Kavitha Varathan

As an accompanying spouse, I ran into personal and career setbacks, and wanted to turn them into an opportunity that would benefit everyone. I conceived the Expat Spouses Initiative, which I created as a grass-roots response to help traveling spouses and partners of international knowledge workers rebuild their careers in the Netherlands. In 2014, I applied for The Marina van Damme Scholarship and the jury recognized the gap I wanted to fill. The scholarship provided the initial and all-important support to kickstart the initiative. Now I am one of the main drivers making the initiative the largest international professional network in the Brainport region and I get energy and meaning from social entrepreneurship. Expat Spouses Initiative (ESI) connects internationals, especially spouses of international knowledge workers, to local professional opportunities so they accelerate their participation in the Dutch labor market in a community-driven way. For the local business community, ESI is a driver of change, specializing in bridging the gap between companies seeking talented, skilled workers and highly skilled international talent who are dedicated, driven and ready to enter the Dutch labor market. ESI is currently a thriving community of more than 3,500 international professionals in the Netherlands. I believe in the potential of local international talent and that the cities of the future will thrive with these global citizens contributing locally.