Portfolio overview

Sama

Sama, formerly known as Samasource, is a market leader in computer vision technologies, from self-driving cars to smart hardware. Their clients span top-tier tech players like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Volkswagen.

Helping disadvantaged people learn decidedly new-age skills

Sama’s mission is to expand opportunities for low-income individuals through the digital economy. Sama delivers high-quality training data and validation for technology teams worldwide. Sama trains disadvantaged young people who are un- or underemployed (age 15-25) from low- income areas in Kenya and Uganda, in basic computer skills and gives them full time jobs paying a local living wage for their labor. Additionally, Sama provides health education, professional skills development, and scholarship programs to aspiring entrepreneurs.

For Sama we track the following impact target:

➡️: New impact agents employed; the cumulative number of jobs created (full-time equivalent) in low-income areas, among disadvantaged groups.

SDG Alignment

RTC (‘gold standard’)

This amazing female founded & led techventure is a leading player in the rapidly growing AI field and has been creating significant impact for years and now validates its impact with an RTC (‘gold standard’). Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) finalized the 3-year randomized controlled trial (RCT) study. The report shows that Sama has lifted more than 55,000 people out of poverty, and many more interesting results, f.e. young women in the Sama workforce have grown most in terms of income.

Sama’s transparency, impact drive and evaluation methodology are a great example of ethical leadership. And the company is growing rapidly on all fronts. Sama proves that impact-driven scalable business models are a flywheel, and true champions of change!

Read the interview with Sama’s CEO Wendy Gonzalez in Forbes