A New Look at Income Share Agreements in Singapore and Southeast Asia

Every year, thousands of capable students across Southeast Asia miss out on education because funding is limited. Scholarships and loans remain important tools, but they’re not always enough to meet growing demand on their own.

A new white paper, Unlocking Human Potential: The Potential of Income Sharing Agreements (ISAs) in Singapore and ASEAN, takes a close look at whether income share agreements, the model behind Pay It Forward, could help close that gap.

The paper was prepared for the UBS Optimus Foundation Singapore, with research and data support from the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), legal review by Withers Worldwide (Withers KhattarWong LLP), and consulting input from Tri-Sector Associates (TSA). It’s an early, honest look at the opportunity, not a finished verdict. As the paper itself puts it, ISAs are still a new topic in much of the region, and the coming years of real-world implementation will teach the industry more than any single report can.

Key Findings

Here are the key findings from the paper:

The modelling demonstrates the potential significant positive social impact. Using a case study built around SIM’s Bachelor of Computer Science program, the paper models how far the same pool of money could go under three approaches: a traditional scholarship endowment, an ISA fund reinvesting 100% of capital, and a hybrid of the two.

The legal framework in Singapore is supportive. A review conducted with Withers Worldwide found that ISAs are not classified as loans in Singapore, provided the contract is structured correctly, meaning the earnings an ISA generates aren’t treated as interest and don’t fall under money lending regulations.

Over 30 years, the traditional scholarship model was projected to reach 330 students. The full ISA reinvestment model was projected to reach 1,053, more than triple, by recycling contributions back into funding new students instead of spending them once.

The regional picture is uneven. Southeast Asia isn’t one market. The paper walks through country-level outlooks for Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, and doesn’t shy away from naming where ISAs are less likely to work yet. Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines come out as the priority markets for expansion, each for different reasons: strong technical education demand, a large underserved vocational sector, and high English proficiency paired with a tradition of migration for work, respectively.

Ethics get a dedicated section, not a footnote. Because an ISA’s return depends on a student’s future income, the paper is upfront about the risk of the model becoming extractive if it’s poorly governed. It points to the Global ISA Alliance’s “CARE” criteria (Customer Centric, Accessible and Affordable, Respect and Professionalism, Education-focused) as a framework for keeping providers accountable, and explains why the Pay It Forward program developed by Waiser uses a fixed 2x repayment cap: participants never repay more than twice the amount originally funded, no matter how much they go on to earn.

Why This Matters for Pay It Forward

Pay It Forward is Waiser’s income share agreement program. For students and families considering it, this paper provides the research and reasoning behind how the model has been designed, including its legal structure, ethical safeguards, and long-term sustainability

Students, educators, policymakers, and philanthropic organisations will all find something useful here: real evidence on how Income Share Agreements (ISAs) could expand access to education across Southeast Asia.

The full white paper is attached below, with the complete data, modelling assumptions, and country-by-country detail. Questions are welcome anytime at hello@waiser.com

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