A New Chapter of Global Impact: Academy of Entrepreneurs at the Asian Development Bank × Austrade Event

From Education to Large-Scale Impact

For more than 10 years, my mission has been centred around one belief:

Education should give young people the skills, confidence and opportunities to create a better future, for themselves and the world around them.

At the Academy of Entrepreneurs, we have worked with students from more than 145 nationalities, focusing on future-ready skills including entrepreneurship, AI, innovation, financial literacy, sustainability and leadership.

Now we're asking a bigger question:

How do we take what works and create impact at a much greater scale?

The answer is partnership.

Joining Forces With ChildFund

Together with ChildFund, we are combining our strengths to bring entrepreneurship, sustainability and future-ready skills to thousands of young people.

Through our Greenpreneurship initiative in the Philippines, Grade 9–12 students won't simply study entrepreneurship, they will become entrepreneurs.

They will identify real problems, develop solutions, create prototypes, commercialise their ideas and pitch them.

Teachers will become catalysts for a new generation of changemakers.

Why ADB Matters

Asia is facing enormous transformation, from AI and technological disruption to climate change and the changing future of work.

Preparing young people for this future requires collaboration.

Governments, schools, NGOs and entrepreneurs cannot do it alone.

When development organisations, educators, governments and businesses combine their expertise and resources, we can create solutions capable of reaching entire communities and countries.

That is what makes conversations within the Asian Development Bank ecosystem so exciting.

The question becomes:

How can we build solutions that scale across Asia?

Thinking Bigger, Together

I left the event even more convinced that the next chapter of Academy of Entrepreneurs will be about collaboration, partnerships and scale.

Together with ChildFund and our growing network of partners, we want to empower the next generation not simply to find their place in the future, but to help create it.

A huge thank you to Austrade for continuing to open doors, create meaningful connections and give Australian organisations opportunities to contribute internationally.

We are combining our strengths. We are thinking bigger. And this is only the beginning.

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Paula Mills Founder & CEO, Academy of Entrepreneurs