A former top executive in Research Triangle Park has a new mission – and a new startup.
“Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not, and we wanted to change that,” said Sophia Wajnert, the Triangle-based former site lead for Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS). Wajnert and her co-founders, Nate Dalton and Charlie Liu, have launched Sora Union to capitalize on the remote working trend, fill the tech talent gap and assist workers in war-torn countries – all at the same time.
It’s a bold mission – one Wajnert says she’s fully embracing. It’s a startup that’s offering services such as project management and localization. But it’s not hiring in the United States. Instead, the company is targeting places such as the deserts of Africa and battle-torn Ukraine.
Read: How Triangle firms with Ukrainian ties are faring
After 25 years in the corporate world, “it’s definitely been a transition,” Wajnert said of starting a company. But that was part of the point.
“I just felt like I needed to do something different,” she said.
The new startup checks all the boxes. In addition to being an entrepreneurial adventure, it’s mission-driven – “and there’s something really empowering and fulfilling about that.”
Wajnert said it came down to being in the right place at the right time. She wasn’t initially seeking out a startup opportunity. She had been brainstorming with the people who would become her co-founders, “just how to build a culture for distributed organizations.”
The back and forth conversations became an opportunity when she left Credit Suisse – and a startup. Sora Union is a professional services company – but the talent it’s distributing isn’t based in the Triangle.
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The Covid-19 pandemic proved remote working can work. Add in the talent shortage, and it’s clear companies can – and will likely need to – seek out talent from everywhere. Why not target refugees – particularly as researchers say climate migration will accelerate.
“We’re bringing the super powers of distributed work to people who have been displaced because of conflict or because of climate change,” Wajnert said.
She pointed to reports that show climate change displacing people around the globe. The situation has created uncertainty for workers. What if there was a way for people displaced by crisis to keep their jobs – and in return fill tech worker gaps?
“Refugees happen to be under-employed,” she said. “We’re focusing on locations where there’s more likelihood of this displacement.” That means seeking out talent in places such as Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Ukraine. Already the idea has been put into practice, as Sora Union has brought on multiple workers from Ukraine to provide services ranging from design to quality assurance.
“So far, we provide these services to companies of varying sizes, as well as varying industries,” she said.
As of this month, the firm has hired 35 people from 17 different countries. And the diversity it’s creating within its workforce is a potential marketplace advantage.
“We’ve got access to more talent in a time where talent is a real challenge,” she said. “There’s a lot of outsourcing that’s available … our work can move around the globe.”
Sora Union also has the advantage of having a workforce that has proven to be resilient.
“A teammate just mentioned some people would assume that the war [in Ukraine] has been a distraction, but they would actually tell you that the work has created the distraction, and out of that has come some really amazing work from the team.”
