“I USED to think that achieving my dreams was impossible, but with the scholarship, I can now study without worrying about financial constraints,” said Nur Shafiqa Zulkefli, a recipient for the Fair & Lovely Scholarship 2017.
Nur Shafiqa was among the lucky 40 deserving young women who are currently enrolled in diploma and degree studies at local public universities.
She said the scholarship will help ease her family’s burden.
Fair & Lovely, for the second year now, gave away RM200,000 worth of scholarships in its initiative to transform and inspire the lives of women through education, beauty and confidence.
Each recipient received RM5,000 as funding to assist with necessities such as tuition fees and books.
This year, 12,044 students from 23 universities applied for the scholarship, a rising rate of 50 per cent compared to 8,000 applications last year.
“We aspire to serve as a brand that does not champion only the beauty and confidence of women, but also their dreams and educational opportunities. With the increase in cost of living, many students face financial barriers,” said Unilever (Malaysia) Holding Sdn Bhd’s Fair & Lovely brand manager Callista Fernandez.
“Hence, this scholarship will specifically provide the opportunity for women to further their education without worry.”
Fair & Lovely’s brand promise is to enable all women to carve out their own destiny by empowering them with inner strength and confidence that comes from feeling good about their visible, clear fairness.
“To further boost their confidence, we also had a surprise grooming and skincare education. Confidence is one of the most important elements in achieving success and being able to carry themselves well will boost one’s self-confidence.”
“We want to push these young women to greater heights and believe that dreams do come true when you start believing in yourself,” added Fernandez.
The students that were shortlisted from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn (UTHM) must obtain a minimum of 3.0 grade point average (GPA) apart from being actively involved in co-curricular activities.
Nabila Ali, 21, a second-year Oil & Gas Engineering degree student at UiTM Shah Alam, said the scholarship would be motivation for her to study even harder and help ease her family’s burden.
“I grew up in Sabah and I am the seventh out of 10 siblings. My mother is self-employed and has to raise my younger siblings. We are not from a rich family, hence I have to use money wisely. Now I can keep a little bit for my flight tickets for whenever I want to see them,” she said.
Nabila is active in various sports clubs and associations in university.
Nur Nadiah Abdul Jalil, 22, said she first heard about the scholarship during the orientation programme at her university.
“I didn’t feel confident at all but thought, why not. Armed with my good academic results and active participation in co-curricular activities, I wrote an essay entitled ‘Why we are among the chosen ones?’.”
“This scholarship will help me to buy textbooks,” said Nur Nadiah, a first year student in Degree in Civil and Building Services at UTHM.
Wan Nur Aqilah Wan Yusof, 20, from Kuala Terengganu said the scholarship opens the door for her to continue striving hard.
“I didn’t apply for any loans as my parents are funding my studies. So getting this scholarship will at least ease their burden as I can use it to subsist on for the next two semesters,” said Wan Nur Aqilah, who is a Bachelor in Education (Information Technology) student at UPSI.
At the event, Fair & Lovely brand ambassador Daiyan Trisha shared her thoughts on how education is important to achieve dreams.
“With a busy schedule juggling student life and singing, I always remind myself that education broadens my views in terms of my career.
“I couldn’t be more proud and grateful to be part of this campaign for the second year and be able to inspire the lives of young women out there,” said Daiyan.