HENRY MOTTE MUÑOZ
In wanting to create a difference in his community, Henry founded Edukasyon. ph. He has created the ultimate student guide and has helped empower millions of Filipino youth through his platform
How did you start Edukasyon.ph?
I started my career in finance, so I worked in investment banking and private equity in London for Goldman Sachs. I enjoyed my time in finance, but I also itched to do something at home in the Philippines that would give back to the community. So, after a couple of years in finance, I took my MBA in the US, which was where I came up with the idea of doing Edukasyon in the Philippines. We started the company in 2015 and I moved back here in 2015. I’ve been doing that ever since.
What do you do and how do you do it?
Edukasyon.ph is a curated platform that connects students to existing opportunities and service providers in education. We help about 10 million students a year to be better informed in making decisions about their education, their career, and their life choices. Even in terms of understanding oneself and picking up skills like financial literacy —anything that helps you be a wellrounded, self-aware, and confident citizen who is able to get into their dream university and careers.
Do you connect students to universities here or abroad?
We do both. We’re the biggest platform for Filipino and international universities, senior high schools, and technical vocation institutes. I think we have more than 10,000 institutions on the website that people can look at, and more than 500 that they can apply to online. We’re currently adding online education to our roster too.
Apart from that, they can also come to us to help them look for scholarships. It’s one of the things we launched in 2018. Our dream is to get half a million scholars by 2020.
Can students who are already in university use your platform?
Absolutely, and they do. If you’re currently a college student, you can find everything—information like study hacks, how to manage your budget, how to look for internships, how to prepare for graduation, what other skills you could be picking up before you graduate, and how to think about jobs after graduation. So there’s a lot on the site as well apart from getting connected to schools.
What future do you hope for or see for Philippine education?
My dream is for a country where students don’t just get access to a quality academic education, but a holistic one as well. Being educated is not just about getting a degree, it’s about picking up skills that prepare you for the workplace and becoming a responsible citizen that knows how to vote and pay taxes. One that cares for the environment and cares and understands our history. It’s not something to do by ourselves—I think it takes a village to raise a child. It’s going to take a lot more than a website to elevate all those values, but we’d love to play a part in that, no matter how small.