Giving a boost to education in rural China

CHINA-BORN Singaporean entrepreneur S P Tao has a list of business and philanthropic achievements that would be the envy of most. But what concerns him most now is a private foundation that he created in 2006 focused on education.

Set up in his hometown of Nanjing, the Jiangsu Tao Shing Pee Education Foundation offers scholarships known as Peeli Scholarships to recipients who are named "Tao Students".

The foundation believes that education and entrepreneurship are the twin drivers for socio-economic development in rural China. To this end, the initiative provides financial aid to students from underdeveloped rural areas to complete their tertiary education, and to encourage graduating students to return to their home communities by providing entrepreneurial guidance and financial backing to start local businesses.