“I want to take this opportunity to thank Genashtim for supporting not only APAVM but also for all the good work you are doing for idsMED.
It’s been a wonderful partnership for many years and I look forward to more going forward.”
Testimonials
It’s been just over a year since B Lab Global launched a partnership with Genashtim and today marks a very special first year anniversary! With this partnership, we’ve been able to grow our capacity and verify qualifying companies as B Corp. Last year, Genashtim’s team of independent verification analysts started verifying micro-enterprises: some of the smallest but most enthusiastic applicants which were eager to join the movement. This dedicated team exceeded our expectations and quickly advanced to reviewing more complex companies with higher revenue streams. Below are Genashtim’s accomplishments over the past year:
- 962 micro-enterprise companies certified
- 360 small enterprise companies certified
- 303 companies re-certified
- 172 pending Bs successfully completed
- Additional 41 independent verification analysts from 10 countries have joined the team
- Several analysts have been trained in additional services namely in background checks and evaluation
Since August, Genashtim analysts have started taking on the next tier of challenges – the “small-medium enterprises.” We’re planning for Genashtim to start verifying medium-sized companies in 2023 as well. We expect that the next year with Genashtim to be just as fruitful as the first. Independent verification analysts will play an increasingly central role in growing B Lab Global’s capacity in 2023 and beyond. Genashtim analysts have already been instrumental in recommending process improvements, deepening our collective expertise, and showing opportunities to provide a great experience to companies waiting in queues. On behalf of the B Lab Global Certification and Verification team, we’re looking forward to more work with external verifiers as we build this movement together. Please join me in congratulating the Genashtim team: here’s to more years of success!
“I have been a great admirer of Genashtim since I first met Thomas Ng and learned about the company a few years ago. I’d like to talk about three things that I love about the company. First is the quality of their work. Genashtim helped me and my team at Microsoft build online portals for learning and mentoring, and we were very pleased with the quality of the work that they did. Secondly, I love the quality of people at Genashtim. I was quite amazed when I first found out that 90% of their employees were people with disability. And when I met some of them in Manila a couple of years ago, I was so impressed with their energy, their dynamism, their professionalism and commitment.And I was very inspired by the fact that they looked above and beyond their disabilities to actually focus on their true abilities and to use those true abilities to help themselves and to help others. Finally, I love the quality of Genashtim’s mission. Not only does the company have big ambitions commercially, but they also truly exemplify how technology can empower every person and every organization on the planet to do more, and I think that is indeed a lofty mission.”
“…Thomas is an inspiring businessman ‐ who has developed one of the most innovative models I have seen in the field of disability in many, many years. He has started from a different premise: that is he has started from a business premise not a charity one and has created dignified, respectful employment for people very disadvantaged in their social and cultural situation ‐ an absolutely splendid example of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in action.
This particular endeavour has come to the notice of many people and not least because of its innovation in small business and for a group of people very much disadvantaged in traditional labour markets.”
“…..truly inspiring to see how business people see that employing people with disabilities makes business sense” 
“We, human beings have been facing globalization which brings all of us in a close relationship with information through communication technology. At the same time, we are facing several barriers such as the built-environment, information, systems, regulations and human attitudes.
Thomas is an innovative businessman who has been developing an e-business, teaching English through his e-business and providing employment for persons with disabilities.
Thomas has employed many persons with disabilities who had been discriminated against in many ways, but he is challenging those barriers through ICT technology and job placement for persons with disabilities. He is proving persons with disabilities are capable and can contribute to the business world. ICT technology provides jobs for persons with a mobility disability and encourages persons with disabilities to challenge their abilities. This makes Thomas a pioneer for job creation which also promotes a barrier-free and inclusive business.
APCD appreciates Thomas’ epoch-making business, and development of globalization with inclusive business.”
“You’re such an inspiring company and even better, you’re a major partner to B Lab as we certify and verify more companies to join the B Corp movement.
We couldn’t do our important work without you and we are so grateful for all you do.”
“I am incredibly impressed that 90% of their staff are people with disabilities. Genashtim has created a sustainable source of employment for these people who are also producing high quality results. I highly recommend working with them.”
I first met Thomas at a meeting of an expert panel for the establishment of the Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP). Two things about Thomas impressed me greatly at that time ‐ his sense of innovation in business, and his sincere attitude towards persons with disability (PWD). These two factors are nowhere more evident than in his business venture English Proficiency in Conversation Online (EPiC Online), where PWD highly skilled in the English language coach executives and others in English conversation. The business is expanding rapidly, gaining major clients such as McDonalds Thailand, and is very proactive in hiring PWD in both teaching and administrative capacities.
Thomas’ view of PWD is very much ahead of its time. The very first time we spoke, I presented to him my vision of how IT would revolutionize the lives of the disabled in 10-20 years, by removing all barriers to participation in the workplace. “Mr. Ohno, you’ve got it wrong,” he said, “The revolution has already happened!” In his business model, PWD are at an advantage over persons without disability. For example, his blind employees are highly proficient PC users who don’t require a screen. This not only saves on the cost of the hardware, but reduces burden on environment by requiring less electricity. Furthermore, as his employees work from home, no commuting charges are incurred, and in regions prone to blackouts, his company is in a safe position, as the staff are scattered around different regions and are thus never all affected by a regional loss of power.
Thomas also extols other virtues of his disabled staff ‐ they are less likely to move on to other jobs rapidly, and, as they are often working more for their personal satisfaction and emancipation than financial reward, they tend to be much more committed and enthusiastic about their work.
Mr. Ng’s latest brainchild, developed alongside his wheelchair-using executive assistant Ryan, is Abled Online. It is essentially a service that provides remote IT support to PC users, and the staff are all PWDs.
Abled Online has since been publicly recognized for its unique business plan, taking first prize at the Universal Business Venture Plan Contest, which recognizes business venture plans that are inclusive of PWD.
As I mentioned, Thomas is innovative in business, and treats PWD as highly employable and valuable members of his staff. In light of these qualities, The Nippon Foundation, the grant making private foundation at which I work, has taken the decision to make Thomas an advisor to its planned new project “Inclusive Business,” an initiative conducted in partnership with ASEAN, which seeks to achieve the threefold goal of having businesses include PWD in their clients, their workforce and their executive staff.
In short, Thomas Ng is a talented entrepreneur who has an open mind to employment for PWD, and his work, conducted with the philosophy – “Charity is a one-off gesture, business is self-sustaining,” – will, I believe, have a major positive impact on the employment situation for PWD in many countries worldwide.”
“Every so often (unfortunately not as often as one would like) you stumble across an individual and/or an organization that has the ability to take a seemingly complex issue and create simple and sensible answers that leaves you standing there rather “flat-footed” and asking yourself “Why didn’t I think of that?” Thomas Ng and Genashtim is a classic example of this situation.
The challenge of helping persons with disabilities to find gainful employment that provides them with dignity and independence is one that perpetually confounds professionals in the field of rehabilitation. Yet along comes a business man like Thomas Ng who with seeming ease picks up those “lemons” and turns them into tasty lemonade that becomes a win-win situation for the corporation and the disabled person.
Maybe we have been looking for solutions in the wrong places and should spend more of our time talking to enlightened entrepreneurs like Thomas Ng to help us find and develop those employment opportunities.
“Thomas is the pioneer in bringing to our part of the world, state-of-the-art education technologies and concepts which leverage the collaborative tools and social networking phenomena on the internet. What impresses me is that he is able to apply these technologies and concepts to make education engaging, enabling and inclusive. He is able to nurture and tap the strengths of persons with disabilities in delivering world class education services, not only to the corporate world, but also to the marginalized and impoverished societies.” 
