BUILDING A GLOBAL PLATFORM

Transcription

1 BUILDING A GLOBAL PLATFORM 2014 ANNUAL REPORT July 2013 June 2014

2 Jeremy Hockenstein ceo & co-founder Irving Levin board chairman Dear Friends, Clients and Supporters, DDD s journey began thirteen year ago with a small office on a rutted dirt road in Cambodia and a big vision. By combining business process outsourcing (BPO) work and education, we set a goal to create better futures for talented youth from very poor families, within the context of a sustainable business. Today, we celebrate the truly extraordinary success of DDD, our clients and supporters in growing a global platform. Delivering BPO services while providing work and opportunity for some of the world s poorest citizens, a concept that DDD pioneered, has become widely known as Impact Sourcing, and has been adopted by dozens of organizations around the world. This past year has marked a pivotal time for our enterprise in a number of ways. Our business has continued to grow around the world, but most rapidly in Kenya, where our revenue nearly doubled in DDD Kenya also celebrated a milestone as a world-class enterprise as it achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification. This is a major accomplishment, as DDD became the first dedicated Impact Sourcing Service Provider in the world to secure ISO accreditation. For our clients, this is assurance of the tight systems and processes we use to manage their data. Over the past year, we also introduced a number of new services. In addition to digitization, content conversion, online research and data services, we are proud to now offer image editing as well as social and market research. Finally, the most significant development of 2014 is the launch of Liberty Source. Based in the state of Virginia, in the United States, Liberty Source delivers services such as finance and accounting, human resources, and specialized industry processes as well social impact by creating professional opportunities for American military spouses. Liberty Source is a departure from DDD s operations in Asia and Africa. We decided to pursue this opportunity to extend our impact to an under-served community in the USA. We see this as a complement to our current operations. The expertise, training, client relationships and added skills emanating from the Liberty Source team will be of great value to our African and Asian operations and DDD s overall enterprise. In addition, in FY2014, DDD: Achieved earned revenue of nearly $6 million Forecast that program graduates will earn $175,000 more over their lifetimes compared to high school graduates, based on 7 years of earnings data. This translates to impact of more than $300 million for our current employees and graduates Received Google Innovation Awards for Business Process Outsourcing and Education and Training, among other recognitions As we look ahead, DDD s goal remains to grow our business with social impact and a financial return. Today, most of our impact is financed by earned revenue, but we aim to reach profitability across the organization. To do so, we are focused on delivering higher value services, meeting client needs for quality work at a competitive price, and managing our operations to accomplish this effectively and efficiently. Whether you are a client, a supporter, a dedicated staff member or just interested in our model, we thank you for helping to make possible the work we do at DDD. Sincerely, Jeremy Hockenstein CEO and Co-Founder Irving Levin Board Chair 2

3 BUILDING A GLOBAL PLATFORM All of us at DDD are excited about the opportunity ahead to continue to build our global platform to create better futures for more young people through employment and education. We now know that each person we re able to employ launches a process of transformation with deep and long-term impact. As a social enterprise, in order to grow this impact we need to grow our business. In addition to increasing revenue, we are working hard to achieve profitability across our business by improving operations and delivering services to clients with greater value. This ensures DDD s long-term viability. In the coming year, DDD will continue to make operational improvements across our organization and build our team. We are strengthening the training we offer to our staff and aim to add new certifications. We will also explore additional geographic expansion, based on client demand. Finally, we are committed to strengthening existing partnerships with clients and supporters and to developing new ones in the coming year. We re deeply grateful to our partners and look forward to serving new customers and working with more partners in the year ahead. XXX 3

4 CREATING BETTER FUTURES THROUGH BUSINESS DDD launched as an NGO in Cambodia with 10 people digitizing Harvard University s student newspaper. Today, DDD is a global enterprise that employs more than 1,300 individuals from low-income families across Cambodia, Laos, Kenya, and the United States. Touring Angkor Wat in 2001, Jeremy Hockenstein, then a consultant at McKinsey & Company, was struck by the mixture of poverty and progress in Cambodia. While young people learned English and computer skills, few were able to find gainful jobs. Jeremy saw that young people had limited opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty and contribute to the economic growth of a nation emerging from a period of war and genocide. But he also saw an opportunity to make a difference. Together with a group of friends, including Jaeson Rosenfeld, Kathryn Lucatelli, Scott Keller, Vernon Naidoo, and Shawn Fremeth, Jeremy founded Digital Divide Data (DDD) to empower young people to conquer poverty through digital jobs. DDD re-imagined the booming business process outsourcing (BPO) model to tap Cambodia s pool of talent and open up opportunities for Cambodian youth through what today is known as Impact Sourcing. What began as a small operation in Phnom Penh digitizing Harvard University s student paper, The Crimson, is now a well-recognized pioneer and leader in the Impact Sourcing field. Today, DDD employs more than 1,300 staff in Asia, Africa, and North America, and delivers digital content services to hundreds of global clients in a variety of business sectors. DDD is the largest technology-related employer in Cambodia and Laos. The company has been consistently on The Global Journal s list of Top 100 NGOs worldwide, and is a recipient of the Google Award for Innovation in Business Process Outsourcing, among numerous other awards. DDD continues to serve as a model that inspires a global trend: transforming youth from farm workers to knowledge workers; from street peddlers to professionals in the global economy. Young people begin to realize their dreams as they attend university and work with clients around the world. Beyond this direct, impactful work, DDD s success has inspired a global movement, with dozens of firms adopting the Impact Sourcing model. DDD FY14 Key Statistics $8.0 m total revenue $5.5 m total earned staff 796 all-time graduates $368 average monthly salary of graduates $175,000 average estimated increase in lifetime earnings 4

5 A STEPPING STONE TO PROFESSIONAL CAREERS DDD program graduates in Cambodia and Laos work in a variety of different occupations, strengthening the local talent base. We expect our first graduates in Kenya in manufacturing; 7% it and communication technology; 16% media and marketing; 5% services; 12% other; 8% EMPLOYMENT SECTORS human services; 12% banking and finance; 26% nonprofit sector; 14% Keomany Viphansum is a DDD Alumni who now works as an accountant at Souvanhny Construction Group in Vientiane, Laos 5

6 DDD SERVICE LINES DDD is an ISO 9001:2008 certified services provider that delivers digital content, data, and research solutions to clients worldwide. DDD s high-quality, competitively-priced solutions enable clients to grow new revenue streams, save money, reap the value of strategic data, and sell their own products and services more effectively. Digitization and Conversion Services Data Services Research Services services Content Conversion ebook Conversion Newspaper & Archive Digitization Editorial Data Entry and Verification Database Content Support & Hygiene Records management Internet Research Market Research Social Research Brand Protection Services sample clients Reader s Digest Harvard University British Library Ancestry.com Intuit National Kidney Foundation Fossil Nor 1 FSD Kenya Image Editing new service Image Editing is the newest service of DDD. In a technology-driven world where visual is king, businesses leverage the power of photographs to reach their target customers. Through image enhancements like cropping, retouching, background removal, color adjustment, and de-skewing, DDD helps companies get their message across to their intended audiences. We provide image editing service to businesses and corporations, including leading business-to-business media companies. Our team in Cambodia edits product images, ranging from electronics to baby products. By correcting colors and removing unnecessary backgrounds, DDD ensures that each of the photos is a true representation of the client s product. Especially for clients using product imagery to sell online and in catalogs, this service helps them attract more buyers and grow their revenue. 6

7 DELIVERING FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SERVICES ONSHORE FOR AOL As a web services company that sources, creates, produces and delivers high-quality content, AOL is committed to continuously innovate, grow and invest in brands and experiences that inform, entertain and connect the world. Like many global companies, AOL outsourced its finance and accounting processes offshore until now. Earlier this year, AOL signed a multi-year onshore business process outsourcing relationship with Liberty Source, DDD s newest addition in its network of delivery centers. Located in historic Fort Monroe, Virginia, Liberty Source provides finance and accounting services such as Order to Cash, Procure to Pay, Credit and Collections, Expense Management and Record to Report processes to AOL. Liberty Source extends DDD s social impact to the U.S. by creating employment and opportunity for military spouses. Cynthia Gallagher, then-deputy Controller for AOL said, While our decision to enter into any business relationship is predicated upon good business sense, the fact that our partnership with Liberty Source allows us to engage with, and give back, to the military community that has served so selflessly is a benefit that can t be ignored. TRANSCRIBING RECORDS IN ENGLISH AND GERMAN FOR ANCESTRY.COM Ancestry has been a leader in the family history market for more than 30 years they pioneered online genealogy research. Today, Ancestry is the world s largest family history resource, providing more than sixty million family trees and billions of searchable records to its members. Ancestry has something for everyone from professional genealogists to those taking their first steps towards satisfying curiosity about their family stories. DDD supports Ancestry by digitizing handwritten records from a variety of historic sources. Ancestry teams up with DDD for this complex work because of DDD s engaged management team, highly adaptable workforce and strong culture of delivery and quality. DDD regularly brings in language expertise and unique training programs for its workers that facilitate high-quality transcriptions of handwritten records. Given DDD s emphasis on education, it s no surprise that DDD workers are quick learners and now transcribe records from the 18th to 20th centuries not only in English but also in German. Todd Godfrey, responsible for Ancestry s transcription work, says DDD s workers have persisted with their training and successfully complete difficult projects we now assign them many high and very high complexity projects. 7

8 DDD SIMPLIFIES INTUIT S BUSINESS, SO IT CAN SIMPLIFY THE BUSINESS OF LIFE What started in 1983 with the creation of personal finance software designed to balance the family checkbook has grown into a $4 billion global business serving some 45 million customers. Today, Intuit s brands, including TurboTax, Quick- Books, Mint and Quicken, help people solve a variety of important problems from running a household or a small business to paying income taxes. In a world where emerging technology and market trends constantly change the way people live and work, Intuit continues to develop innovative, customer-driven products to make life easier. Given this complex task, Intuit sought a partner who could deliver work at an accuracy level of 99.95%, and DDD could do exactly that. DDD s team works with Intuit s retail order management system with the goal to complete sales orders that were never closed. After receiving the data in spreadsheet format, DDD s team logs into Intuit s database to check off and complete open orders using a laid-out standard procedure. Trust is essential to the DDD-Intuit relationship. We deal with a lot of numbers and data points and we trust DDD to deliver at almost perfect accuracy levels, said Scott Beth, vice president of finance operations at Intuit. At DDD, we are proud of this partnership and hope to continue supporting Intuit in the important work they do. 8

9 DEEPENING RELATIONSHIPS WITH LEADING LOCAL BUSINESSES IN CAMBODIA DDD s office in Phnom Penh started with just a small team of operators delivering work to international clients. We are proud that today, DDD Cambodia is one of the largest technology companies in Cambodia. Our team provides digitization, data conversion and process automation services to international clients with global standards for quality and timeliness. For many years, most of our work in Cambodia served the needs of international clients. This year, we are proud that DDD has deepened its relationships with the country s two largest telecommunications and mobile network providers, in addition to working with other local clients in Cambodia and Laos. Cellcard/Mobitel has been a leader in Cambodia s telecommunications industry since the 1990s, offering clients a package that includes mobile, broadband wireless, Internet and portal services. DDD began its partnership with Cellcard/Mobitel in 2002 and helped establish the company s systematic approach to capture crucial subscriber data that has been able to grow with the company. As a satisfied customer, Cellcard/Mobitel s relationship with DDD has grown to become a significant part of DDD Cambodia s portfolio. Smart Axiata Co., Ltd., Cambodia has rapidly grown to become a leader in mobile telecommunications serving more than 5.5 million subscribers. They first contracted with DDD Cambodia five years ago and have been scaling up their work with DDD ever since. The Cambodia team is in charge of digitizing Smart s subscriber information including scanning images and entering data. With 4,600 new subscribers a day and high accuracy requirements, that s no small task! For a BPO enterprise working in lower cost labor markets, serving domestic clients is a real coup. It means that we have demonstrated a value proposition far deeper than just a cost advantage. DDD s relationships with Smart and Mobitel has entailed working flexibly with each company to build systems and processes that meet their needs and continually adapting to a changing marketplace. Serving clients based in the countries in which we operate is one more way that DDD strengthens the local economy, even as we build a global delivery platform. 9

10 A DECADE OF IMPACT FOR DDD LAOS DDD Laos is 10 years old! Our Vientiane-based venture celebrated a decade of business and social impact with local staff and international management, including Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Hockenstein, Chief Business Development Officer Michael Chertok, Global Head of Technology and Operations Cynthia Hauck, Chief Financial Officer Wolfgang Müller, and DDD Kenya Managing Director Amolo Ng weno. Our Laos office has achieved a decade of successful operations thanks to significant partnerships. A new client partnership this past year that showcases our impact on multiple levels is our contract with the National Library of Australia (NLA) to digitize historic Australian newspapers. Australian newspapers capture the country s rich history. However, in an increasingly digital world, a younger generation doesn t access libraries in the traditional way. An archive of digitized historic newspapers will give every Australian an easily accessible way to learn about immigration, war, economic prosperity, and other events that shaped their country. In March 2014, DDD Laos started converting 19th- and 20th-century newspapers into digital formats. This will enable online research and significantly improve access to Australian newspaper content. DDD s team developed tools and added new project management capabilities to comply with NLA s requirements, which will result in over 11 million newspaper pages made available online through the free search engine, Trove. In an instant, anyone who wants to know how Australia fared during the Great Depression or World War II, or would like to trace their family history, will get the information from anywhere with the click of a button. Remarkably, this increased access to information for Australians is being made possible by a group of Lao youth thousands of miles away. 10

11 DDD KENYA RECEIVES ISO CERTIFICATION DDD celebrated a milestone as a worldclass enterprise as our Kenya operations achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification. The certification serves as a marker to clients that we monitor quality and follow processes to meet global standards. The experience of working toward certification strengthened the knowledge and skills of our team. Between April and July 2014, management and staff trained on ISO standards and established a Quality Management System, including documentation, implementation, maintenance, and ongoing improvement. We achieved the ISO 9001:2008 Certification in August, making DDD the first dedicated Impact Sourcing Service Providers in the world to secure the ISO seal. While the certification process has enabled us to be more efficient and effective in our service delivery, it also validates that an outsourcing company that benefits disadvantaged youth can meet world-class standards. 11

12 INTRODUCING LIBERTY SOURCE In 2014, we transformed DDD s global footprint by opening our first U.S.-based delivery center Liberty Source. As a Public Benefit Corporation with shares fully owned by DDD, Liberty Source brings DDD s impact to the U.S. Offering services ranging from Finance and Accounting and Human Resources to Digital and Industry-Specific Processes, the new enterprise significantly expands the range of ways we support clients. In its recruitment process, Liberty Source targets the community of 750,000 spouses of men and women serving in the military. As military spouses, they have limited flexibility to pursue their own careers and are therefore 30% more likely to be unemployed, even though they are well-educated compared to the equivalent civilian demographic. Liberty Source is located near military communities in historic Fort Monroe, Virginia, which allows us to help unemployed and under-employed spouses step onto the first rung of the career ladder. With Liberty Source, DDD has once again, broken new ground. Liberty Source provides client an onshore alternative to traditional offshore outsourcing. The business offers a range of benefits to customers, including rapid standardization, competitive cost and the ability to tap into large pools of talent. As we go to press, Liberty Source has employed 100 staff. Liberty Source sees a promising future, based on a joint announcement that AOL will serve as the enterprise s first client. AOL is an ideal founding client for Liberty Source, said Deborah Kops, Chair and Founder of Liberty Source and a DDD board member. AOL shares our vision about the importance of both the quality of delivery and the quality of the customer experience when outsourcing business processes. What s more, they share our passion to tap into the abundantly skilled community of military spouses that make our onshore model a competitive alternative to offshore outsourcing. Where service matters. 12

13 STRENGTHENING OUR BRAND As DDD has grown as an enterprise, we have realized the importance of being known for the value we deliver to clients, not just the impact we have on our staff. In FY14, DDD refreshed our brand, shifting our marketing focus from social impact to the range of services we provide to clients. We relaunched our website with a cleaner, visually appealing and service-oriented design to attract clients. We also updated our logo from the three lowercase d s to three capital D s and increasingly conduct business using the acronym DDD. These changes represent our growth and our increased focus on high-quality services for clients. Finally, we adopted the elephant, a meaningful cultural symbol for our teams in Cambodia, Laos and Kenya as a graphic representation of our brand. The visual image of the elephant will strengthen our brand awareness and symbolize DDD s growing size, dependability, knowledge, and longevity. 13

14 FINANCIAL NARRATIVE (for year ending June 30, 2014) DDD continued on its growth path, increasing earned revenue by 17% this fiscal year. Revenue development was uneven across regions as Africa nearly doubled its revenue from $1.3M to $2.4M, or 84%, while Asia experienced a decrease by 8% from $3.4M to $3.1M. The encouraging growth in Africa is a result of an enlarged service portfolio and strong sales and operations teams to sell and deliver these services. It also reflects the growing demand from business process outsourcing services delivered from Africa. This demand is generated from both international and African customers. We believe that DDD Africa is in an excellent position to benefit from this development in the coming years. In Asia, we attribute the decrease in client revenue to the fact that our Asian offices have a more narrow revenue base from data conversion and digitization services and are thus more vulnerable to price pressure and competition. We expect to continue experiencing price pressure in the coming years. However, we see first signs that our efforts in Asia to expand into new service areas with more complexity and higher value added are bearing fruit. This year, DDD covered 85% of our business expenses through earned revenue, up from 82% in FY13. On the earnings side, net income (loss) from business activities does not show any material change from the previous fiscal year, despite our increase in earned revenue. This is mainly a result of significant investments to further professionalize our business operations. Examples include vice presidents of operations in all three offices and additional resources in Marketing and Sales to strengthen lead generation and brand recognition. We also upgraded our finance systems and staff to streamline processes and prepare our infrastructure for future growth. Finally, we initiated two major recurring revenue projects, the ramp-up of which took us longer than expected. To improve profitability from business revenue in the coming fiscal years we will increase revenue from recurring contracts, move into higher-value services with greater velocity and continue to increase overall productivity with further investments in the training of our project managers and operators. 14

15 FINANCIALS (for year ending June 30, 2014) all numbers in 1,000 us$ statement of activities fy2014 fy2013 yoy Business revenue 5,539 4,722 17% Business expenses 6,555 5,734 14% Net income (loss) from business activities (1,016) (1,012) 0% Fundraising revenue 2,370 1,532 55% Non-profit expenses 1,382 1,071 29% Net income (loss) from non-profit activities % Gain on divestment, net % Net income (loss) for the year 17 (77) n.a. Additional information to the statement of activities FY2014 FY2013 YoY Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (503) (764) -34% (EBITDA) Fundraising revenue consists of: Unrestricted contributions 1,371 1,532-11% Release from temporarily restricted contributions n.a. Total fundraising revenue 2,370 1,532 55% Non-profit expenses consist of: Program expenses % Expansion / planning expenses % Organizational expenses % Fundraising expenses % Total non-profit expenses 1,382 1,071 29% 15

16 FINANCIALS CONTINUED all numbers in 1,000 us$ statement of financial position fy2013 fy2012 Property, plant and equipment Software 1, Other non-current assets Total non-current assets 2,595 1,890 Cash and cash equivalents Trade accounts receivable 1, Other current assets Total current assets 2,705 1,597 Total assets 5,300 3,487 Unrestricted net assets 2,546 1,791 Temporarily restricted net assets 1,165 - Total net assets 3,711 1,791 Long-term debts Other long-term liabilities Total non-current liabilities Short-term debts Unearned revenue Trade accounts payable Other current liabilities Total current liabilities 1,113 1,263 Total net assets and liabilities 5,300 3,487 16

17 BOARD OF DIRECTORS DDD s diverse and experienced Board of Directors brings passion and expertise in business, finance, and philanthropy, which fuels our growth as a global company and strengthens our social impact in the countries in which we work. They provide strategic direction, sales and fundraising support, and financial guidance to ensure that DDD reaches its goals and fulfills its mission. The Board meets in-person twice a year, once in the U.S. and once in a country office. We thank them for their leadership and commitment. Irving Levin board chairman Dianne Doherty board secretary Walter Fust Deborah Kops Sari Miller Anish Nanavaty Howard Neff Koji Osawa Jaeson Rosenfeld Dina Bitton board member emeritus Management Team Jeremy Hockenstein chief executive officer Michael Chertok chief business development officer Cynthia Hauck global head, operations and technology Amolo Ng weno managing director, kenya Lori Silverstein chief sales officer Wolfgang Müller chief financial officer 17

18 WE THANK OUR DONORS FOR THEIR GENEROUS SUPPORT TO DDD THIS YEAR. DDD HAS RECEIVED DONATIONS FROM BOTH COMMITTED AND NEW INSTITUTIONAL AND CORPORATE DONORS, FAMILY FOUNDATIONS, AND INDIVIDUALS. They have provided general operating support, investments to grow our business and scale to other geographies, and critical funding for scholarships that deepened our impact in the lives of disadvantaged youth across the world. Major Institutional Supporters Foundation Donors Bohemian Foundation The HAND Foundation Kaminer Family Foundation mediathe foundation Renaissance Foundation Segal Family Foundation Child Relief International 18

19 STORIES OF IMPACT DDD now has more than 1,300 employees and over 800 graduates. Their individual stories of the impact DDD has had on their lives are vastly different and uniquely inspiring. Here we share just two examples of the difference that DDD has made in the lives of our staff: Kingkoulap Thepbouly, a graduate of our program in Laos and Carolyne Wanyoike, who started as a data management operator working for DDD Kenya. We spoke with them about their challenges, successes, aspirations and what DDD means to them. 19

20 KINGKOULAP THEPBOULY SOCIAL WORKER, TEACHER, & ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT IN ONE Kingkoulap Thepbouly may be known as King to loved ones, but she grew up in a poor family that relied on subsistence farming and peddling in Hongsuphab Village in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Her parents divorced when she was 19 and as the eldest of three daughters and with an ailing mother, she had to take responsibility for her family. King held on to the Lao proverb If there s a will, there s a way. She had the will, DDD provided the way. She heard about DDD from a friend and immediately applied when she learned about the opportunities DDD provides. I was surprised that a company would offer a great chance for Lao people who come from poor families and remote areas, or those with disabilities. So I promised myself that I would be a good employee and student. King made good on her promise to herself. Within a year of working as an operator, she earned a scholarship to study at the National University of Laos, where she majored in English Pedagogy. Shortly after, she was promoted to team leader at DDD, which boosted her confidence and enhanced her communication skills. She moved up further and became a DDD human resource intern. Today, King serves as a social worker at AFESIP, a French NGO that aims to end trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls. She appreciates the rewards of working at an international NGO. I am able to help these women live a better life through vocational training, education support, and employment opportunity, she said. King is also able to support her family s living expenses and her mother s medications. When she is not working, King spends her time sharing the skills she learned as a DDD operator. She teaches English and computer skills at a private school at night, and helps her cousin with accounting tasks for his export business on weekends. Despite her busy life, King is thinking of ways to help others deal with their own challenges. Her dream is to build a school for disadvantaged kids. She said: Many people in Laos want education but only a few get it. Some cannot go to university; others cannot even finish high school. I want to build a small educational center that teaches English and computer skills so I can help people move out of poverty. King believes she will eventually find a way to fulfill this dream and we at DDD support her in her journey. 20

21 CAROLYNE WANYOIKE SINGLE MOM AT DAY, PROFESSIONAL AT NIGHT, CHANGEMAKER IN THE FUTURE It s 9 PM and 26-year-old Carolyne Wanyoike is headed to work. After tucking in her four-year-old son, Erastas, she leaves for the DDD Kenya office where she works as Production Coordinator. Her tasks include allocating jobs to operators, ensuring quality, and producing quality assurance reports. Carolyne works until 6 AM and when she arrives at home, Erastas I realized that when is getting ready for school. After you are criticized, he leaves at 8 AM, you should never give she can finally sleep. up, but take it as an She wakes up later in the afternoon, opportunity to grow. picks up her son at carolyne wanyoike school, and attends her college classes until 8 PM. This is her daily routine, and it s a tough one. An orphan since age five and a single mom at 22, Carolyne knows exactly what sacrifice means. But today, she is grateful for her busy schedule, because of the doors it has opened for her. Carolyne started at DDD as an operator. Although Carolyne s supervisors supported her as she learned, she struggled during her training, because she did not know how to use a computer. After the training period, her supervisors pointed out that her work was still of low quality. This review was a wake-up call. Carolyne decided to take in the criticism and increase her effort and communication with her supervisors to improve. I realized that when you are criticized, you should never give up, but take it as an opportunity to grow, she said. Seven months later, she saw the result of her perseverance: She was promoted to become a Quality Analyst. She also received a scholarship to pursue her dream career: social work. Today, Carolyne is financially independent. She is able to pay rent and support Erastas needs. On weekends, she spends quality time with her son. She is in her final year of studying Community Development and Social Work at Nairobi Aviation College, hoping to someday establish and manage her own orphanage for at-risk children. Despite her full days, she finds time to volunteer in community activities such as administering medicine to HIV-infected kids. My life is busy, so being idle is not an option. Life is about sacrifice for one to achieve his or her dream, she said. 21

22 Please join DDD in creating a world of digital possibilities share what we do with your friends and colleagues. facebook.com/digitaldividedata twitter.com/digdivdata plus.google.com/ linkedin.com/company/digital-divide-data 22

23 Vientiane laos Fort Monroe hampton, va Nairobi kenya Nairobi kenya Phnom Penh cambodia North America Africa Asia New York, United States Digital Divide Data 115 West 30th Street Suite 400 New York, NY p f San Francisco, United States Digital Divide Data 972 Mission Street Suite 500 San Francisco, CA p f Nairobi, Kenya Digital Divide Data Kenya Ltd Paramount Plaza 7th Floor Off Globe Cinema Roundabout, Nairobi mailing address PO Box Nairobi, Kenya p Vientiane, Laos Digital Divide Data Unit56, Ban Tanmixay Xaythany District Vientiane, Lao PDR p f Phnom Penh, Cambodia Digital Divide Data No. 559, Street 271 Tuol Tom Pong II Khan Chamkar Mon Phnom Penh, Cambodia p Virginia, United States Liberty Source PBC 355 Fenwick Road Fort Monroe Hampton, VA p