Build With… SOMOS 🌱

Why I started SOMOS 🤝🏾 and what it means to build infrastructure for mission-driven, independent work.

Hey, I’m Khawar 👋🏽 - I head up SOMOS 🤝🏾, a platform helping mission-driven professionals build flexible, independent careers without recruitment fees or commissions.

This is the first edition of Build With…🌱, a behind-the-scenes newsletter where I’ll be sharing stories, insights & lessons from:

• "Community-strapping" a social enterprise startup with no & low-code tools,

• Creating a platform for people to carry out meaningful social justice work without compromising their ethics, values or integrity,

• Grassroots activists and organizations doing incredible work.

But before we get into all that… let me take a step back and introduce some of what we’re trying to help with at SOMOS 🤝🏾...

Social justice - conceptually, practically and very much in reality - is under attack.

We're living in a world where international frameworks for governance are being routinely ignored when convenient, where even small, piecemeal changes won over the last few decades are facing a monumental backlash.

Simply trying to survive in systems designed to extract more than they give becomes harder every day.

Making Noise vs Shifting Power 💪🏾

If you were to spend the next 30 minutes scrolling your favourite social media sites, I'd bet you'd easily find a lot of coverage for a range of social justice issues.

Are some issues/viewpoints covered more than others? Yep.

Is shadow-banning a thing? Yep.

BUT is it easier than ever to make noise? Yep.

The bigger question? Where does all this noise get us?

Likes, comments, shares have been going up... BUT worker, migrant, language (and a whole host of other) rights and the freedoms to live and love how we want are being ruthlessly eroded.

Boring as it might sound, we need new structures and systems to shift power and navigate the global turmoil we're in.

As a startup founder, this is the bit where I'm meant to tell you how what I'm building gets to the root of all of this.

I can't do that - it wouldn't be true.

What I can say is this...

I want SOMOS to make it easier for people to carry out meaningful social justice work without compromising their ethics, values or integrity.

That feels like a good place to start.

Why I'm Building SOMOS 🤝

For the best part of a decade, I worked in commercial roles I hated to finance community work I loved.

I don't miss being on the inside of corporate law firms, banks or insurance companies but I am grateful for getting a clear understanding of the relentless damage these often spineless organisations do to the world.

The ground-up, community driven change we need isn't going to come from these places - whatever they put in their ESG reports or graduate recruitment websites.

It'll come from everyday people coming together to share their knowledge, experience and energy to build a better future for people and planet.

Here's the issue though...

• Social impact professionals might not be driven primarily by money, but they need to survive just like anyone else.

• Too many full-time roles rely on insecure grants, temporary funding, or political goodwill.

• One policy change, one budget cut, one leadership shuffle… and whole teams disappear.

The result?

Brilliant people are forced to leave roles they love (or avoid them altogether!) just to make rent or secure healthcare.

At the same time, the people best placed to drive change are often working across movements, borders and causes.

Someone fighting for migrant rights might also be advocating for language justice.

An educator challenging gender inequality might also be an artist, or a data analyst, or a community organiser.

This kind of generalist, fractional approach isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength.

It leads to deeper systems understanding, stronger coalitions, and more holistic change.

We just haven't built enough infrastructure to support it.

An Alternative Vision For Mission-Driven, Independent Work 🎯

SOMOS 🤝🏾 is an attempt to make a small contribution to the infrastructure we need.

We want to provide a platform that helps social impact leaders create flexible, purpose-driven careers across multiple causes without compromising their values or giving away their earnings to recruiters & marketplaces 🌱.

It's early days but version 1.0 will be a toolkit to:

→ Showcase experience, services & impact with a digital storefront & portfolio.

→ Offer monthly retainers or day passes without recruiter commissions.

→ Track earnings, clients & invoices

→ Come together with a network of mission-driven professionals

The Bigger Picture 🌍

SOMOS 🤝🏾 is a project with ambitious social justice goals.

In addition to developing a customer-centric product offering, I want us to be innovative in our recruitment, governance, community, and co-ownership approaches.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be diving deeper into some of the experiments I’ve been running behind the scenes to help get us where we want to be…

• Build With… Founder-Led Governance + Values-Aligned Investors: how our legal structure puts social purpose front and centre and how that can protect mission-driven founders long-term.

• Build With… Community Co-Owners: how we gifted equity to Conversation Over Borders and the benefits of including grassroots community organisations in your ownership structure.

• Build With… Inclusive Hiring: the process behind hiring, protecting and supporting refugee professionals in limbo.

• Build With… Others: how much it helps building alongside other mission-driven founders through spaces like Startups For All and Entrepreneurs for Palestine.

• Build With… No & Low Code Tools: an intro into how I’m building product at SOMOS.

If you're a founder, activist, consultant, or community builder who cares about building with care, not just code, I hope this series gives you something useful.

Thanks for being here 🙏🏽

Khawar | Founder @ SOMOS 👋🏽

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