News

Impact-oriented fund managers Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P) and French development finance institution (DFI) Proparco have committed USD2.2m to Enko Education’s first institutional financing round.

Enko Education launched schools in Cameroon and Mozambique, and acquired a school in South Africa. The company plans to open three new secondary schools in Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire, and aims to run over thirty schools within the next five years. Enko’s model is based on partnerships with local private schools: Enko will provide ‘education engineering, innovative teaching methods and curricula to obtain “International Baccalaureate” (IB) certification within a year.’ The company will also be in charge of the schools’ management and development. The local partner, in turn, contributes the knowledge of the local education system, connections to parents, and infrastructure.

Enko mainly focus on southern and francophone Africa. The funding will finance the running of the existing three and the launch of the two new schools. The offering is mainly targeted at middle-class families and aims to provide ‘a cost-effective access to an internationally-recognized curriculum. By adopting an asset-light strategy and providing extensive training to local teachers, Enko Education is able to charge schools fees which are on average a quarter of those charged by other IB schools in Africa.’  Source: Africa Assets