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Impact

Genashtim

Thomas had to serve a year’s garden leave after he resigned from ABB. During this time, he joined the board of trustees of a computer school for the blind. Seeing how productive blind people can be with the help of technology set Thomas in his current phase in life. He created Genashtim with the sole purpose of providing sustainable, meaningful, and dignified employment for the disadvantaged, starting with People with Disabilities (PWD). 

This started in Manila, where it is not unusual even for normal people to spend up to three hours commuting each way – to and from work. For PWDs, this is even more challenging and unsafe. Left with little choice, Genashtim developed a work-from-home model which is now known as remote work. This in turn limited the businesses that the company be involved in, like eLearning and other digital support services. Hence, Genashtim started to prepare for COVID-19 way back in 2008, which resulted in its exponential growth from 2020 onwards. 

The multiple international awards and recognition every year for being a company with deep social impact inspired Genashtim to further provide ESG services which by 2022 represented more than 50% of total revenues. 

The Genashtim team certified 279

B Lab and B Corp

Since being certified as a B Corp in 2015, Genashtim has since made it to the ranks of Best-for-the-World among B Corps every year since. In 2018, Genashtim was entrusted as a B Market Builder, representing B Lab in Singapore and Malaysia. In 2022, B Lab Singapore was spun-off, and Genashtim’s territory as B Market Builder expanded to the rest of Southeast Asia

In 2021, with the exponential growth in companies applying for B Corp certification, B Lab Global entered into a partnership for Genashtim to recruit, train and deploy Independent Verification Analysts from around the world to help with processing companies who apply for B Corp certification in multiple languages. This successful collaboration was featured in B Lab’s 2021 Annual Report. 

Others

In 2020, Thomas, who had been a member of YPO since 1999, and had spent almost 20 years in leadership, was tapped on the shoulder to start SEA Lestari, the first social impact chapter in YPO. Through the COVID-19 years, SEA Lestari was among the most active chapters in YPO, and in October started physical activities.

Thomas was recruited as one of the Founding Global Advisors for the Knowledge Impact Network, a movement of purpose-driven leaders and innovative social entrepreneurs. His first project was to help Education for Employment, a foundation which has connected 150,000 youth in Middle East and North Africa to the world of work. Watch video here.

In 2022, Thomas was invited to join the Stewards Circle of B for Good Leaders which is a global network of 30,000+ business leaders who will meet, inspire each other, and create action driven programs to solve the challenges humanity face.