lifeline into the logistics job market.
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