About Us
Learn more about our values, where we work, and how we create global impact.
Kapadia Education Foundation was founded in 2000 by Pradeep Kapadia with the belief that access to education was one of the most powerful tools you can have.
Our mission is to connect bright and dedicated students in low-income countries with mentorship and financial resources in order to pursue higher education and affect positive change in their communities. Through lean and efficient operations, we cultivate cross-cultural relationships for students, staff, and supporters alike.
Our Values
Dignity
Our relationships are grounded in mutual respect, openness to growth, and a recognition of our diverse abilities. We value the interdependence of KEF, supporters, and students and commit to equitable partnerships as we work toward increasing access to education around the world.
We adopt an abundance mindset in both spirit and structure. Our model relies on the generosity of supporters, which extends to our students, who in turn commit to “pay it forward” in their own communities. We are generous of heart and mind toward ourselves, our students, and our supporters as we navigate the many complexities of the educational journey.
Generosity
Efficiency
Our efficient operations allow us to serve as a conduit for distributing resources to our students, maximizing each dollar’s impact.
We affirm the inherent value of education in all its forms and its transformative ability to increase agency, cultivate leadership, and unlock the potential of communities around the world.
Access
Meet Our Team
Pradeep Kapadia
Founder
Pradeep came to the United States in 1972 as a foreign student from India and graduated from Tufts University as a Mechanical Engineer. Having lived in three continents and traveled through about 48 countries, Pradeep has always been interested in cross-cultural relationships.
Pradeep ran an engineering and contracting firm, Kapadia Energy Services (KES), incorporated in 1980. KES specialized in energy and water conservation, saving our world's precious resources for future generations to use more wisely. Largely based on the success of his company, Pradeep was able to retire and focus on outside interests, the main one being the start-up and administration of Kapadia Education Foundation.
It is clear to Pradeep that his good fortune has been made possible by his family in India and in the U.S., as well as by countless friends and mentors all over the world who helped along the way. It is they who have paid it forward to Pradeep, setting the example for Kapadia Education Foundation to help others pay it forward.
Yazan Fattaleh
Executive Director
Yazan has been lucky to build a career supporting youth as they pursue higher education around the world. His personal immigrant story and experiences working with refugees in the USA and abroad inform his work supporting college students internationally.
He has a BA in Economics from the University of Colorado-Boulder and certificates in Monitoring and Evaluation from Makerere University in Kampala and Joining Vision and Action in Denver, CO.
In his free time, Yazan likes to rock climb, salsa dance, and eat hummus — but not all at the same time.
“There is no shortage of intelligence in the developing world, only the lack of funds needed to achieve the full potential of those who want desperately to improve their lives and their communities.”
-Pradeep Kapadia
Our Impact
Every Kapadia Education Foundation scholarship is issued with the explicit understanding that the recipient already has an understanding of how their education will benefit their community.
“Paying it Forward” is the bedrock of KEF’s scholarship program, and 100% of reporting alumni have demonstrated ways that their education has benefited others. With a graduation rate of over 90% for scholarship recipients, the very act of receiving a KEF scholarship is a benefit to the educational journey of the recipient. Their presence in their home communities as a successful student and graduate makes them an important model for the power of education, particularly for women.
Where We Work
Click the markers on the map to see where our KEF students, alumni, and donors live.
Interested in supporting a KEF scholar?
Our Partners
Kapadia Education Foundation issues grants to partner organizations to augment their existing scholarship programs or to support the development and implementation of new scholarship programs.
KEF currently supports scholarships for 110 students in eight countries: India, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Colombia, DRC, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda. If you are interested in funding the work through a partner organization of ours, click here. If you run an organization that has strong relationships with students, or those desiring to study who meet our eligibility criteria, please email us--especially if you are in a country we have not worked in yet!