Opening Doors, Lifting Hearts and Strengthening Minds
July 29, 2025
During the COVID-19 pandemic, which offered many people a life pause for re-direction, Ms Nur Hafishah Marsden (Arts & Social Sciences ’05) spotted a problem which led her down the path of social entrepreneurship. Then based in Indonesia, she said, “I noticed that many children, especially those from families who could only afford a single mobile phone, were left behind in their learning. With limited access to online classes, they were often found running around outside, disconnected from any form of structured education.” She started small learning groups and that laid the foundation for the Arden Project.
Launched in mid-2020, the Arden Project — so named because Ms Marsden aims for students to embody the strength, vision and resilience of the eagle, which is called ‘arden’ in Old English — is a community-building social enterprise committed to educating and empowering youths from underprivileged backgrounds. Run by a team of six full-timers and two part-timers, the two centres in Jakarta offer low-cost, affordable English courses for students from low-income families. Ms Marsden estimates that about 90 per cent of her students are from such households, whose per capita income averages about S$100-150 per month.
In Indonesia, the rate for English courses in the market is about S$30-50 a month, a sum which is out of reach for these families. “In the families that we serve, parents have low-income earning jobs and many also work in the informal sector as house helpers, security guards, contractors and Gojek drivers,” she explained. “Many of them go to state schools and do not have access to an English-speaking environment.”
Bridging the English Gap
Ms Marsden’s work plugs a critical gap. According to the 2023 EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI), which ranks countries and regions by English skills, Indonesia ranked 79th out of 113 countries, with a score of 473 out of 700. This places the country in the ‘Low Proficiency’ category, the second-lowest among the five proficiency levels.
For many low-income families in Indonesia, the attainment of English proficiency is a dream, often out of reach due to prohibitively high course fees. The Arden Project puts such dreams within reach. Students who range from primary school to university level come to the Arden Project centres four times a week for lessons which, while rigorous, are delivered in a simple and fun manner that has proven popular with the community.
In just five years, more than 700 students have benefitted from these programmes. Nearly all have reported improvements in their English exam results, with about half scoring more than 90 per cent. Students’ mothers cited on the group’s Instagram account are grateful that since going to Arden, the children have been able to learn independently without needing parental supervision.
Ms Marsden soon saw the need to go beyond teaching English. “We quickly realised that teaching English alone wasn’t enough to truly uplift our students,” she said, “Many of them needed a renewed sense of purpose and confidence. So, we introduced empowerment programmes that help students reflect on their goals, explore their potential, understand the value of education and navigate challenges like bullying, social judgement and self-esteem.”
Educator and Innovator
As the former President of the NUS Entrepreneurship Society, Ms Marsden was exposed to the fast-moving and exciting world of startups. It was a valuable experience that taught her how principles like efficiency, productivity, and innovation drive success. But over time, she realised that chasing material success alone wasn’t enough. What really stood out to her was how those same business tools could be used to make a positive difference in people’s lives. That idea stayed with her—and shaped the direction she wanted to take in her career.
She shared that Professor Wong Poh Kam, then Director of the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, played a big role in her journey to becoming a social entrepreneur. He gave her the opportunity to attend and help organise numerous seminars, international conferences and start-up competitions where she met a global community of social entrepreneurs.
For the rest of 2025, Ms Marsden will be busy opening up three new education centres and implementing a teacher training programme, so that even more students can benefit. She is looking forward to the challenge. Her journey in social entrepreneurship has taken her to remote villages and post-conflict areas—experiences that tested her resilience and shaped her outlook. Now focused on expanding opportunities and empowering more students, she always bears one thing in mind: “To truly mobilise a community, I’ve learned it takes empathy, compassion, intelligence, and a massive amount of grit.”