SimplyCast, the automated marketing company based in Dartmouth, has announced a $100,000 fund to benefit young people as the central part of its 10th anniversary celebration.

President and CEO Saeed El-Darahali said at an anniversary party in Halifax on Friday that the Youth First Fund would be used to award scholarships and bursaries to students, finance internships and help graduates pay off their student loans. It will be an evergreen fund, meaning it will always be maintained at or near the $100,000 level. He added that he had found it difficult as a young man to find work without experience, so he made it his own mission to help young Nova Scotians enter the workforce.

“Youth offer fresh perspectives that businesses are often not taking advantage of to improve their operations,” said El-Darahali at the celebration. “It will be my goal to end youth unemployment in the province until I die.”

SimplyCast offers interactive and multi-channel communication software for organizations in 175 countries. Providing both emergency and non-emergency communication technology, the company offers more than 20 communication tools and channels to help organizations maximize their efficiency. Its 360 Customer Flow Communication Platform combines marketing automation, inbound marketing, and interactive communication.

SimplyCast hit a major milestone in June when it received its ISO 27001:2013 certification, an essential component of conducting business with enterprise clients in the current technological climate.

El-Darahali announced the first scholarships funded by the Youth First Fund would be named in honour of individuals who had helped SimplyCast and himself. A $2,000 scholarship will be named for former SimplyCast Chairman William Ritchie and his late wife Lorna. And $1,000 scholarships are being named for St. Mary’s University professors who helped El-Darahali over the years: Porter Scobey; and Dawn Jutla, now the CEO of Halifax-based blockchain company Peer Ledger.

El-Darahali also said that Ritchie, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, has now become the company’s Chairman Emeritus.

Since 2009, SimplyCast has hired and provided work experience to more than 200 young workers in Nova Scotia including new graduates, co-op students, and high school students. It has initiated programs to help young employees, including the Student Loan Repayment Program to help employees pay off student debt and the Next Star program, which gave paid experience to high school students.

SimplyCast adopted the theme of youth for its anniversary party, and the celebration featured speeches by young employees, and young people who began their careers at SimplyCast then moved on to other companies.

“Over the last 10 years, SimplyCast has been able to support young workers in Nova Scotia but only so far as they were able to support the growth of our company,” said El-Darahali. “We were always happy to offer work placements to new grads and co-op students to give them experience. However, these placements also helped SimplyCast. Now that we’ve reached the 10-year mark, we at SimplyCast feel a greater responsibility to support youth in the province outside of the direct benefit we as an organization receive from them.”