Learning Platform Sophia Launches in Asia To Increase Financial Education For Women

SINGAPORE,  12 January 2022: Sophia, a financial education platform focused on tackling the gender wealth and investing gap, launches its operations in Singapore. The platform will launch the first of its digital learning products targeting women in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia and will roll out to the rest of Asia and beyond in 2022.

Women control a third of the world’s wealth, adding $5 trillion to the wealth pool globally every year – a pool that is expected to reach $93 trillion globally by 2023. The fastest-growing hub of wealth creation for women is in Asia, with a current growth rate of 10.4% per annum. At this rate, Asian women will add more than $1 trillion per year to their total wealth over the next four years, creating a huge need for financial education for women. Sophia is poised to capture the increasing capital of women and provide the much-needed education for women to achieve their financial goals. 

The platform was founded by Tanya Rolfe, Christine Yu and  Nicole Denholder who believe that education and community are essential to bringing financial freedom, diversity and a much-needed change for women. Co-founder of Sophia, Christine Yu says, “We need more women making capital allocation decisions, period. Our solution tackles the issue of getting more money into the hands of female founders through investor education targeted at building the pipeline for women investors. Diversity drives innovation, and we believe we can empower a generation of female investors to do just that.” 

‘The New Investor Essentials’, aimed at women looking to embark on a better understanding of the start-up, angel investing and venture capital ecosystem is Sophia’s debut product and will be shortly followed by the ‘The Advanced Investor Essentials’.

Co-founder Tanya Rolfe talks about her motivation behind launching Sophia. “There is a global wealth gap that exists between men and women. I believe this is largely due to the fact men are investing more money and more frequently than women. Sophia recognises this gap and knows how to close it.

“There are more educated women than ever before, more women in the workforce than ever before and women hold more wealth than ever before. However, due to the continuing lack of representation and diversity for women in decision making roles in the finance industry,  it continues to be a less than welcoming sector for women in their career choices. We need to empower and educate women to embark on financial freedom and management in a way that recognises the differences between men and women. Sophia is a community of like-minded women on a journey together towards financial freedom and increased wealth.”

Sophia covers financial basics for those looking to take their first steps towards financial freedom as well as ‘how-to’ courses for both novice and experienced investors alike. It aims to empower women through various learning programs and a collaborative ecosystem. 

Southeast Asian startups founded solely by women received 0.9% of all VC dollars in 2020 according to DealStreetAsia. “Through Sophia, we have brought a passion and single-minded goal of how do we get more women into the funding ecosystem – whether that’s through investing, a better understanding of their wealth management or being a founder driving new business solutions.

According to BCG, 64% of women said that they factor environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns into their investment decisions. There is currently a lack of visibility and emphasis on ESG investment opportunities provided by traditional wealth management, specifically, opportunities where women are the founders. We believe financial education will drive more investment dollars into women-led startups delivering products and solutions for female consumers resulting in a positive impact on the world,” says Sophia’s co-founder, Nicole Denholder.