UOB HeartbeatUOB My Digital Space
Bridging the Digital DivideBridging the Digital Divide

Bridging the Digital Divide

UOB My Digital Space prepares children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, for a digital future.

Opening the gateway to a world of new possibilities

UOB My Digital Space is the Bank’s flagship regional education programme that prepares children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, for a digital future by equipping them with digital tools and skills, and connecting them to wider learning opportunities to bridge the digital divide. Launched in 2020, UOB My Digital Space spans seven markets across ASEAN, including Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In 2024, the programme benefitted close to 15,000 youths across the region.

On top of providing children with access to digital tools and educational resources, UOB also supports the children through our time, skills and service through volunteerism. UOB Heartbeat volunteers are actively present at workshop runs (where applicable) to guide the children in picking up the digital making skills.
Singapore

Singapore

In Singapore, we focus on teaching communities across all ages how to navigate the digital space for Conducive Learning while Staying Safe from bad actors that threaten their cyber safety. By learning together, families can build a united front, fostering mutual awareness and reinforcing safe online habits that protects all in the household while leveraging the learning benefits of the digital space.

Through the UOB MDS programme and with the support of our digital education partners that include Cyberlite, Hatch and SpedGrow, we prepare the next generation for what the digital future entails.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of the Republic of Singapore (sixth from left), Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Digital Development and Information and Second Minister for Home Affairs (sixth from right), Mrs Christine Ip, Head of Group Strategic Communications and Brand (GSCB), and CEO of Greater China, UOB (fifth from right), volunteers from GSCB and Group Channels and Digitalisation, and festive goers at the UOB My Digital Space booth at Vivocity on 9 November 2024.

Thailand

Thailand

In Thailand, we are a strong advocate for championing digital literacy and future-ready skills in students living in remote areas in the country through the UOB MDS programme. Together with Thailand Collaboration for Education (TCFE), we build computer rooms and provide digital learning courses focused in topics such as Science, Mathematics and English across provinces for the children.

As part of UOB MDS, UOB Money 101: Teen Edition, an online financial literacy programme, also equips lower secondary-level students in 26 schools across the country with financial knowledge and skills to prepare them for the future. Since the launch in 2021, UOB Money 101 has reached over 6,500 students in 59 schools nationwide.

Vietnam

Vietnam

In Vietnam, in partnership with Saigon Children's Charity CIO, we built a total of five fully-furnished computer rooms across village schools in the under-developed Mekong Delta area. This provides more than 450 students between the ages of 9 – 11 years old access to digital learning platforms and hence learning opportunities in preparation for the future.

UOB volunteers visit the schools to engage the children in digital activities such as Kahoot-based games.

About the programme

learning

Distributes digital learning sets including laptops to help disadvantaged children with remote learning

collecting

Collects used laptops, tablets and desktop computers in good condition, and refurbishes them for donation to those in need

electronics

Run education programmes supporting digital literacy and skills, such as coding, to help disadvantaged children learn the language of the future

child

Enrich the lives of the young through safe, educational content tailored for children, on the UOB My Digital Space Interactive Learning portal

Impact investments on digital inclusion

The Asia Impact Investment Fund (AIIF) has a double bottom line focus, valuing both financial return and social impact.

Invest in growth, create impact

Invest in growth, create impact

In 2015, UOB Venture Management launched the first series of the AIIF, to invest in growth companies in Southeast Asia and China that improve lives of lower income communities at the base of the economic pyramid. Through AIIF, we support sustainable growth businesses with impact-driven business models. A number of our portfolio companies played key roles in driving digital inclusion among their local communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital learning with Ruangguru
case study

Digital learning with Ruangguru

Ruangguru is the largest and most comprehensive Educational Technology (EdTech) company in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, serving more than 22 million users and over 300,000 teachers on its digital learning platform. Ruangguru helps to address the uneven distribution of educational resources by providing affordable access to mobile and web-based quality educational content to students, teachers and schools across Indonesia.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ruangguru’s online products became an important avenue for students in Indonesia to continue their curriculum-based learning while schools were shut. Ruangguru sought to focus on mitigating the impact on students by setting up a free online school, which has since been accessed by more than 10 million children. In addition, during the pandemic, Ruangguru made their teachers’ training content available to educators, free of charge.