Italy, the United Kingdom, and eventually Dubai each shaped a different chapter of Assia Riccio’s life. Different cultures, different expectations, and different definitions of success came with every move. One question, however, refused to disappear: why should someone’s future depend more on where they were born than what they could become?
Each stage of Assia’s career brought another opportunity to turn that question into action. Across hospitality, entrepreneurship, and social impact, Assia has devoted her career to opening doors for talented people whose potential has too often gone unnoticed.
That belief has shaped every business she has founded, and through Evolvin’ Global, Nia Coffee, and Kutafiti, she has challenged assumptions about where exceptional talent can be found while creating opportunities for underserved communities. Although each business serves a different market, they are united by the same conviction: lasting change begins when people are trusted with the chance to succeed.
The values that would later shape Assia’s career first took root at home, where education, curiosity, and giving back were part of everyday life. Growing up between Italy and the United Kingdom meant constantly adapting to new environments while learning how much potential can be unlocked when people are welcomed rather than overlooked.
Belmond was where Assia first saw those values come to life. Roles there and later at Jumeirah exposed her to some of the world’s highest standards of luxury service, yet what fascinated her most was watching talented people grow into confident leaders.
A move to Dubai in 2012 brought Assia into one of the world’s most international workforces. Working alongside colleagues from dozens of nationalities revealed both the extraordinary depth of global talent and the barriers that still prevented many capable people from accessing meaningful careers. Potential was everywhere. Opportunity was not.
Rather than accepting that imbalance, she began asking what could be done to change it. An unexpected redundancy provided the answer. The setback became the catalyst for something much bigger. Instead of searching for another corporate position, Assia chose to build an organisation that could connect untapped talent with employers prepared to recognise ability before geography, background, or circumstance. That decision became Evolvin’ Global.
Job opportunities became the starting point rather than the destination. Every placement represented the start of a career, greater financial independence, and new possibilities for families and communities back home. The model proved that businesses could solve talent shortages while creating lasting social impact, challenging the assumption that commercial success and purpose belong on opposite sides of the conversation.
Evolvin’ Global was only the beginning. Rather than building a single company around one idea, she began creating businesses that tackled different challenges while remaining anchored to the same belief: lasting change happens when commercial success and social impact reinforce one another.
Today, the company has become the foundation that connects talented young people from underserved communities with careers in international hospitality. As it grew, Nia Coffee followed, strengthening livelihoods by working directly with farming communities, while Kutafiti helped organisations build more inclusive approaches to talent and leadership. Although each business serves a different market, they all ask the same question: how can business become a force for creating opportunity rather than simply generating profit?
“I’ve never wanted to build businesses for the sake of building businesses,” Assia says. “Each one has to solve a real problem and create value for the people it touches. Every new opportunity strengthens families, communities, and the businesses themselves.”
For hundreds of young people, a first opportunity became the start of something much bigger. Those who had struggled to access formal employment began building careers with some of the world’s leading hospitality brands, earning incomes that extended far beyond their own ambitions. Families gained greater financial stability because one person’s opportunity often created many more.
Now, more than 1,400 young professionals have entered the workforce through the organisation, collectively earning over US$12.5 million in salaries. Partnerships have stretched across continents, including large-scale upskilling initiatives supporting the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, demonstrating that talent exists everywhere when employers are prepared to look beyond familiar pathways. Those outcomes reinforced what Assia had believed from the beginning: lasting impact grows through the opportunities people create for others.
“I’ve always wanted to build businesses that solve problems,” she says. “If people become more independent, more confident, and more able to create opportunities for others, then we’ve achieved something that lasts.”
Assia hopes to influence how businesses think about talent, encouraging employers to recognise potential in places they may never have considered and demonstrating that inclusive hiring strengthens organisations, economies, and communities alike.
The legacy she hopes to leave reaches well beyond the companies she has founded. It is measured in the confidence of someone starting a first career, the family whose future changes because of that opportunity, and the generations that follow. For Assia, success has never been about creating dependence; it has always been about creating the conditions for other people to thrive.
