Apple's Tim Cook joins forces with Malala in Beirut to support girls' education

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and Apple CEO Tim Cook recently visited Beirut, Lebanon. 

The purpose of their visit? Announcing a joint initiative aimed at providing 100,000 underprivileged girls with education in countries including Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, and Nigeria. 

Speaking to The Independent, Cook explained he decided to help fund Yousafzai's initiative after he was left highly impressed with her vision and determination to make a difference in the world during a meeting the two had. 

“We began to talk and it became so clear that she had such a bold vision. It really lined up with the boldness of Apple and that the core of it is an overriding belief in equality and that education is the great equaliser. And that has always been at the root of our company and my personal beliefs. And so it started, the fire was lit there. I instantly wanted to throw in on the vision that Malala had," Cook said. 

The joint project aims to combine Apple's forty years of expertise in the world of technology and Yousafzai's aim to secure education for underprivileged girls worldwide through the Malala Fund. 

In her interview with The Independent, Yousafzai's shared details of her joint charitable venture with Apple and explained how it all started. 

"I really wanted us to work together because Apple has expertise: they are expert in tech, they have resources and they have amazing and incredible people. The Malala Fund is trying to reach out to girls, how can we bring these two together to reach more girls, as many as we can, to empower them through quality education. And that was my dream. So, things started happening and I just can’t believe it has been a few months and now we are here in Lebanon and announcing our partnership for the coming years," she said. 

When asked about the vision behind the initiative, Yousafzai added: 

“You mentioned vision. The vision is clear. That is the education of 130 million girls who are out of school. My dream is to see every girl getting quality education and for that I’m hoping that through partnership with Apple we’ll be able to expand our work."

“I want to teach 100,000 girls and I want to involve girls and make sure that they can get quality education. Also, as you said, Tim, Apple has expertise in education, expertise in tech and we want to see how we can use that to help the Malala Fund," she explained. 

"A quick visit to Lebanon."