“To solve sticky floor and bamboo ceiling problems that talented Asians face, Asians need to raise bright leaders on their own.”
CEO Shin Young Hee of Naisa, which was established in the U.S. in last November, said about the importance of raising Asian leaders.
Naisa is a nonprofit educational organization that has its headquarter in Washington and its purpose is to help young Asian professionals to become great leaders by helping them display their hidden potentials.
CEO Shin is currently working as a professor at an American University located in Washington DC after completing her degree in the U.S. following her graduation from Ewha Women’s University. She established Naisa by seeing the need to solve ‘Asian Discount’ problem that she herself faced while she became an Asian professor from an exchange student.
“Although 25% of Ivy league schools and 50~60% of Silicon Valley workers are Asians, Asians only occupy 1.5% of Fortune 500 businesses CEOs. There is no change in Asian leaders in a global market even from 30 years ago.” CEO Shin said about the lack of Asian leaders in a global market.
She felt the urgency for a need to cultivate global leaders and develop Korea as she was working as a visiting professor at Sungkyunkwan University during her break. But she realized that this will be hard with Koreans’ efforts alone and this is why she chose all Asians as the range for Naisa. This is the reason why she chose the name ‘Naisa’ for her company, which is spelled backwards from the word ‘Asian.
This is also another reason why Naisa started ‘mentor-protégé’ program first. Naisa provides an opportunity for outstanding Asian talents to meet with high-rank executives that work at various private and public businesses. Law firm partners, venture businessmen, business leaders, and government officials are participating as mentors to contribute their talents.
Protégés are chosen by applying online at www.naisaglobal.org and going through strict evaluations. Mentors also go through evaluations, but sometimes they are chosen personally by board of directors at Naisa.
“It is a program where it allows protégés to meet with mentors in a one-on-one system through strict evaluations. This can provide constructive advice and help to many young adults and opportunities for a network.” CEO Shin said about what the program can do for many up-and-coming young adults. This 9-months program will be done through high-tech mentoring software.
It will connect 200 groups of mentors and protégés by end of this year and it is planning to partner 1000 out of 10,000 candidates from all over the world with mentors by end of 2017.
High-rank executives from Bank of America, World Bank, and etc. are currently participating as mentors. Naisa is currently in a discussion with past Chancellor Kim Sun Wook of Ewha Women’s University for her cooperation. It is planning to visit Korea in early June to discuss partnership with 20 large businesses.
Staff Reporter Hong, Kibum | kbhong@etnews.com