Transparency, communication, and sustainability are a few of our guiding values.
We are pleased to provide the following FAQs for information about our history, organization, and governance.
What is Blue Road Academy?
Blue Road Academy (formerkly known as ‘RefugeeForce’) is an award-winning social enterprise on a mission to advance the careers of newcomers with technical training, professional development, and direct connections with top employers. Together with our recruitment partners, we aim to create a unique environment for newcomers to learn digital skills and technical leadership in order to bring new, world-class talent into the tech sector.
We are (still) on a mission to create a more diverse, inclusive, and
integrated community of technical professionals.
We envision a world where talent is globally recognized and
opportunities are equally accessible.
We were proudly founded in 2018 in Amsterdam and are actively working in the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Sweden and Denmark. To date, we have trained 235 newcomers through our unique, classroom-based, comprehensive training programs.
Our ambition is to reach 10.000 newcomers with a 50/50 program gender ratio and a 70% Employment rate by 2030. If we hit these targets, we can truly create a more diverse, inclusive, and integrated community of technical professionals and contribute to a world where talent is globally recognized and opportunities are equally accessible.
As an impact-first organization, we continue to balance our intended social impact and our growing enterprise through our mission, our stakeholders, and our business practices. This allows us to build a sustainable organization with a diversified funding model. We work directly towards SDGs 4, 8, and 10.
How does Blue Road Academy achieve its mission?
When newcomers acquire in-demand technical skills, receive personalized mentorship and coaching, and build a diverse professional network, they have the best chance of landing full-time employment. From the beginning, we did not want to become a ‘training program to nowhere’. This is why a strong focus on employment remains a critical, shared incentive for our participants, our organization, our partners, and, ultimately, for our society.
Our alumni go on to become IT Administrators, Consultants, Business Analysts, and Developers with leading employers and customers directly in the markets where we work. This establishes their participation in the labor market and ultimately improves their overall ultimate integration in their host country.
Our intensive, comprehensive training programs are unmatched. We provide months of classroom-based instruction through technical training sessions. Next to the technical content, we include sessions focused on soft skills, employability training, and advice from a panel of IT professionals working in the tech sector. Participants are also paired 1-on-1 with mentors for three months to help them plan their career path.
Moreover, we welcome each participant into our vibrant Alumni community for life to provide continuous learning, valuable connections, and professional opportunities.
We provide all this, plus travel and material costs, for each participant, free of charge.
What is a social enterprise?
Social Enterprises are organizations that seek to create social impact through a market-based approach. As such, our main objective is to have a social impact (impact-first) rather than make a profit. To achieve this, we provide services in the market in an entrepreneurial and innovative fashion so we can use revenue to create even more social impact. This creates the necessary tension to deliver better services while not losing our way. This is succinctly described by Social Enterprise NL as - "The difference between a non-profit, a social enterprise and regular businesses is from 'impact only' to 'impact first' to 'finance first.”
As an impact-first organization, we are subscribed to the ‘Code Sociale Ondernemingen’ which is the leading example and highest standard for social enterprises in The Netherlands. The Code sets out clear principles, objectives, and oversight that we must uphold as a social enterprise. We are also
a member of SocialEnterpise.NL.
Why Salesforce?
As many of our applicants say – “Salesforce is the future.” For us, it is also the past and the present. Over the last 12 years, we have directly witnessed the Salesforce ecosystem grow exponentially, create more value for companies, and open new career paths for so many people around the world.
What we love about Salesforce is that it is quickly replacing the old IT mentality, rather they focus more on working closely with business stakeholders, delivering business value, fostering rich connections with customers, and low-code & no code solutions. Salesforce is approachable, fun, and friendly, just ask any of their mascots or attend one of their many community events. Through free tools like Trailhead, Salesforce is investing heavily in finding, training, and creating new talent, no matter their background or resources. We also believe that anyone can learn Salesforce and aim to make our unique contribution to this wonderful ecosystem for years to come.
Why do we train newcomers in Salesforce?
We aim to build bridges between unemployed/underemployed newcomers and the demand for talent in the Salesforce ecosystem. Without the proper credentials and training, newcomers settle for temporary or low-skilled labor or have to recertify credentials in order to be competitive in the labor market. This is a common issue in many EU countries, thus many newcomers remain unemployed or on social welfare for many years.
Ultimately, we want to change the way newcomers are perceived in their host country and promote the incredible skills they bring with them. The fast-growing Salesforce ecosystem offers a unique opportunity to do just that. Salesforce and its ecosystem are expected to enable the creation of 9.6 million jobs globally in the next five years - the need for digital talent has never been greater.
How are we different from other initiatives?
- We work exclusively with newcomers with a forced migration background
- We train exclusively for low-code, no-code skills and IT careers
- We do all our training in person, in the classroom so we get to know each participant personally and create connections
- Our training and support is provided free of charge to all participants
- Our participants undergo a rigorous selection process and less than 20% of applicants are accepted into each program
- We build long term relationships with our participants and engage with the global Alumni Community to support them on their journey
- We form true, long-term partnerships with employers. We work hard to ensure a good fit for both our alumni and our partners. Matchmaking is one of the key benefits that we can provide to our participants and to our partners.
- We are ambitious and globally-minded - we are already working in multiple EU countries and aim to not only expand to new areas but also deepen our program offering. This year alone we will double the total alumni from the past 3 years.
What happened to ‘RefugeeForce’?
The RefugeeForce foundation and program continues in spirit and in manner, but no longer in name. The name will remain legally trademarked and secured in The Netherlands as a registered entity in order to protect the unique brand we started back in 2018.
Social enterprises in the Netherlands do not yet have a separate legal entity. Most are BVs. Others are a foundation, general partnership or cooperative and some are a BV and a foundation. While we have always been a social enterprise in practice, we have made the necessary legal transition under the
Dutch legal framework
(estimated 2024) to a social enterprise as defined in policies and practice.
Why did we launch a new brand?
“…because it is not our story to tell…”
What began as an evening volunteering project has blossomed into a global movement, paving the way for a new way of thinking and interacting with our community. We can be proud of what we have accomplished so far but we are just getting started. In this spirit, we have set ambitious goals over the coming years and believe that building a strong brand is an indispensable part of our journey.
Moreover, the narrative that exists around the concept of ‘refugee’ in the media is often negative, stereotyped or highly politicized. We believe binary terms like ‘refugee’ often carry significant legal, political, and social meaning that manifests negatively in the labor market.
Being a ‘refugee’ is a consequence and it is temporary - this does not adequately define the brilliant people we work with. This is why, like many organizations, we choose to remove the word ‘refugee’ from our brand and materials so our alumni can tell their own stories, on their own terms. It is not our role to broadly define or reinforce these stereotypes but to amplify who our participants want to be. We aim to be a partner in their future.
We feel compelled to drive a new narrative: instead of focusing on heartbreaking headlines or graphic images, we want to focus on the incredible stories of talent, endeavor, ambition, success and on what the future holds for the people we serve. This is what we and our new brand stands for.
What does the name ‘Blue Road Academy’ mean?
“Blue” represents both sky and sea and is associated with opportunity, freedom, intelligence, trust, and communication. While blue conjures a feeling of natural, infinite space, it also stands for human bravery, dedication, and endeavor. Blue is a dominant color in the tech industry, and for us, it’s a nod to our legacy relationship with Salesforce.
“Road” invokes the silk road where east meets west, discovery, and an endless exchange of ideas and culture. We are a new, digital exchange, with new ways of interacting, and ultimately only a segment on the journey that newcomers are on. Here and now, we celebrate new beginnings and provide a pathway for newcomers to thrive in their digital careers - whether they stay in their new home or if they are just passing through. New skills and knowledge become immutable assets.
“Academy”
defines our core purpose to provide rigorous, professional training, and coaching to our participants. We provide an equal learning field where all have the ability and tools to succeed. We come together to develop new ideas, spark conversations, build bridges, and ultimately push our own boundaries. We each make a commitment to self-realization, performance, continuous learning, and community over the long-term.
RefugeeForce founders and board members
How is Blue Road Academy funded?
As a growing social enterprise, we have had to diversify our revenue streams in order to come up with enough funding to cover our costs and build a sustainable organization.
In 2018 we were able to get a start thanks to three angel donors who saw the beauty in the idea and we were able to provide our first free training on a volunteer basis to five participants. This is how we got our start and there have been many ups and downs since then as we aim to keep the program completely free for participants.
During 2019 and 2020, we started to think bigger about how we could cover our costs and also create an incentive for participants to be hired. We created the Recruitment Partnership concept and enlisted various Partners, Customers, and ISVs, who support our mission on an annual membership basis and are always looking for new talent. This agreement gives them direct, equal access to hiring from our alumni pool. The Partnership concept was how we were able to create enough funding to increase our training capacity in Amsterdam and has been our primary funding source ever since, however it was never enough to grow the organization to its potential.
In 2021, we secured impact investments from friends and family, which provided an injection of cash to create a team, thereby increasing our training capacity and the ability to secure new recruitment partners. We went from one employee to five, secured a dedicated training and office space in central Amsterdam, and started working on much needed professional and operational improvements.
In 2022, we introduced new services such as training and single hire fees to meet the demands of the job market and expand our recruitment services.
In order to reach new cities like London or Eindhoven, we have also won grants from private foundations to scale-up our proven Training & Hiring model. We have also recently received a large donation from Salesforce to scale up our work in the EU as a response to the war in Ukraine.
We are now in a new phase - working even harder to scale our proven model and meet the demand for new talent. Today, our diversified funding model relies squarely on three areas: 1) Recruitment Partnerships, 2) Grants and donations, and 3) Impact Partnerships.
As we grow to become a leading global Academy, we are also looking to attract individual or institutional impact investors who are excited about joining us for long term impact and creating a sustainable organization.
