For a decade, Nilu Silva Jayaweera scraped by in Singapore on a domestic worker’s pay while sending almost all her money home to her family in Sri Lanka. Then she learned about Aidha, an innovative financial education and entrepreneurship program designed to end the cycle of poverty for Singapore’s migrant workers.
Today, Jayaweera owns an online tea-export business in Sri Lanka and operates a charitable organization of her own, aimed at helping Sri Lankan women create businesses.
For decades, foreign domestic workers like Jayaweera have flocked to jobs in Singapore from other parts of Southeast Asia. Today, 225,000 foreign domestic workers—mostly women—live in Singapore, taking care of children, the elderly and households. They are often primary breadwinners with determination to help their families back home forge a better life.
Through courses in money management, technology, business strategy and operations and English language skills, Aidha offers these workers what amounts to a micro-MBA in economics and business to increase their savings and invest in their future. The organization, which launched in 2006 to help Singapore’s female domestic workers transform their lives, is one of BNY Mellon Singapore’s key charity partners.
Supporting Economic Empowerment with Grants, Time and Talent
Aidha’s mission of economic empowerment made it an ideal fit for BNY Mellon’s philanthropy framework, said Ashley Park-Frazier, BNY Mellon’s Community Partnership lead in Singapore. “We were looking for a way to make a difference in people’s lives while also offering a skills-based volunteering opportunity for our employees,” she said. Since mid-2016, BNY Mellon has invested in Aidha with grants and hundreds of volunteer hours.
Its strong emphasis on teaching technology and digital capabilities also made Aidha a good match, said Liana Chan, BNY Mellon’s APAC Communications and Philanthropy Coordinator. “Aidha meshes well with BNY Mellon’s vision to help people realize their full potential through digital skills capacity building and by addressing economic and social challenges,” she said.
In addition to providing financial support, BNY Mellon hosted a technology workshop for Aidha students at the Singapore Innovation Center.
Sarat Krovvidi, a member of BNY Mellon’s Technology team in Singapore, led the workshop with a team of her volunteer colleagues. “This was a fantastic experience and we were very encouraged by the strong support we received from the company for this event, especially our Technology leadership team. It felt great to make a difference and I am eager to host more of these workshops in the future.”
In addition, BNY Mellon volunteers have facilitated workshops for alumnae and judged a business startup competition for students. Twenty-three Singapore employees have stepped up to volunteer at these events, logging 120 hours last year.
Bottom-Line Results: Savings and Entrepreneurship
Students who complete Aidha’s course typically increase their monthly savings quickly, by an average of 78 percent. And the number who own businesses rises from six percent among new students to more than 40 percent among alumni. Aidha’s studies have shown that each student’s financial well-being has a multiplier effect, with the benefit extending to an average of nine other people who depend on a student.
Volunteers witness a transformation in the students. “Usually when they start out, the students are very shy and they don’t want to speak up,” Park-Frazier said. “By the time they came to our workshop, every single one was very confident and engaging. We could see what Aidha does for students. It gives them a big confidence boost and they’re no longer afraid to ask questions.”
For Jayaweera, transformation means helping launch her siblings into independence and striking out on her own. Today, in addition to running Nilu Tea, she is back in Sri Lanka helping 30 other women to launch businesses through a non-governmental organization she founded called Emerging Hope Lanka.
BNY Mellon employees are changed by the program, too. One volunteer, Mina Chung from BNY Mellon’s Treasury Services, recently started to teach a six-month course on communication and confidence. “This is not just a one-time volunteering opportunity, but a continual commitment. The mentoring experience is very fulfilling as you are part of a journey with the students,” Chung said.
Park-Frazier said she feels a particular commitment to the Aidha program as a working mother who employs a domestic worker at home and sends her to Aidha classes.
“I come at it from the perspective that this could have been me if I were from a different country or a different family,” Park-Frazier said. “I could not work the way I do without strong support from my helper. And when my daughter grows up and asks me where her auntie is, I want to be able tell her that she’s successful and has her own business.”