Harvey Keh – Director of Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo School of Government; Founder of Pathways to Higher Education and AHON Foundation

50 less-privileged youth have earned their college degree through Pathways to Higher Education. 15 public school libraries across Luzon—benefitting 30,000 students—have been built through AHON foundation.

These are just two of Harvey Keh’s long list of achievements as community leader and social entrepreneur.

Seven years ago, at age 22, Harvey founded Pathways, his first non-profit organization, through funding from Ford Foundation making him the youngest grantee in its history.

In 2007, he was chosen as one of the 20 Young Leaders of Asia by the Asia Society.

With all these accolades and accomplishments, Harvey remains… well… down-to-earth. Reading through his CV, one would come to realize a man who seems to be all work and no play. But Harvey is just like everyone else—he loves NBA, going to the movies, hanging out with friends.

He epitomizes an “ordinary man doing extraordinary things” and this makes Harvey all the more inspiring—a proof that everyone can be a change-maker.

Read or listen to the interview to find out more about Harvey Keh, director of Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo School of Government.

Jay-R Patron: Can you give a summary of what you do currently?

Harvey Keh: Right now, I’m spearheading the social entrepreneurship program of the Ateneo de Manila School of Government and at the same time I also work for Ashoka which is a world-leading organization that promotes social entrepreneurship. I spearhead the Ashoka Youth Venture program here, which helps young people develop programs that will benefit our communities. At the same time, I’m also involved as the executive director of AHON Foundation or Acts of Hope for the Nation foundation which helps build public elementary school libraries around the Philippines. So those are my main involvement, aside from also teaching here at the university.

Jay-R Patron: What is a normal day at work to you like?

Harvey Keh: A normal day at work would be, of course, I wake up, I pray, I wash up, eat breakfast. After all those routinary things, take a bath and everything; I usually first check my email and then I usually have a full day of meetings with people. Trying to get… trying to fix up our programs and activities; trying to check where the progress of our programs are. My day would start usually at 730am and would end around 630 or 7pm. That’s if I don’t have a dinner meeting. But more often than not, once or twice a week I would usually also have a dinner meeting. After the day, I’d usually either go out with friends, go out with my girlfriend, go out with colleagues, or stay at home and watch the NBA.

Jay-R Patron: Did you watch the La Salle-Ateneo game last Sunday?

Harvey Keh: Of course.

Jay-R Patron: Did you watch it live?

Harvey Keh: I was there in Araneta. I was with Cay and Cristyl, my two staff members. The three of us were watching the game there, yeah.

Jay-R Patron: Will you talk a little about YLSE here at the Ateneo? What is it and what does it do?

Harvey Keh: We believe here in Ateneo that if you want to change the Philippines, you cannot ignore the fact that there are so many young Filipinos who really want to make a difference. At the same time, as our great national hero said, “Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan”, if we do not take care of our young people, if we don’t train them to become effective and ethical leaders then we will have another generation wherein we are governed in such a way that their self-interests are the only ones that are served and the country will continue to deteriorate. The YLSE program particularly addresses that. We want to train young people, young Filipinos to become leaders who are effective and ethical. At the same time, they are not leaders by name but they are leaders who practice their leadership, meaning, they do acts of leadership. That’s where the social entrepreneurship component comes in. Social entrepreneurship is finding innovative means and ways of solving social problems. Social problems in education, in health, environment; we want the young people not only to become young leaders but also social entrepreneurship. Aside from this, we also have a social entrepreneurship program which does not only cater to young people but also caters to the general Filipino population. We encourage Filipinos, professionals, students, to become social entrepreneurs to do their own… because we believe in Ashoka’s vision as well—making everyone a changemaker. Anyone can be a changemaker in his or her own small way.

Jay-R Patron: Talking about social entrepreneurship, where do you think that concept lies in our country right now? Where is the Philippines in terms of adopting social entrepreneurship?

Harvey Keh: I think it’s just beginning. My boss Dr. Lavina actually brought Ashoka here to the Philippines in 2006. I think social entrepreneurship as a concept has been here for a long time in terms of… there are so many non-profit organizations here in the Philippines who are doing good work in terms of helping solve their different problems. However, the branding of social entrepreneurship is relatively new. There are so many organizations that want to move towards being a social enterprise, meaning not just helping but creating sustainability in helping. Hindi naman pwede tulong ka ng tulong ubos nap ala pera mo, di ba? You need to be able to create sustainable and scalable means so that your change will not only happen in your community, but if you’re able to do it well you can scale up to help more communities all over the country.

Jay-R Patron: Can you think of parties, entities here in the Philippines who are successful in utilizing the concept of social entrepreneurship?

Harvey Keh: Yes, definitely. There’s one group called Y-Trip. It’s called Youth Trip. What they do is they offer tours, tour packages to young people, and at the same time, they incorporate environmental awareness among those tours. So when they go to, say, Biak na Bato national park, we have a group of people who get to see the place and at the same time have lectures on how to take care of the environment. So that’s one. So they charge, they become sustainable, at the same time they generate awareness, not only in terms of environment but even culturally. Filipinos and non-Filipinos begin to understand the Filipino culture better. Secondly, you have this social enterprise called Venture for Fund-Raising. It is a non-profit organization that has been here in the Philippines for 10 or 15 years already. What it does is it trains other non-profits, schools, and foundations on how to raise funds. For example, you own a foundation, Jay-R, you can go to Venture and say, “Ok, I want to be trained on how to raise money,” so that you can make your foundation, non-profit organization sustainable. You will be able to learn how to raise funds, how to organize fundraisers, how to write grants. So that’s what another social enterprise does. Another social enterprise, Atikha, what it does is it creates, provides support to OFWs and their families. As we very well know there is a big growth right now of Filipinos migrating abroad, and the problem there is the family that is left behind. You have parents who are separated—you have one parent in Kuwait, another parent is in Dubai, and the children are left behind here. So they don’t… the children grow up without parents, without seeing their parents on a regular basis. So what Atikha does is it creates programs wherein to help the kids and their families adjust and to be able to train the kids in terms of values, teaching the kids how to save money. Kasi ang karaniwang nangyayari sa mga bata na naiiwan ng OFW, pinapadalhan ng magulang ng pera, para makabawi, so to speak. So they spoil their children. They try to make up for the lost presence here, and the children they don’t know how to save. They buy all sorts of things—cellphones, ipods, brand new shoes. So what Atikha does is it trains these kids on how to save money. So these are just three prime examples of great social enterprises that are changing communities; that are address social problems.

Jay-R Patron: What does Harvey Keh do for fun?

Harvey Keh: A lot of things. I like watching movies. The last time movie I watched was. What was the last movie I watched? I watched it in Greenhills. I like watching movies, I like watching basketball. I’m a big NBA, Laker fan. I’m a big Ateneo fan for UAAP. Sometimes if I have time I watch DVD. I like to eat. I like to eat out. I like trying new restaurants. The other day I just tried a Persian restaurant. My second or first time to try a Persian restaurant. So those are the things that I do. Wala naman akong luho. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink. I don’t gamble. I usually sleep early. I sleep at around 10.30 and 11 and I wake up early as well 6, 6.30. There.

Jay-R Patron: When you were younger did you ever think that you would be doing what you’re doing now?

Harvey Keh: When I was younger, I’ve always seen myself that I wanted to be a teacher. After college, I wanted to go back to Xavier where I studied in high school, teach there for two years, and go back to my family business. I didn’t really see this coming that it would be this kind of life that I would have. But as early as grade school, I was already exposed to a lot of… the kind of situation the Philippines lives in. I was very privileged to have come from a middle class to a relatively well-off Chinese family. We didn’t have any problems putting food on the table. But of course, my parents didn’t really spoil me. They just gave me enough. They allowed me to explore the world outside my house, outside Xavier School. They made me see what reality was like in the Philippines.

Jay-R Patron: At what age did you say to yourself, “I need to do this”?

Harvey Keh: My realization with the fact that I wanted to do this happened when I was already in college. I was part of the student council here in the university. I was also part of the organization called Student Catholic Action and what we did is we went to area work. During the area work, we would tutor public school kids there in the area, in the depressed communities that we went to. And then when we tutored the kids, I had students who were in Grade 5 or Grade 6 but still didn’t know how to read, still couldn’t, didn’t learn how to do the multiplication table. It’s kind of shocking to me that you have 13, 14-year old students who still didn’t understand what they were reading. I felt that that was way unfair. I felt that, in a way, if a child grows up without learning how to read, without getting this opportunity to be able to have quality education, I think the future isn’t going to be too bright for him or her. And it is not his fault. It’s not his fault that he or she is not receiving a good education. It’s not because they choose to be poor, but the opportunities are just not there.

Jay-R Patron: What do you think does it take to fulfill, you’ve heard of Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs, and based dun sa graph na yun we need to fulfill certain needs before fulfilling yung, I forgot the term, but basically, “Being one for others”?

Harvey Keh: I think in all honesty, young people like us who come from middle class to relatively well-off families, have to be thankful for all our blessings. It all begins with that. It all begins with appreciating the little things in life, the fact that you have a home, the fact that when you get home there’s always food on the table, the fact that when you open the faucet there’s going to be clean water that’s coming out, you can take a bath anytime you want, you have clean clothes that you can wear. Little things, you go to a good school, you get a good education; it beings with that. It begins with the appreciation that we have so many things, that it is so unfair if we don’t share it. It’s so unfair if you don’t share your talents, it’s so unfair if you don’t share your opportunities with others to also access the kind of life that you have. That’s why I really don’t understand why so many people can buy Chanel bags, can buy Ferregamo shoes on a regular basis, and yet when they go out on the streets, they go out to their homes, schools, offices, they see poverty all around them. How can you stand that? How can you live with that kind of lifestyle? I think it begins with that. I think it begins with appreciating small things. It begins with becoming content with the life that you have, understanding that you’re blessed and understanding that because you are blessed, you are asked to give and share your blessings with others.

Jay-R Patron: For the youth, where do you think education should start?

Harvey Keh: I think it should begin at home. I think it begins with our families. I think, as I said a while ago, even though we come from a middle class to a relatively well-off family, my parents did not tell me that we are rich and therefore should not care for the poor. My dad always inculcated in me the reality that, “We are privileged Harvey. We should not waste this opportunity to help others. You are given talent. The talent is not for your own sake. It is for you to share to others.” I think it begins at home. At the same time, it also ought to have a certain formation programs in your schools because when you’re still young you spend most of your time in schools, most of your time with you teachers. That’s why teachers are actually our first role models in a way. After our parents, we look up to our teachers, therefore, teachers should also be able to inculcate those proper values to our young people.

Jay-R Patron: Moving back a few years, what was your childhood like?

Harvey Keh: My childhood was very fun. I like teasing people. I remember I always make people cry when I was a kid. Di naman ako bully. But when I would play with my cousins, I had two particular cousins that I would always tease and iyak sila eh so wala akong magagawa, di ba? I always loved teasing people, even up to now. My childhood was very nice. I had so many good memories out of it. I felt… sa tingin ko, that’s the reason why I am here, the reason why I can give so much; because I received so much when I was still a kid, when I was growing up. I would remember I would play patintero, tumbang preso. I was not as privileged as my friends who always had the best toys, the newest toys, I would remember that. But would always have a good set of friends; set of friends that I would play basketball with, play simple sit-games with. It was fun.

Jay-R Patron: Can you think of the fondest memory from your childhood?

Harvey Keh: The fondest memory I would have from my childhood was summers at our home wherein I would have friends who spend the whole afternoon swimming. We have a swimming pool at home. After that we would play basketball and eat together. I guess those were my fondest memories.

Jay-R Patron: What role does your family play in all these?

Harvey Keh: A very important role. My parents are very supportive. I have only one sibling, my sister. Dalawa lang kami. They’ve been very supportive. I love my family. I look up to them. I admire both my parents for giving us this kind of life that we have right now. I want to also give this kind of a life to my children without spoiling them, showing to them that there’s indeed a lot of things we can do in our society. They play a very important role in my life.

Jay-R Patron: Will you narrate the highest and lowest points in your life?

Harvey Keh: There are a lot of highest and lowest. But one of the highest points in my life was when I started Pathways to Education. I was only 22 then. I became the youngest Ford Foundation grantee in the world. I started my first non-profit when I was 22 and got a Ford Foundation grant of $450,000 to start Pathways in the Philippines, wherein I would have this opportunity to be able to identify poor but deserving students and help them. Another high point in my life was of course when I was able to start AHON Foundation which helps public school libraries, that was two years ago. Again, the high points in my life I feel are moments wherein God gave me the opportunity to help others. Every time I’m able to change a life or change a community, I think those are my highest points. Lowest points in my life would be, of course there are a lot. For example, not every project that we did in Pathways succeeded. I remember the first batch of participants, when we started Pathways we had 42 participants, 42 incoming freshmen students. After our first year we were down to 29. We had such a big mortality rate. I really felt bad about it. What happened? Where did we go wrong? We evaluated and now we have more than 500 students in college. I am no longer the executive director. I passed it on to my deputy already but I’m very much still involved with Pathways. Those are some of the low points. Low points in my life as well, in terms of relationships, I’ve had several relationships and not everything went well. I’ve had relationships that also failed. In my personal life, those were also low points. But I never had points in my life where I would questions what I was doing, and the kind of life that I would have. Even in my lowest points in my life, I’ve always felt that there was a reason for things. Why things felt that way, why things went that way. It didn’t really come, “I didn’t want to do this anymore” or “This is really such a senseless job.”

Jay-R Patron: But did you ever come to a point where you thought, “Why am I doing this? Is this the right path for me?”

Harvey Keh: Of course, of course. There were always temptations. There were always temptations that I could have just taken a corporate job and earn more money and be like my classmates who could buy new cars or buy new clothes, who would be able to save enough money to buy a new iPhone. But those are just fleeting moments. As I said, I think I was lucky enough that God showed me what he wanted me to do for my life. When people ask me what I want to do with my life, I simply say I want to change the Philippines. I want to help more poor people. I want to help push development in our country. I want to make sure that when I have children, when my children grow up, they don’t have to do the things that I have to. They can have their own life without worrying about this country anymore. By that time hopefully the Philippines would be a first world country, giving equal opportunities to every Filipino.

Jay-R Patron: You mentioned that you started your first foundation when you were 22, what does it take for a person to start a foundation? The practical side and the idealistic.

Harvey Keh: The practical side of course is you have to be able to find money. Find money to start you own foundation. Find money, find resources. But I’ve always believed that the practical side is the easy part. Once you have a great idea, once you know what you want to do, once you start sharing this with other people, the help will come. I’ve always believed that there are so many Filipinos who want to help, but they just don’t know how. You just have to show them that, “Hey, I’m doing this. You can help me out…”

Jay-R Patron: I interviewed Mario Deriquito of Ayala Foundation last week and he said the same thing, “Filipinos are willing to help but they just don’t know how.” You just have to give them a vehicle to manifest their spirit of giving.

Harvey Keh: Yes.

Jay-R Patron: What is your greatest challenge? What has been your greatest challenge and how did you overcome it?

Harvey Keh: That is a tough question. On the practical side, my greatest challenge was really trying to ensure that Pathways would survive beyond the Ford Foundation grant. The Ford Foundation grant was from 2002 until 2005, until today Pathways is still there. It’s still existing, it’s still running, it’s still helping so many kids go to college. I think that was one of my greatest challenge, “How I would be able to create means to help make Pathways sustainable and financially viable.” Another challenge was, when I started Pathways, as I said I was 22, I needed to get the support of institutions to support Pathways, to try to get funding, scholarships, support, but Pathways didn’t have a track record then. It was tough to sell the idea. In the Philippines, if you didn’t have a track record, it’s tough to get support. But eventually when we got more students to come in, when we were getting more support, that’s when things began, support began to come in.

Jay-R Patron: How about your greatest life achievement?

Harvey Keh: I think my greatest life achievement so far is being a good son, a good Filipino. I think that for me so far, I don’t know about the future, but being a good son and a good Filipino. I think I’ve made my parents proud of what I’ve done, although I don’t earn money. Sabi ko nga, I have changed hundreds of thousands of lives already. I think that’s enough. If ever God decides to take me and says, “I’ll take you already, it’s time to go.” I can come face to face with him and say, “This is what I’ve done for you here.” And being a good Filipino, I think that for me is a good achievement. Loving this country and not leaving it. Telling people that there is so much hope if we only work together, if we only try our best to show how much we care for our country. Madaling magsabi na mahal ko ang Pilipinas, mahirap gawin yun, mahirap panindigan yun. I think a trademark of a true Filipino is not only by words but also by deeds and work.

Jay-R Patron: Where and how does faith play in your life?

Harvey Keh: Very, very important. I’m a very devout Catholic. I go on retreats practically twice a year. I go to mass every week. I even teach theology here in Ateneo. Faith is very important because, like for example today, pagod ka eh. The day is long. You have so many problems to deal with. But at the end of the day you go back to the source of love, the source of it all, God. I know that when God is with me, he will get me through. As I said, I’ve also had a lot of problems, I’ve had a lot of challenges, I failed several times and yet it never deterred me. I always believe, “Ok, tomorrow’s going to be a new day, tomorrow’s going to be a new chance,. Tomorrow’s going to be another opportunity to redeem myself.”

Jay-R Patron: Why is it important to to give back, volunteer, be involved in the community?

Harvey Keh: Because if you’re not going to do it, nobody will. At the end of the day, if we Filipinos do not take care of our country, who will? I think it’s very important for us to take time to volunteer, share our resources with our country and with our countrymen who need it the most. We go back to, who do you want to help our country, but who can help the country best but the Filipino. Secondly, volunteering makes you become part of something bigger than yourself. And when you become part of something bigger than yourself, you realize that life is so beautiful, life is not restricted to the kind of life that I live. Life opens up to you and you begin to realize new things, new opportunities, new lives ahead. Volunteering, you share a part of yourself, and society shares a part of itself to you as well, and you being to grow. You become a better person, become more mature, and become a better individual.

Jay-R Patron: If there was one message that you would like to tell our readers and or listeners out of all that has been discussed today, what would that message be?

Harvey Keh: Readers and to the listeners, there is so much hope in our country but hope does not lie in our president, in our senators, in our mayors, in our leaders. Hope lies in each one of us. If you want our country to become a good country, to become the best country in the world, then we should not pin our hopes in these people. Hope should resonate in each of us, not only in words but also in action. At the same time, the challenge is there, with all the problems in the Philippines, we can all feel depressed and say this is such a hopeless situation. But at the other side of the coin we can say, “This is an opportunity to do something good, an opportunity for us to work together, an opportunity for us to make the Philippines great again.” We can always look at problems two ways, we can feel depressed or take this as an opportunity to make the most out of our resources, to make the most out of out talents and to share what we have to others.

Jay-R Patron: What can we expect from you and your organizations in the next days, weeks, months, years?

Harvey Keh: For Pathways, we hope to be able to continue to help public high school students who are very bright but are not financially well off. We hope to help them get to college and finish their college education. For AHON we will continue building public high school libraries and helping more children, public elementary school children to open their eyes not only to the Philippines but through books, they get to experience new realities, they get to learn new things. For the Social Entrepreneurship program, we hope to inspire new leaders; a younger generation of leaders. We want to make them see that there is still hope for this country, that they are the hope of this country, and if we work together we can turn this country around. We can become the best. I always believe that Filipinos are the best people in the world. We are the happiest people, at the same time, masipag tayo, matalino tayo. We’re just governed by very poor leaders. Hopefully the YLSE program will churn out leaders who are not only effective but more importantly, ethical. So that’s what people can expect in the coming months, years. We will continue to change the Philippines, we will continue to work together with other organizations in, hopefully, molding a new generation of change makers and hopefully creating a better Philippines.

Jay-R Patron: Alright, that’s it. Thank you very much.

Harvey Keh: Thank you.