Digital Divide Data (DDD) creates sustainable opportunities for underserved youth, their families, and their communities. DDD conducts aptitude testing and motivational interviews, provides a comprehensive technical training program prior to onboarding and throughout one’s career. As employees advance, DDD prepares them for increased responsibilities with project management, people management, and leadership training. Half of DDD’s staff are young women; about 10 percent are youth with disabilities.
Southeast Asia could compete with India and China stars in the global outsourcing economy, but lacks capacity and access to markets.
DDD's "Impact Sourcing" business trains and employs Southeast Asians in well-paid technology work.
IT infrastructure and business partnerships make employment accessible to underserved youth, leading to self-sufficiency and demonstrating that given the proper training and resources, motivated but marginalized youth have the capacity to learn the advanced IT skills that will help them fill the jobs gap in the global technology sector.
DDD is pursuing the growth of its social impact model to increase both the breadth and depth of impact for underserved youth; business development and services offered to clients; and promotion of the Impact Sourcing model as a best practice in business process outsourcing (BPO).
Chief People Officer & COO, Digital Divide Data
Co-Founder and CEO, Digital Divide Data
Jeremy Hockenstein is a former McKinsey & Company management consultant who earned an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA in Economics from Harvard. On a visit to Cambodia in 2000, Jeremy was struck by the glaring disparity between the country's poverty and the recent increase in emerging technology. While IT training was available, there seemed to be little or no opportunity for those students once they graduated. As Jeremy explored ways to apply his business management skills to a meaningful cause, he recognized that the region had the same surplus of inexpensive labor that made India and China outsourcing stars, but none of their access to the global market. Jeremy returned to Cambodia in February 2001 with four friends and a bold idea - Digital Divide Data (DDD). Three years later, realizing the potential to provide opportunities to youth outside of Cambodia, DDD opened its second office in Vientiane, Laos. On its tenth anniversary in 2011, DDD expanded its operations to Africa with the establishment of DDD Kenya. To date, Jeremy continues to lead DDD as its Chief Executive Officer.
Mai Siriphongphan is one of DDD’s founders. She pursued her higher education in Australia in defiance of Laotian social and cultural barriers. Mai studied the concept of social enterprises in business school. Upon her return in 2003, Mai joined DDD while it was still in its infancy and helped foster its success. In 2011, Mai left DDD to pursue another social enterprise.
More than 6,000 youth (50 percent women) have participated in DDD’s work-study program since its inception.DDD is the largest provider of socially responsible outsourcing, employing 1,000 people across Cambodia, Kenya, and Laos. DDD has increased the projected lifetime earnings of participating youth by an average of $175,000 per individual.In 2013, DDD participated in the drafting of Kenya’s ICT Bill and, in 2015, in the implementation of the Presidential Digital Talent Program, which identifies skilled ICT and engineering graduates and places them in internship programs. It has partnered with Cambodian government agencies to recruit more youth to its programs. DDD has been widely recognized for its innovative programs and commitment toward human capital development, including the 3S Award for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Sourcing, the IAOP award for Impact Sourcing, and the Google Award for Innovation in BPO.
