Malaysian Students to be Mentored by Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Wharton Undergrads

PHILADELPHIA, 23th April 2023 – Landing in the United States, Malaysian-based international youth organization Ascendance kicks off its ‘Ascendance Gamechangers Program’ with an in-person event at the ivy league University of Pennsylvania. 

In collaboration with the social enterprise-oriented student club, ASELxPenn, the “Ascendance Gamechangers Program” is a 12-week entrepreneur mentorship program where undergrads from top universities around the world will be guiding budding student entrepreneurs from Malaysian public secondary schools.  

With the support of the Malaysian Ministry of Education, the program is set to run from July to September. Mentors include undergrads from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and The Wharton School, as well as students from Japan, the United Kingdom, Rwanda, Switzerland, and more. 

The “Ascendance Gamechangers Program” aims to equip Gen Zs with an entrepreneurial mindset, and foster leadership, management, and other valuable life skills by enabling these Gen Zs to form and run their own businesses over 12 weeks. Centered around social entrepreneurship, this program’s unique aspect encourages high schoolers to explore ways of contributing to their communities while building their ventures. With 64 teams competing nationwide, mentors and participants alike are eager to collaborate in this cross-cultural exchange. 

Mentor from Scotland, Pía Rey Rosa, an undergrad from the University of Pennsylvania, expressed her excitement to “provide mentorship and be able to learn” from fellow Malaysian students.

The mentor kick-off event was held on April 18th by the ASELxPenn club at the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies, marking the official start of the “Ascendance  Gamechangers Program”. On top of the mentor onboarding process, the event also featured successful impact-driven start-up founders. Erica Sokol Carroll and Serena Advani from UPenn shine a light on their social entrepreneurship journey to the mentors in attendance. 

Flying from Kuala Lumpur to Philadelphia, the 22-year-old Chief Operations Officer of Ascendance, Sanadtkumar Ganesan, joined the ASELxPenn team to launch the program. “This collaboration between students here in the United States and the students in Malaysia is really exciting. I’m very proud this collaboration brings two worlds together towards a collective cause of building entrepreneurship skills in Gen Zs,” said Sanadtkumar, who is a social entrepreneur himself, as well as a film student at Toronto Film School in Canada.

An exciting few months are ahead as these diverse mentors and Gen Z teams run their start-ups in the “Ascendance Gamechangers Program”. To see how you can be a part of this program and play your role in building Malaysia’s next generation of leaders and CEOs, get in touch with Ascendance here at admin@ascendancepro.com. 

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