Sweef Capital has invested in Vietnamese education academy TEKY. It’s the first investment for its Southeast Asia Women’s Economic Empowerment Fund (SWEEF).
The company is focussed on supporting the expansion of educational services in Vietnam’s public school system, and after-school programmes.
“We see this investment contributing great foundational skills for children, some of whom currently have limited exposure to STEAM,” says Jennifer Buckley, Founder and Managing Director of Sweef Capital.
“We share Ms. Dao Lan Huong’s vision to help more girls see what’s possible, take up education and pursue professional careers in STEAM. We look forward to building on this partnership with TEKY and working with them to demonstrate value creation opportunities linked with women’s economic empowerment.”
TEKY was founded by Ms. Dao Lan Huong in 2016 to deliver science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics (STEAM) education. Since then it has grown to operate 16 academies in five cities across Vietnam.
So far it’s delivered STEAM courses to more than 25,000 children.
“I’m excited about our expansion plan to open more STEAM centers across the country in the next two years and prospects of a partnership with public schools to integrate the STEAM curriculum and increase accessibility,” says Ms Dao Lan Huong.
TEKY is well-aligned with the SWEEF mandate, aiming to improve education outcomes and increased access to STEAM education. It is a women-led enterprise that provides opportunities to improve the livelihoods of women who make up the majority of TEKY ’s workforce.
The Australian government’s Emerging Market Impact Investment Fund (EMIIF) is an investor in SWEEF, acting as a good model for the fund-of-fund approach that aims to catalyze growth and drive capacity in impact fund management in SouthEast Asia.