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I care a lot about education because I'm the product of education. My parents sacrificed
a lot to give me this education. And as a result, I've seen numerous opportunities personally.
So when I travel around the world, I think in terms of the kids that I see in the slums
of Kenya or in Ghana or in Nigeria or India for that fact, and you think okay how is that
that we can make sure that these children have the best possible opportunity to do well
in life? It's not a hard sell. Education is important and it's the one area that I would
encourage everyone to get engaged in, because you look at all these global issues that exist,
the world can be a much better place with an educated population.
if you look at demographics, global demographics, and you've got places like India and Nigeria
that are growing at a great pace in terms of population, and more so than not in the
next 20 to 30 years if your company is gonna be successful you will need to engage with
these economies and people coming out from these countries more effectively.
So, it is in your vested interest, it is in the global business community's vested interest
that they take and play an active role in making sure that students who are in schools
today leave with the right skill sets and the right attitudes and the right competencies
that will benefit the business going forward. So that's why, quite clearly, there's a motivation
to get involved in this discussion. Because today it's not happening, and that's why we
find huge disparities when it comes to youth and employment. If you look at the skills
gap, all of these issues can, I think, be overcome with greater engagement from the
business sector.
They say that education is localized. There's a sense to that which is true. But today,
with the pace of change and the pace of technology deployment that we see, there's no reason
why something that happens in one part of the world cannot have a beneficial impact
in another part of the world. You know, you've got for example, a master teacher in front
of a camera speaking to children many, many thousands of miles away teaching them how
to do algebra. I think those kind of technological examples actually provide a model by which
the world is actually moving. I think it's fairly important. So when we look at localized
problems, there may be global solutions that could help us bridge the divide.
If you just take what's happening in Syria, there are so many children who are out of
school or want to get an education, there's no reason why I, as someone who sat in Australia
or in L.A. or in Johannesburg, can't help those children. There's many different ways
that we can make an impact. And as the global community becomes exactly that, global, and
there are many opportunities for us to have that impact. And I think all of us desire
that to make that difference. And today's world you can make that difference in many
different ways, but more than anything you need an international mindset.
The really interesting thing about scaling programs is the vex problem of funding. You
know, so for example, we have this great teacher training program in Uganda that's taking place
where we'll have trained some 5000 teachers by the end of this year or by Easter next
year. And when you look at the cost of making sure that these teachers are trained is no
more than something like $300. But our goal is to make sure that we train over 250,000
teachers over the next ten years, which takes that number to about $75 million. Now, if
you were to say to me do I have $75 million, the answer is no. But the real thing that
I've learned is that if you're doing something good, people find you, and people believe
you, and people want to partner with you. So you have to be open to collaboration, open
to partnership and I think the world works itself out. There's so much support out there
that you can harness to make sure that you can create the impact that you want.