The Labor Shortage Is a Lie: How Two Immigrant Founders Built a 96% Retention Company

Reda came to Kansas City from Egypt with almost no English and a fear of heights and took a roofing job anyway. Elvis, a Nigerian immigrant and former R&D chemist, walked away from a corporate career to join him. Together they built what is now Amina Design Build (formerly RK Contractors), a construction company where 81% of the workforce is immigrants, refugees, and second-chance citizens and where retention sits at 96%, an almost unheard-of number in the industry. In this episode of the Social Venture Studio Founder Series, Reda and Elvis unpack the difference between "giving access" and actually powering people: interest-free car loans, same-day emergency support, English lessons on the clock, and a wage ladder that's taken workers from $14.84 to $25 an hour. They also dig into Reda's next invention: a construction material made from recycled plastic, and what it means to build a company on trust instead of contracts, then have to learn contracts anyway.