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Growing up in Hong Kong as an ethnic minority student who did not speak fluent Cantonese, Sumichhya Gurung did not know about her career options. Because of her background, Sumicchya wanted to make a difference for other youngsters.
“[I had] the idea of creating a programme to build exposure for hundreds of other students like myself and showing them what else is out there besides what we are told in the system and in the society,” said the 28-year-old Hongkonger whose family is from Nepal. “I think that’s what kind of gravitated me towards joining EmpowerU.”
EmpowerU is an NGO that provides education to marginalised groups in Hong Kong. In 2020, it hired Sumichhya to design a career development programme for ethnically diverse students. Four years after it first began, the PowerThru Education Programme has helped around 1,300 students.
In March, Sumichhya was recognised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. She received the Young Change Maker Award at the 21st Annual Women of Influence Awards.
“The work is so personal to me. I’ve never really thought about, ‘Oh, I need to get an award for this,’ because the work needs to be done,” Sumichhya said.
Skills for life
Sumichhya said PowerThru was unique because it was “created by ethnically diverse communities for the ethnically diverse communities”.
“When we’re working with communities that are kind of alienated or marginalised in the system, it really makes a difference when you see someone that you can resonate with,” she said.
Through the free programme, students from Form Three to Form Five can pick from different courses. These courses teach important soft skills like storytelling and mental health awareness, as well as hard skills like coding and law. For ethnic minority students, the classes help fill a need. They often face setbacks in Hong Kong’s school system that keep them from exploring their careers. These can include financial difficulties and language gaps.
“Our goal from the programme is to ... let them experience soft skills that they can apply no matter what position or what stage they come across in life,” Sumichhya said.
From student to mentor
Tireza Gurung joined PowerThru in 2021. She remembered taking classes in law and health.
“They were not just there for us to be better academically, but also ... to help us figure out what we wanted to do later on in the future,” said Tireza, who is now 21.
She recently completed a diploma course in marketing from the Universal College of Higher Education.
Last summer, Tireza wanted to give back to PowerThru by becoming an intern. For about four months, she worked as a social media assistant.
“I wanted to go back and help the students that they’re working with the same way they helped me ... I wanted to give back to the younger generation,” she said.
