Going Green, Staying in the Black
How Hiring a Refugee Helps an Environmental Firm’s Bottom Line
A green business that hires refugees might sound too good to be true, but Nassradeen Alnour and Mike Herzog can tell you otherwise. In fact, it’s the reality at Revolutions Environmental, the Georgia-based oil recycling firm Herzog runs with the help of Alnour.
“When I came to US, this was my first job,” says Alnour, who started working at the company in 2009, the same year he was resettled as a refugee from Sudan.
Alnour found a connection to Revolutions Environmental through the RefugeeWorks colleague organization World Relief, an evangelical refugee resettlement agency that each year helps thousands of refugees rebuild their lives in the United States.
“World Relief came to me and said, ‘We have some refugees, some good hard workers, why don’t we meet?’” says Herzog, who founded his Clarkston, Georgia-based company in 2004.
Herzog was looking for someone who could keep his warehouse and machinery in order, a job requiring stamina and attention to detail. So when World Relief brought Alnour for the meeting, Herzog was focused on the fact that “what we do is very hands-on, heavy lifting, you go through clothes and gloves, it’s hot in the warehouse, and I’m always concerned with how someone can deal with those conditions.”
“I wanted to see if [Alnour] could deal with oil, since it’s not the cleanest job in the world,” says Herzog, whose firm recycles oil-absorbent materials for manufacturing companies all over the Southeast.
“We have mats made out of poly-based materials that are used to lay around machinery in warehouses,” says Herzog. “We capture oil in those mats, which come back to our facility. There, we extract the petroleum-based products out of the mats, and all of that is recycled, some into fuel, some into asphalt, and then we can wash the mat and send it back to manufacturer for re-use.”
Alnour met the conditions Herzog had for the job. “He didn’t mind the work a bit,” says Herzog, who employs eight people in Georgia and Alabama. “He started working here in July 2009.”
“I like what I’m doing,” Alnour says about his strenuous daily tasks, adding: “My boss is good.”
“He’s definitely a hard worker – he’s very meticulous, very clean,” says Herzog. “I can’t tell you how valuable that is in this business; when you deal with oils, if you’re not on top of your job, it can get dirty very quickly.”
For a company like Revolutions Environmental, more than usual is at stake when it comes to cleanliness.
“Our main goal for manufacturing companies is to reduce the costs associated with dealing with compliance-related issues,” says Herzog. “There are very stringent rules on how to dispose of these materials.”
“Barrels can tip and the floors can get slick, so what Nassradeen does is very good – his work makes a huge difference in the overall appearance of the facility,” Herzog adds. “The Department of Natural Resources comes in and does unannounced audits regularly. How we look is very much an indication of how we do on those audits.”
For Alnour, working at Revolutions Environmental marks a measure of success at the end of a long journey.
“I came here as a refugee because we had problems in Sudan,” says Alnour. “ I got out, went to Ghana and was there 5 years, and after that, in 2009, I came here.”
Alnour first arrived in Chicago as part of a larger group, then headed for Atlanta with six fellow refugees he knew, none of them family members.
“When we came, we were the first Darfurians, and we have tried to build our community,” says Alnour. “We have become a big group, and now we are giving a lot of advice to new refugees.”
“I volunteer with World Relief when I have the time,” Alnour adds. “I drop people off or help them with going to appointments.”
Between work and volunteering to help fellow refugees, Alnour has found time for education.
“He’s been very motivated to take every opportunity he can, even outside the job,” says Herzog. “He’s been going to community college, and his English is light years ahead of where it was when he started.”
Herzog himself has played a role in Alnour’s adaptation to American life.
“We’re fortunate in that, in a small company, I could spend some time with him one-on-one in the beginning,” says Herzog. “He needed some help setting up a bank account, and he’ll still come in on occasion with a piece of mail and ask for help with that. But those things are small in comparison to what he offers this company – I look on it as give and take.”
The small scale of a company can work out well for both employers and refugee employees, says Rebecca Armstrong, research and training coordinator for RefugeeWorks, a center that provides training, consulting, and publishing services to the national refugee employment network.
“Small businesses can be a good fit for refugee job-seekers, who are adaptable and quick learners,” says Armstrong. “A lot of times we think we need to find a large hotel or factory that can hire a lot of refugees at once, but there are a lot of small business in America, and they offer great jobs.”
“There’s a way that [small businesses] are often are a great match for refugee skills – for example, the kind of person who does a really good job, is adaptable and a quick learner, but still asks how they can do more,” says Armstrong, whose center was established in 1997 as a program of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS).
According to Brian Bollinger, director of employment services with World Relief Atlanta, a RefugeeWorks trainings helped set the wheels in motion for Alnour to work for Revolutions Environmental.
“I remember that in order to connect Nassradeen with the job, I was driving around all the industrial parks within range of where our refugees live, and seeing where there were a lot of cars, which indicates activity,” says Brian Bollinger, director of employment services with World Relief Atlanta.
“Not too long before, I had gone to a RefugeeWorks Employment Training Institute in New Hampshire,” says Bollinger. “I hadn’t been on the job for more than a couple years at the time, and it gave me a big leap forward in terms of folks who could help me meet the challenges, and to try out things like trolling the industrial parks for cars.”
“I saw there were a lo t of cars outside Revolutions Environmental, and my interest was piqued, because a green-collar market niche is attractive in terms of long-term growth prospects,” adds Bollinger. Not long after, thanks to Bollinger’s efforts, Herzog and Alnour were able to meet.
Today, both employer and employee seem pleased with the arrangement at Revolutions Environmental.
“He is giving me opportunities,” Alnour says of his boss.
“I tend to like that Nassradeen owns his own work,” says Herzog. “And he’s very trustworthy.”
Asked what he’s say to other employers who might be thinking about hiring a refugee, Herzog says simply: “I’d definitely recommend it.”
RefugeeWorks has been so successful in linking refugees with employers that it will now extend service to other new Americans under the name Higher.
