17 September 2015
Atta Africa Financial Update
Executive summary: Learning
Where governments are unable to provide youngsters with a decent education, the private sector in Africa is stepping up to the challenge.
In the developed world private schools charge high fees and teach the elite - in numbers taken a few years ago, there were an estimated 1 million private schools in the developing world - some are run by charities and churches, and others rely on state subsidies. But the fastest-growing group are small low-cost schools, run by entrepreneurs in poor areas that cater to those living on less than US$2 a day.
One reason for the developing world’s boom in private education is that aspirational parents are increasingly seeking alternatives to dismal state schools - in Africa, one-third of children who have finished four years of school cannot read at the minimum expected standard. Given the choice between a free state school where little teaching happens and a private school where their children have a chance to learn meaningfully, parents who can scrape together the fees will seek the latter.
A promising development is the spread of low-cost for-profit school chains in big cities in Africa - some started by catering to better-off families and are now moving into the mass market. Bridge International Academies for example, which runs around 400 primary schools in Kenya and Uganda, and plans to open more in Nigeria and India, is the biggest, with backers including Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates.
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Kukula and eVa back DotCom Zambia with US$500k |
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Brait announced plans to raise £350 million (US$541 million) convertible bond |
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