New York Times: Investing in a Future for Asia’s Young Women

On September 1 2013, Wedu’s founder Mario Ferrero was interviewed for New York Times.

Read excerpts from the piece below:

In the 18 months since Wedu — an acronym derived from Women’s Education — conducted its first workshop, the organization has raised about $130,000, providing backing for just five students, but it plans to expand fast and to be working with as many as 1,500 students by 2017.

The organization, which is registered in Britain but based in Bangkok, aims its outreach efforts at top high schools in developing Southeast Asia — that is, countries other than Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, which are generally classified as developed. The target schools tend to have students with sufficient academic ability to go to university.

“We are supporting students for their leadership potential, besides their grades in, say, math or English,”

“In education, you see that there are a lot of scholarships,” Mr. Ferro added. “But it is like an investor giving you money and then running away.”

“When we did a workshop in Cambodia, there were only three to four boys who sat in, but during the question and answer session, they were the only ones raising their hands,” Ms. Sawai said. “After five questions, we asked the girls if they had any questions and had to wait a bit and encourage them to speak up.”

Wedu addresses other fundamental barriers to education, including the reality that many Asian students from low-income families do not know the basics of college admissions. Some may not even know how to navigate an airport to get to an overseas campus.