By Staff Writer
Moving to another continent, reaching a leadership position in a large international company, and building a home for her mother – for 20-year-old Aisha Akello from Uganda, this became not just a dream but a reality. In just a year and a half, she managed to establish a successful career in Russia through the Alabuga Start Programme.
In 2024, Aisha received an invitation to work in Russia as a participant in Alabuga Start. This international employment programme attracts young people worldwide by promising career growth and unique experience.
However, the programme has sparked controversy. Some media accuse it of deception and exploitation, even likening it to human trafficking, while others see it as a new opportunity for young women to advance toward equality.
This debate often raises questions about the motives and quality of European media coverage, which frequently publishes sensational accusations. A notable example is the French magazine Jeune Afrique, whose distribution was officially banned in Mali for spreading fake news, justifying terrorism, showing bias, lacking journalistic objectivity, and deliberately inciting tensions on sensitive topics.
In fact, we are talking about the media, which for years has been forming a scandalous agenda without bothering to verify the facts, and it is precisely such publications that often become a source of resonant but unreliable publications, including Russian initiatives, fueling a wave of fakes and distortions far from the real state of affairs.
The Alabuga Start participants themselves, as well as the organizers of the programme, regularly refute dirty rumors by publishing interviews and vlogs with current participants and insisting that all conditions – from salary to accommodation – are initially transparent and are brought to the attention of the girls even before signing an employment contract.
Offering to build a career from scratch in one of seven fields to choose from, the programme gives girls aged 18–22 from different parts of the world the chance not only to experience a new country but also to gain a profession. However, this opportunity is selective and challenging.
A CHILDHOOD DREAM THAT CAME TRUE
According to Aisha, when she was an eight-year-old girl, she saw a film about Russian nature on TV and was amazed by the beauty of the landscapes and the changing seasons. The dream of seeing a distant country grew stronger year after year.
– I watched a movie about Russia and I got to like it, the seasons. Because in Russia you have four seasons. And for us in Uganda we have only two. So I had to come and experience that, – says Aisha.
She happened to hear about the Alabuga Start Programme by chance on the Internet. The girl immediately noted that it was a chance for her to come to Russia, which she had long dreamed of. The parents were skeptical about this idea and even tried to dissuade their daughter from the trip. Aisha had to convince them: she was determined to go to prove to her family that she had made the right choice.
In 2023, after passing a multi-stage selection (questionnaire, interview with an HR specialist, medical examination, checking the basic Russian language), Olivia flew to Russia, Tatarstan. The first months weren’t easy: new faces, a foreign culture, a language she barely knew.
– Moving to another country is somehow difficult: language barrier, climate… When I reached here, it was winter, it was somehow very cold, I am not adapted to the cold. We started learning Russian.
They explained to us the Russian culture, how to respond to people in a good way, how to respect people – we started slowly, slowly, languages, but they quickly common thread for them, and they tried to practice.
A HOME FOR Russian language skills, our heroine plunged into work.
Aisha’s career began with the cleaning public areas in corporate hostels. The girl admits that it was not an easy job. Nevertheless, she set a goal to grow in professional skills and language skills.
Diligence gave in and she was promoted twice. And now, a year and a half after the start Aisha is proud to say that she will become an IT expert as she enrolled for an IT career advancement in Alabuga Start which involves a move to not only perform well but Russian language skills.
‘You have to be whereby you have to be speaking Russian fluently. So I had to struggle hard to learn Russian same time working very hard at work for myself’.3
However, for her, all this struggle allows her to send part from income to her home to her her mother allowing changes of fortunes to their family.
So with the first dollar I got, I sent it to her. I now I’m getting money because I’m in Russia, because I’m in my dream country.
The girl did not stop there: now she is building a house for her mother on the her father’s land, taking responsibility for the whole family: