PRESS RELEASE: Christophe Catoir, President of Adecco, Announced as New Co-Host of the Tent Partnership for Refugees’ European Business Summit

The summit will mobilize European businesses to accelerate the economic integration of Ukrainian refugee women and other refugees

Paris, 20 April 2023: Following the announcement in February of a June summit to accelerate the economic integration of Ukrainian refugee women and other refugees in Europe, the Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent) – a global network of over 300 companies committed to economically integrating refugees – has announced today Christophe Catoir, President of Adecco, as the newest European business leader to step up as summit co-host. 

Taking place in Paris on 19 June, to mark World Refugee Week, the Tent European Business Summit will feature major companies across Europe announcing bold corporate pledges and initiatives to hire and train tens of thousands of refugees from Ukraine and other parts of the world. It comes as millions of refugees – overwhelmingly women – have, over the past year, fled Ukraine into Europe, with 4 to 5 million currently being today hosted in European countries west of Ukraine. 

Christophe Catoir, President of Adecco joins other business leader co-hosts including Chobani CEO and Tent Founder Hamdi Ulukaya, the CEO of ISS Jacob Aarup-Andersen, the CEO of Microsoft Poland Dominika Bettman, the Chairman & CEO of PepsiCo Ramon Laguarta, and Business Leader, Campaigner and Former CEO of Unilever Paul Polman in issuing an urgent call to action to major employers across Europe to step up with tangible commitments in support of refugees.

“European governments have stepped up to welcome Ukrainian women fleeing the war, but businesses must now do their part to help them find jobs and provide for themselves. This is the most important step in helping refugees integrate into their new communities,” said Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder of Tent and Chobani CEO. “That is the purpose of the Tent European Business Summit – and I am thrilled that Christophe Catoir is joining us today alongside our other co-hosts in urging other business leaders across Europe to step up, reduce barriers, and hire Ukrainian refugee women. They will strengthen your workforce and they deserve to not just survive, but thrive as they rebuild their lives.”

“Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Adecco has been at the forefront of efforts to help refugees connect to jobs across Europe through our non-for profit jobs platform, but also through direct hiring” said Christophe Catoir, President of Adecco. “We were able to help more than 10.000 Ukrainian refugees so far and I look forward to reaching out to and encouraging other companies and business leaders to support more refugees – by stepping up at the Summit and pledging to connect them to work.”

Since 2016, Tent has led the way in making the business case for companies to integrate refugees, having shown that refugees have higher retention rates, companies are more attractive to their employees when they hire refugees, and, in Tent’s most recent survey, that European consumers are overwhelmingly more likely to purchase from brands that hire refugees.

“Hiring refugees is one of the smartest things a business can do, but refugees often struggle with steep challenges in their path towards economic integration – language barriers, absence of social and professional networks, lack of understanding of the local labour market and, for Ukrainian refugee women in particular, higher childcare and domestic burdens,” said Gideon Maltz, CEO of Tent. “Tent’s unique role is helping companies reduce these barriers so that they can hire refugees at scale. We stand ready to support the European business community in these growing efforts.”

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About the Tent Partnership for Refugees
With more and more refugees displaced for longer periods of time, businesses have a critical role to play in helping refugees integrate economically in their new communities. Tent was launched in 2016 by Hamdi Ulukaya, the CEO and founder of Chobani – a multibillion dollar food company in the U.S. – to mobilize global businesses to fill this gap by helping connect refugees to work. Today, Tent is a network of over 300 major companies committed to hiring, training, and mentoring refugees. Find out more at www.tent.org.