Education innovation gets a Nobel of its own in the Yidan Prize
Bernard Chan says the winners of the Yidan Prize – one of many generous initiatives by mainland business leaders – have ideas that can change education for the better in the world, including Hong Kong. These ideas deserve a bigger platform
I attended the inaugural awards ceremony here in Hong Kong earlier this month. Among the speakers were Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, who made some powerful points about the importance of educating girls.
The prize is a big step towards giving education innovators the type of status they deserve. Not only that, the event also opened my eyes to the growing role that mainland Chinese business figures now play in philanthropy and global social development.
Mainland tycoons are also becoming increasingly involved in charitable activities overseas. These tycoons for the most part have humble origins, and some went through real hardship early in life. They have seen their businesses expand at home and, increasingly, overseas. Successful entrepreneurs with a global outlook, they seem to genuinely want engagement with and to contribute to the wider world.