Cover At our next edition of Cloud Talk on January 21, we invite four speakers to discuss the urgency of improving access for girls and women across Asia to education and entrepreneurship

At the next edition of our webinar series Cloud Talk on January 21, four speakers will discuss how we can use education and entrepreneurship to empower girls and women in less privileged communities across Asia

The majority of the world’s 773 million illiterate adults are women, according to Unesco. Girls are also reportedly twice as likely to not start school at all. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the gender gap in literacy has been exacerbated, with Unesco predicting that more than 11 million girls may never return to their classroom again.

How can societies bring girls and women back into schools, while giving access to those who have yet had the chance to receive an education? How can philanthropists and the private sector help governments and NGOs tackle the challenge of creating quantifiable and sustainable impact? And is education the silver bullet to narrowing the gender wage gap, particularly in less privileged communities across Asia?

Four speakers will discuss these questions and more during the January 21 edition of our webinar series Cloud Talk, which is organised in partnership with Aide et Action. The French non-governmental organisation’s mission is to promote access to education and lifelong learning among the most vulnerable populations around the world in a collaborative and sustainable manner. 

Through local projects in 19 countries, Aide et Action hopes to provide these groups with the tools and skills to eventually devise the solutions to these challenges on their own.

See also: How One Fintech Founder Is Helping Thousands Of Women Reach Their Potential

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Photo 1 of 4 Savy Lach, deputy CEO and regional director, South East Asia and China, Aide et Action
Photo 2 of 4 Dee Dee Chan, managing director and chief investment officer, Park Lane Capital Holdings
Photo 3 of 4 Arina Bzhinaev, international philanthropy manager, Aide et Action
Photo 4 of 4 Joanna Hotung, board member, The Women's Foundation and founder and CEO, KG Group

The Speakers

Savy Lach is an educator, who has been campaigning for the children’s rights to education primarily through the struggle for access to quality education of under-resourced communities around the world. He has extensive experience in building and implementing development projects that have enabled children to develop their full potential and contribute to their communities. He is also currently a deputy CEO of Aide et Action and director of its Southeast Asia and China offices.

An investment banker by training, Dee Dee Chan leads her family’s philanthropic foundation, Seal of Love, where she has overseen impact-driven investments in the education and healthcare sectors. Chan is also a managing director and the chief investment officer of Park Lane Capital Holdings, her family’s single family office. 

Arina Bzhinaev is the international philanthropy manager at Aide et Action, where she leads the global campaign “Education For Women Now”. Launched in January 2021, this is the NGO’s first global philanthropic campaign to improve access to education for marginalised girls and women in Asia, Africa and Europe. Its goal: to reach 3 million girls and women by 2025.

Joanna Hotung started the creative arts organisation Kids’ Gallery in 1996 to provide children with a more enquiry-based education. Today, the company is joined by other brands, including English-language centre Star English, kids' theatre company Face Productions and Mills International Preschool, under the KG Group, helmed by Hotung as CEO. The educator and entrepreneur is also a board member of both The Women's Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the lives of girls and women in Hong Kong, and Playright Children’s Play Association, an NGO advocating for children's rights.


Register to attend this session. See past editions of Cloud Talk.