Quest Alliance gets grant from ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos

MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has provided a grant to Quest Alliance for innovation in education technology that aims to empower young people.

Quest Alliance, a not-for-profit entity that works in the field of skills and empowering young learners, did not disclose the amount of significant unrestricted grant from the philanthropist.

Till now at least 13 Indian organisations working in various development spaces from health, education, rural communities and affordable healthcare have received Scott's global grant initiative of USD 2.7 billion in charities, Quest Alliance said in a statement on Saturday.

Quest Alliance is working in multiple States of India of which it is supporting technical and vocational education training ecosystem in 15 states and in 11 states it is supporting school education ecosystem.

Recently, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) launched a digital version of Employability Skills Curriculum under initiative of the Future Right Skills Network (FRSN), a collaborative effort by Quest Alliance, Accenture, Cisco, and J.P. Morgan for students enrolled in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across India.

MacKenzie Scott's philanthropy has been significant in the way it has shifted the dialogue towards more trust based and flexible funding which enables organizations to solve the most complex development problems with a long-term vision, Quest Alliance CEO Aakash Sethi said.

With this grant, it said, Quest Alliance will continue its mission of transforming the learning experience for young people, equipping them with the skills they need to succeed and thrive in the 21st-century workforce.