A private foundation supporting education, healthcare, humanitarian relief and the arts.
Who we are
Alaka Foundation is the philanthropic vehicle of Brahmal Vasudevan, founder and chief executive of the private equity firm Creador, and Shanthi Kandiah, founder of the law firm SK Chambers. Giving is made through the couple's Alaka Holdings Trust.
Our work runs across four areas: education, healthcare, humanitarian relief, and arts and culture. In practice that has meant village preschools in the north and east of Sri Lanka, tens of thousands of free cataract operations, a teaching hospital in Perak, a revolving loan fund that puts students from refugee families through university, and endowed research and curatorial work at universities and museums abroad.
What we fund
Preschools, university loan funds, teaching hospitals and endowed research posts.
Free cataract surgery, hospital construction, and medical equipment.
Shelter, clean water and emergency medical capacity for communities recovering from war and crisis.
South Asian art scholarship, museum conservation, and the performing arts in Malaysia.
Where the work has reached
Programmes
Around 39,000 sight-restoring operations since 2023, at an average cost of about USD22 each.
RM50 million toward a not-for-profit teaching hospital at the UTAR Kampar campus, now open.
Twenty seven preschools in the north and east, funded every year since 2019.
In the news