John Wood sees his life as a three-act play.
The first act includes his years as an executive at Microsoft before he left his perk-filled position as Greater China director of business development in 1999.
The American’s second act was his two decades at Room to Read, the charity he founded in 2000 that aims to end illiteracy and gender inequality, which was inspired by a trekking holiday he took in the foothills of the Nepal Himalayas.
Wood left Room to Read in 2021 and today is fully immersed in his third act, U-Go, a non-profit organisation he founded in 2022 that helps young women in low-income nations continue their education beyond secondary school.
Operating in nine countries – Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Tanzania – with plans to expand, the NGO is driven by the motto “Talent is Universal. Opportunity is Not.”
It has ambitious goals.
