Empowering Syrians through IT

Syria, in the Middle East.

The village of Maaloula lies to the north of capital Damascus.

It's still scarred by the civil war which began in 2011.

This part was destroyed in the war.

Here you can see that of what's only left.

All are destroyed.

This was a famous hotel and a resort in the past.

But now it's a famous destroyed place, in the present.

There is still no end in sight to the war in Syria.

6.8 million people have been forced to flee the country.

The cost of living has spiraled upwards over the last 11 years.

It's had a major effect on lives here.

In 2011, a Pepsi can was 25 Syrian pounds.

Now it's 2,000.

When the prices is going higher, your salary is the same.

So you have to get another salary.

Unemployment among the country's youth is at 26% - higher than the global average.

Few receive the income they need.

One Japanese IT firm has embarked on a mission to change this situation.

They're asking Syrian engineers to develop IT systems for Japanese firms, and providing them with stable incomes.

They can make a living
from a laptop.

Syria has many talented engineers.
Their success creates great value.

A Japanese company leveraging Syria's IT talent to support its recovery.

Syria lies on the Mediterranean coast.

Oil production makes up a significant share of the local economy, and until the war, tourism did too.

But the ongoing civil war has left 13.4 million in need of humanitarian aid within the country.

Today, there's little fighting within Damascus and life on the ground appears to have returned to normal.

But the sky-high cost of living has many working two or more jobs to make ends meet.

Engineer Ismael Adra, meanwhile, has been able to secure a steady income.

Say the economy is now in very bad situation.

Very very bad situation.

Maybe the worst situation ever.

But actually for me, I'm not that affected as that because I'm working with a Japanese company.

Ismael lives in Syria but has been working at Japanese IT firm Bon Zuttner for the past year.

The firm was established in 2019.

It currently employs nine Syrian engineers living in Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey.

They take on a range of software development tasks for Japanese companies.

The firm was founded by Sakashita Yuki.

He runs the business alongside his NPO work supporting refugees looking for employment.

Two other founding members are Maher al Ayoubi, who came to Japan eight years ago, and Iskandar Salama who arrived four years ago.

They lead the team of Syrian engineers.

Both are engineers themselves who studied IT at Syria's national university.

After war broke out, both men became refugees.

They received support from friends and the Japanese government to come to Japan, before meeting Sakashita three years ago.

They showed me that
Syria has talented IT engineers.

I thought we could build
a firm with those skills.

Point is: in Syria, there is very very small opportunity to work and make a living.

And there are so many skillful people that have good ability to provide good services, make really nice and high quality products.

So if we provide the work for these people who have the skills, I think it would be the best we could do for them.

It's one of the things in Japan - that there is a need for IT engineers.

So by providing the engineers, it's also a benefit for the Japanese society, market, at the same time for the Syrian people and for us.

So it's a win-win.

Bon Zuttner has worked with 20 companies, helping develop apps, games, and websites.

Their clientele includes one organization that promotes diversity among Japan's working population.

They needed tools for remote training during the pandemic.

Sakashita's firm produced a game through which people could gather online to take quizzes on diversity together.

The Syrian engineers built a system where users in up to ten locations could take part at once.

So this person is in his place, and sharing his screen to the team.

Synchronization between all the machines, for all the players.

This was the most difficult stuff for this project.

Japanese project managers ensure that the requests from local firms are fully understood by the Syrian engineers working from around the world.

A weekly meeting with engineers abroad helps keep tabs on the progress of each project.

The project I am waiting from the client for the social media accounts.

I got some feedback yesterday evening.

Can you finish fixing it by next Monday?

Not sure by next Monday if it can be done by then or not.

- Okay.
- But we'll try.

The key to quality is for everyone
to be working toward the same goal.

Good communication
helps to unite the team.

The business Sakashita created is bringing hope to Syrians at home and abroad.

I felt about his mission and his idea, he saw the situation.

He saw that Syrians have the ability to do many things in engineering and everything else.

So he believed in us and gave us a chance.

The civil war began when Ismael was in high school.

Despite the circumstances, he studied hard to achieve his childhood dream of becoming an engineer, studying IT at university.

After graduation he looked for opportunities to apply his expertise.

He heard of Bon Zuttner through an acquaintance and began work there.

Today, he has a stable income that supports his lifestyle.

He also has ambitions for the future.

I was also saying that I don't have any brothers or sisters.

My mother don't work and my father is a journalist.

Since my income was stable, I was able to support my family.

In the next years I'm planning to have my own thing.

Not now! Not in my vision.

I'm not seeing it yet, but that's what I'm hoping.

In maybe ten years from now or maybe five years.

I don't know when that opportunity comes.

Mohamad al Ayoubi moved to Turkey eight years ago.

He began working at Bon Zuttner in 2022.

People were like - got out of their countries like - they can't have or had an advantage to find a job because they are already like, changed their countries.

They should learn the new country's language, the new tradition.

You know?

And like, it's like a good advantage to make like Bon Zuttner to help, like, people to er, to make this job.

Sakashita believes that securing good jobs for Syrian engineers is best done by boosting awareness about Syria and its citizens.

Our work helps promote
the presence of the Syrian people.

Our goal is to uplift their lives.

If a client isn't on board with that,
no contract is worth it.

I want to work with clients
who are also partners.

Sakashita is always on the lookout for new opportunities for Syrian engineers.

But many firms have a limited understanding of Syria or its people.

Less than 10% of proposals lead to a contract.

Today, Sakashita is meeting the owner of a nail salon.

Let me walk you through
what it is we do.

Syria has many top engineers
who can't access the market.

We want to provide them
with a place to use their skills.

They are loyal and
conscientious workers.

They produce good results
and stay within timelines.

I feel like this is something of a
national trait many Syrians have.

Have you met any Syrians before?

No, I haven't.

I know only what you've told me.

Sakashita began doing support work seven years ago, looking to raise awareness about the situation in Syria and its people.

He was born and raised in Tokyo, and first became interested in issues of 'war' and 'peace' in elementary school after watching an anime about the nuclear bombs.

He went on to study at a language university in hopes of working with people around the world.

After graduation, a friend introduced him to an NGO supporting Asian exchange students.

He volunteered there while working at a recruiting firm until he saw a shocking story on the news.

In 2015, a family fleeing the increasingly violent civil war in Syria were swept overboard on their way to Turkey.

The body of their young son was found on the Turkish coast.

The idea of a toddler's body
being found on a beach.

It's all wrong. Even just
the fact they had to flee.

A tiny child was caught
up in that situation. It hurt.

The reality of the situation
really hit home.

Sakashita quit his job to work at an NPO for refugees.

Working with people from around the world brought to light just how many refugees had little opportunity to find employment, regardless of their skills or strengths.

'Refugee' carries so many
strong, negative connotations.

It overwhelms everything.

But what if a Syrian refugee
launched a successful business?

Maybe we could do something
to turn this narrative around.

That was my hope.

Like Sakashita, Iskandar also wants to find new opportunities for Syrians.

It's because of Bon Zuttner that I'd like to make that communication between Syria and Japan.

And enhance the education, enhance the economy in Syria.

We're going to continue this, what we started - Building that bridge between Syria and Japan.

Iskandar is the oldest of three.

His father was a geotechnical engineer, and his mother a civil engineer.

Having achieved excellent grades in high school, his mother urged him to become a doctor, but he convinced her of his interest in IT.

He studied artificial intelligence at Damascus University...

...winning programming contests both at home and abroad.

He dreamed of finding an IT job in Syria during his first year at college.

Then war broke out.

Sometimes we get some of our friends, or, other students get shot while going to university.

So usually when you cross the street, you have to check if there's a car here or a car passing...

...by that time we were already looking at a missile - if there is a missile or not then we run.

Many students, and like, friends passed away. I lost like 3 or 4 close friends.

Iskandar graduated university in 2015.

With no chance of finding work at home, he moved to Lebanon to work in IT for two years.

He found himself wanting to pursue further studies in his field of AI.

In 2018, he received a Japanese government scholarship for young Syrians and moved to Japan.

During his studies the following year, he learned that Sakashita was hiring Syrian engineers.

He proposed that he serve as a bridge between the Syrian talent and the firm's clients in Japan.

I found myself a fit for his ideals. And the company's purpose is to get projects and handle it, and, ask for engineers to work and also it has the social part.

So it's my big goal to help everyone.

To achieve his purpose of life, to like what he does, get money from what he does, be good at what he does, and also, help the society.

Today, Iskandar has gathered some of his Syrian friends in Tokyo.

The scholarship program Iskandar used has brought around 70 Syrians to Japan.

They've built a community, exchanging information about life and employment, and supporting one another where they can.

There are eight Syrians joining the party.

Sakashita is always eager to join these community events.

Friendly communication helps him learn more about Syrian culture and values.

We call this kebab.

In my country, kebab, you know, we call it shawarma.

Are we going to make meatballs?

No, it's not a ball, we're going to put it on sticks.

It's quite tricky.

You have to move your hands vertically, okay?

Sakashita learned through the Syrian community that there were also many non-engineers who needed work.

Syrian women with children, for example.

Manar Salha says that women need work they can do at home.

I think if they can work online...

...maybe some people, they cannot travel to find a job outside.

But if they have the opportunity to work online, maybe they'll have good opportunities for work.

And they can receive salary, help their family.

Sakashita launched a new program aimed at Syrian women.

It teaches participants annotation, a necessary part of building AI datasets.

It's work that can be done from home.

AI annotation is the process of labeling data in an image.

In the case of this image of strawberries, each strawberry on the screen must first be singled out.

Is the strawberry white or red?

What percentage of it is red?

The data must be as detailed as possible.

These datasets are fed to an AI to teach it how to recognize images of strawberries.

A Japanese IT firm Sakashita discovered through his NPO work assists with the program.

The firm trains Syrian women in annotation, and once they're ready, commissions work for them.

Right now our scope is limited
to engineers and specialists.

Both our firms wanted to offer opportunities to others.

I'm delighted to be able to work together.

Manar came to Japan two years ago and is part of the AI program.

Her first child, Gibran, was born in 2019.

After her husband Moneer came to Japan on the scholarship program, she joined him with their eight-month-old baby.

Manar explains that it's difficult for Syrian women to work outside the home while raising children.

Not all people can put their children in kindergarten.

In Syria, there is someone to take care of them.

Sometimes women cannot leave their homes and they have to stay at home until their children grow up and start going to school.

The annotation training Manar is undergoing requires no specific technical knowledge, work hours, or location.

Users can earn money from anywhere, and 24 women in Syria and elsewhere have signed up for the program so far.

It's easy for me to do the annotation.

Two hours a day or even on weekends - it's so flexible.

It depends on our available time, to do work on a day.

This is a great opportunity for women who cannot go for work or leave their home.

Sakashita's efforts over the summer to find new partners have borne fruit.

A major project is underway.

Today, he's meeting the CEO of a design firm that works with commercial spaces.

Bon Zuttner has been asked to build an app to help match users looking to build or renovate with contractors and specialists who meet their needs.

It's a huge project that will take two years from planning to app distribution.

Iskandar will lead the team.

So we were so excited to get this project because we will get a lot of extra experience while doing it.

In addition to because its a sustainable one; for two years.

So we're able to lead the team to do their best and to each one, do what he has to do.

This is the data, right?

CEO Nakayama is betting on Sakashita's vision, and his promise of exceptional Syrian talent.

They're specialists.
Truly talented engineers.

And I really admire that.

In order to deepen Nakayama's understanding of Syria, they take him to a Syrian restaurant.

Comforting, home-style dishes line the table.

It's Nakayama's first taste of Syrian food.

If you visit Syria, you can taste 100% real food!

Let's arrange some day to visit Syria.

Maybe for a project there with the engineers.

I'll do my best!

The app is planned for completion in April 2024.

Sakashita has a new future in his sights.

Our IT business will only grow
over the next few decades.

As our firm grows, I want it
to be run by Syrians.

It should be theirs.
A place for them to thrive.

The power of IT is helping create new opportunities for Syrians everywhere.