Southeast Asian Professionals in Australia - Wealth-Building Journeys

“In the impact sector people gate keep and that’s a bit heartbreaking to me." During our candid conversation, Ratu Nida Farihah described a difficult lesson she's learned from building her social enterprise Women's Lantern in the impact sector. She elaborates, "because the funding is so difficult, people are keeping their own secrets. They don’t want to collab, and I think that doesn’t work.” Some other powerful insights from our conversation about wealth-building for Southeast Asian Australians: Money mindset and emotional conditioning: Ratu said many Asian migrant women grow up with the belief that wealth is not for them, and that talking about money is taboo. She sees this as the first barrier - before any financial education can be useful. Beyond-survival financial education: Ratu mentioned there are resources to support survivors to people read bills, access zero-interest loans, and get through immediate crises. Yet there is little that helps migrant survivors think about or build wealth. And when someone is in survival mode, they aren't thinking about wealth building. Access to higher-growth opportunities: While pitching Women's Lantern to an impact investor, Ratu was forced to tears after being told that she should just open a cafe to create job opportunties for the women she's serving. She isn't settling for the low-paying kitchen & hospitality jobs for migrant survivors, though. Instead, she's asking why can't we point them toward Australia's $12–18 billion renewable energy market, where women are barely represented and need a seat at the table? "If we keep sending women migrant survivors to the kitchen to prepare food, are we really creating equity?" Impact work appears to be reserved for those with privilege: Ratu has had to invest a significant amount of personal savings from her corporate career to keep her social enterprise going. So she can only imagine how much more difficult it is for founders who don't have those resources to get their impact projects sustainable. ... Women's Lantern uses the production of solar goods to provide paid work, technical skills training, and confidence-building to help migrant women who have experienced domestic, family, and sexual violence. Reach out to Ratu to learn more about her work, buy a lantern, and support the cause. Thank you Ratu for your honesty, passion and perspective. After a rough week and moments of self-doubt, I am reminded of why the work I'm doing with Migrant Wealth Builders is important. ... P.S. If you're a Southeast Asian professional, founder, or startup operator in Australia and you'd like to share your wealth-building journey as part of my research — I'd love to hear from you. DM me (or tag someone you know who might be up for a chat).