IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies Region: Africa, South Asia Bridge International Sector: Education $10 million Academies IFC Investment: From the creation of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals of 2000 to the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals there has been a notable shift in focus on the all-important issue of education. The previous set of goals focused on increasing enrollment. Today the emphasis is on providing an inclusive and quality education. And for good reason: Rising enrollment must be parents and entrepreneurs opened small schools to serve accompanied by better quality education, and often it has the needs of children in their communities. In informal not been. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, there was a settlements in Nairobi, it was estimated that 60 percent of 20 percent increase in the net enrollment rate from 2000 children attended schools that were privately-run.⁴ Such to 2015, yet while more children attended school, too often schools charged fees, but those were often lower than or they were not progressing.¹ As of 2011, only three out of ten on par with public school fees. These schools took steps to third year school children in Kenya could do second-year improve quality, but most lacked the resources to invest work.² Public schools were also associated with unofficial heavily in new teaching materials, teaching methods, or payments, including desk, homework, and other fees.³ school management. It is not surprising, then, that parental dissatisfaction with Bridge International Academies was established to the quality and cost of public primary schools pushed change the quality of education available to children in many families to look for other options. In many places underserved, low-income communities. It is the first 1 IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies educational organization to address the problem of quality at scale, allowing it to invest heavily in research and technology and to focus relentlessly on learning. Bridge has asked—and tried to answer—a fundamental question about education in low-income countries: How can learning outcomes for children in these regions be radically improved at a very low cost to parents, donors and governments? Bridge has grown from two academies in Kenya with 300 students in 2009 to almost 100,000 students in over 470 locations in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and India. It is also starting a pilot program with the Government of Liberia to run up to 50 schools. May and her future husband Jay Kimmelman began to explore ideas about how to provide children from the most The organization has developed unique systems that tackle marginalized, lowest-income families with a primary education some of the most challenging issues in education. And so that would give them the literacy, numeracy, and other far Bridge’s plan seems to be working. Its first graduating skills necessary for secondary school and for life. Critical to class in Kenya had a 40% higher chance of passing the their approach was that parents should be able to make national primary exit exam than the national average. their own decisions regarding their children’s education. The organization’s own studies show that its students outperform their peers in public schools in basic literacy With a background in computer science and electrical and reading; further independent studies of learning engineering, Kimmelman had co-founded and run Edusoft, outcomes are currently underway. an educational software company in the U.S. which he scaled to serve three million students. Kimmelman and May DEVELOPING AN IDEA outlined the business model for Bridge based on research they conducted in informal urban settlements and villages From 2005 to 2006, Shannon May was a resident across Sub-Saharan Africa. Kimmelman then invited Phil anthropologist on a development project in China and an Frei, a former roommate, to join the team. Frei had a English teacher at the local village school there. May, who consulting background in commercializing new technologies would go on to co-found Bridge International Academies, and had moved to Malawi to apply his background to a witnessed firsthand how a lack of resources and rampant social impact project with smallholder farmers.⁶ teacher absenteeism contributed to an environment in which children were present in school but were not Committed to making data-based decisions, the three learning. She found that only 2-to-4 percent of children friends considered potential countries where they could passed the examinations needed to move on to secondary launch their idea and ranked Kenya the highest. Core school.⁵ Parents in these communities often made the considerations in their assessment were: economically rational decision to send children to work rather than to schools that were not improving their future • Poverty Rate: Countries where more than 50 percent prospects. Unfortunately, with no alternatives to state- of the population lived in poverty were ranked higher, provided education, parents were faced with the painful as they demonstrated a greater need for affordable and realization that their children were likely to grow up with improved diversity of education. less opportunity than they themselves had. 2 IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies Bridge’s Value Chain An Overview of Challenges and Solutions Product Distribution Marketing & Customer Development Sales Service Value Chain • Limited • Ensure consistent • Families have • Teacher availability of quality at all limited money absenteeism teachers locations to spend on • Lack of feedback school • Disparate • Efficient loops to engage Challenges implementation communication • Need for schools parents of national with staff to be a part in Providing curriculum of the local • Manage Low-Cost • Traditional modes geographically community Education of learning dispersed locations • Language barriers • Need to scale when scaling quickly and cost- effectively • Trains and • Uses technology • Engages with • Transparent fee supports to track and parents and payment through teachers to monitor classroom community to mobile platforms deliver student- learning raise awareness • Emphasizes centric learning • Delivers and • Hires teachers relationship- Bridge’s • Develops adapts lesson from the local management Solutions custom teacher plans via tablets community with parents and learner (e.g. parent • Decentralizes • Sets price point resources, satisfaction academy manage- on par with including surveys) ment with strong public school teacher guides central support costs • Ensures teacher • Prioritizes oversight by • Embeds quality countries managers and control functions where English tablet feedback in academy is already the management language of structure instruction • Standardizes expansion process for new academies 3 IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies • Population: To help ensure adequate demand and In 2008 the three friends moved to Nairobi and launched class size, the population density had to be at least Bridge International Academies. Their goal was to address 125 persons per square kilometer and total minimum a single yet seemingly intractable problem: How to create population had to be at least 30 million. a school or system of schools that ensures children learn but that is still affordable and accessible to all? • Language: English had to be one of the official national languages, enabling the founding team to more easily BUILDING THE MODEL engage in all aspects of developing the academic, technological, and business aspects of the model. The co-founders knew that the success and sustainability of Bridge International Academies would rely on their • Exam Pass Rate: The co-founders looked at countries ability to deliver a world-competitive nursery school where a significant majority of poor children failed and primary education at a cost that a parent living in national or international exams even after completing poverty could afford. To do this, they would need to invest primary school. large sums in research, curriculum development, and technology. And to pay for that, they would need to base • Private School Experience: Where parents had already the model on scale. Through self-funding, they began the opted to take their children to small, community run, research and development phase, asking questions such low-fee private schools, it was clear that there was as: What support does a teacher need to improve learning? demand for improved, affordable education and that a What does a child need to feel engaged in the classroom? market existed. How can we lower costs? Bridge aimed to deliver higher results at a cost that was lower than or equal to government spending per child, and thus spur innovation across the entire system. 4 IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies A Typical Bridge Family Sabbir and Taban live with their four children in a one-roomed mud house. Sabbir sells fried bread and Taban runs their small business selling plants that they grow in their yard. Some 62 percent of primary earners in Bridge families run informal businesses like Taban’s and like most Bridge families, they are working hard for a better life for themselves and their children. Two years ago Sabbir and Taban decided to enroll their two younger children into Bridge. As Tabban explained, “The little education I got has helped me get several jobs. I know that if my children can get more than I did then it would really change their lives and that of the whole family.” 4.3 People per household $1.60 Income 62% Bridge per person per day “We did not have Families Parents that are self-employed much education, in the informal but we want that sector 1st Generation to to be different for aim to complete primary school our children.” 5 IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies Figure 4: Key Milestones in Bridge International Academies’ History Rolled out customized tablets for teachers 100,000 students reached First academy Uganda and Nigeria locations open opens 2009- 2013– 2016 2012 2015 Academies open in 37 academies in Kenya 213 academies— India and public- makes Bridge the largest over 50,000 private partnership education chain in Africa students reached with Liberia signed The first Bridge International Academy opened in Nairobi’s Core to Bridge’s approach was to train teachers to move Mukuru slum in 2009, offering kindergarten and two years away from the blackboard, using the teacher guide to of primary school. Bridge decided to only engage with provide in-class work according to the student’s level of neighborhoods where per capita income levels were $2 per learning, and prompt teachers to walk around the room, day or less. From the beginning, Bridge knew that close check students’ work for understanding, and ask questions coordination with community leaders was vital. It worked to encourage inquiry. with them to educate families about Bridge and invited members of the community to visit an academy. Bridge Bridge developed its courses based on Kenya’s national built new schools on leased sites using low-cost materials curriculum and government standards, with additional and standardized designs, ensuring cost-effective volume emphasis on reading and critical thinking skills. Bridge procurement and rigorous quality control. students would spend more “time on task”—a total of 47.5 hours from Monday to Friday and an option of five hours GOING BEYOND TRADITIONAL METHODS on Saturday. Learning from a technique it saw in the U.S., Bridge developed teacher guides that To support early childhood development, Bridge used low- provided detailed, step-by-step instructions cost but effective learning tools—repurposed egg cartons, for teachers to use in every subject and learning period. colored plastic rings, and mini chalkboards, for example— The idea was to empower teachers to be fully equipped to reinforce colors, counting, and basic math with custom- to focus on student engagement and comprehension— designed educational toys and workbooks to develop and free them from worrying about content by providing students’ motor skills and reinforce classroom content. factually correct, engaging, and well-paced lessons. At the primary level, students had access to workbooks for phonics, comprehension, and problem-solving, geoboards to practice math, science kits to learn by doing, and maps to learn about their community and the world beyond. 6 IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies THE BRIDGE INTERNATIONAL TRAINING All of these tools were designed to help children learn in INSTITUTE more constructive ways than traditional rote methods. At the same time, Bridge also prepared students for national The goal of the Bridge International Training exams and conducted monthly assessments to ensure that Institute (BITI) was to uncover local talent, students stayed on track and to assess the efficacy of their identifying individuals with the potential to pedagogy. become Bridge teachers and developing their teaching skills. The institute’s 235-hour intensive SETTING AN AFFORDABLE PRICE POINT training course focuses on how to manage a As of 2016, the typical household income of classroom and ensure each child is learning, as a Bridge target student was about $1.60 per well as how to use the teachers’ guides. person per day. That income level makes 7 the price point for Bridge tuition an extremely important In order to maintain its affordable fee structure, factor. To set its fees, Bridge conducted extensive surveys Bridge aims for a teacher-to-student ratio of to understand how much parents living in Nairobi’s 45-1, so the institute puts a great deal of focus informal settlements earned and how much they were on classroom management, leadership, and spending each month to educate their children, at both technology. public and private schools. Using an affordability limit of 20 percent of income, Bridge calibrated its fees to be competitive with existing suppliers in order to be cost competitive for parents. Because incomes and education costs vary by area, Bridge fees also vary depending on a students’ grade and the location of the school. On average, a Bridge student in East Africa pays $6.60 per month, which is inclusive of textbooks, homework books, and all learning materials. Parents also pay a one-time registration fee. IDENTIFYING AND DEVELOPING TALENT To identify potential teachers, Bridge engaged community leaders and held open houses. From the beginning, the organization unwilling to relocate. Recruiting within the community was committed to recruiting from the local community for means that Bridge schools are always staffed and open. three key reasons: • Bridge knew it would be vital that its academies be • Bridge wanted its teachers to be able to empathize with community schools, run by members of the community students’ circumstances and wanted students to be able and creating much needed local employment. to identify with teachers. To develop potential teachers Bridge established the Bridge • Bridge operates in marginalized and under served International Training Institute. The qualifications to apply communities, areas in which outside teachers are often to the institute would be the same as for the government 7 IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies teacher training college. Beyond these requirements, Bridge team while incorporating the latest developments in looked for individuals with leadership experience in church teaching methods. Other teams were created to facilitate or other community organizations, good communication improvements by filming lessons, identifying and testing skills, and a passion for teaching and children. Many were new learning methods and programs, and performing previously underemployed, working primarily in the quality audits. informal sector without wage security or benefits. TECHNOLOGY AND ANALYTICS ENSURING QUALITY AND In 2011 Bridge deployed smartphones loaded EFFICIENCY with a custom-developed application that connects managers to a central cloud-based Bridge wanted a management structure that would allow server. The app tracks student admissions and billing in for local-level decision making while providing consistent real-time and serves as a financial management tool for support and quality in the classroom. It developed a structure the overall academy, including fee payments, expense that operated at three geographic levels: local, area, and management, and payroll. Two years later Bridge rolled regional (Figure 2). The structure ensures that everything out tablets for teachers, enabling dynamic publishing of from logistics to relationship management is covered. teacher guides and real-time data collection to and from the classroom (Figure 3). Through the use of mobile and To make certain that teachers were supported other technologies, Bridge has been able to: academically, Bridge set up a travelling academic field team to engage with teachers and monitor them in Simplify Operations. Academy Managers are able to classrooms. The organization’s central academic research focus on teacher support and parent engagement instead and development team improved lessons based on of administration. For example, to eliminate fraud and feedback from teachers and from the academic field security risks inherent in collecting cash, Bridge decided to use the popular M-PESA mobile phone application available in Kenya to go cashless. Parents pay school fees either via mobile or by bank deposit and Bridge Figure 2: Field-based Structure parents can see their payment status update in real time. In the other countries where it operates, Bridge uses REGIONAL MANAGER similar cashless payment systems either through mobile Oversees 100 academies payments or bank vendors. Maintains county-level relationships • with stakeholders Oversees recruiting and logistics • Ensure Engagement. Bridge knew that their academies Coordinates with the central office • would only be as strong as the teachers in the classroom. Ensuring teacher attendance was a key part of that. The AREA MANAGER Oversees 10-15 academies teacher tablet rolled out in 2013 allowed Bridge’s central Addresses operational Issues • team to monitor when the teacher checks in and the  ngages with community and •E pace at which the teacher progresses through lessons, local government helping to ensure that teachers are active in the classroom ACADEMY MANAGER throughout the day. If a teacher fails to check in, Bridge Manages one academy can send a substitute teacher to ensure minimal loss to  chool leader responsible •S lesson time. for overall performance 8 IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies Figure 3: Bridge’s Technology Cycle Bridge Central Team Develops, updates, and tests lessons and new approaches Teachers Enter results, attendance, and other metrics into tablets and upload to central team for analysis Teachers Download lessons to tablets using the Academy Managers’ phone as a hotspot Students Assessed using traditional paper and pencil tests Improve Learning Outcomes. The system created a EXPANDING BEYOND KENYA direct link between Bridge’s academic specialists and teachers in the classroom. Uploaded data on the timing ENGAGING NEW INVESTORS of lesson delivery and student comprehension enables By 2013 Bridge had opened 213 academies continuous improvement to lesson guides and teaching across Kenya, reached 57,000 students, methods. For example, if a majority of students across the recruited and trained over 2,000 people, and network are struggling with a lesson, the academic team attracted investments from the Omidyar Network, Learn can revise content and integrate it into future sessions. Capital and NEA. The organization knew it would need When the data shows outlier classrooms either falling additional capital and investors if it wanted to continue to behind or excelling, the academic field team can visit the improve learning outcomes and expand beyond Kenya. So location to further train the struggling teacher or learn Bridge leadership sought investors that shared its goals. from a teacher whose students are outperforming other teachers’ students across the network. 9 IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies A LEARNING LAB Bridge approached IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, to become a lead investor with a $10 million As Bridge expanded it found that its growing investment as part of an equity fundraising. Beyond number of academies, together with its real- seed financing, Bridge was also looking for advice in time data collection capabilities, constituted an addressing the regulatory challenges that come with internal “learning lab.” cross-border expansion. In addition to IFC, Bridge brought on other key investors such as the U.K.’s CDC, Novastar, As the academic team identifies new methods PanAfrican Investment, Rethink Education, as well as high or resources they believe can aid learning, they profile individuals like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.⁸ are able to test them within a small group of Bridge also got a loan from the U.S.’s Overseas Private academies before replicating them academy- Investment Corporation. wide. In this way Bridge can determine how lesson pacing, format, or specific examples LOCAL ADAPTATION lead to more or less comprehension. This has As Bridge began to consider expansion important implications, not only for Bridge, but outside of Kenya, it used many of the same for wider pedagogy. factors it looked at originally—population density, English as the language of instruction, and government support. Bridge identified Uganda as the next logical country due to its many similarities with Kenya and shared border. In February 2015 Bridge opened its first academy in Uganda’s Busoga region. Despite the similarities to Kenya, however, the new environment posed challenges for Bridge including: • Learning levels. Numeracy and literacy levels were lower in Uganda, and levels in Busoga were among the lowest in the country. This had an effect on students and teacher candidates alike. Bridge’s remedy was a cross- age, homogeneous English learning program for two hours every day to enable students to rapidly acquire the level of English language comprehension needed to attend a Bridge school. The next step for Bridge • Payment system. Over time, the M-PESA mobile was to broaden its payment system had become so widespread in Kenya that Bridge no longer had to educate parents on mobile reach, creating more money. In Uganda, Bridge had to again engage with opportunities for parents on how to use a mobile-based payment system. Bridge also launched a partnership with the solar children to learn. lighting company Fenix to provide loans for school fees to parents in Uganda who use Fenix’s solar systems. 10 IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS MEASURING RESULTS Bridge continued to broaden its reach, both through its established model as well as To quantify its results, Bridge works with an through new modes of delivery. In September external evaluator to conduct commonly used 2015, Bridge opened two nursery and primary academies in early grade reading assessments and early grade Lagos, Nigeria. Both schools had full enrollment and mathematics assessments. The results show waiting lists within a week. Four additional schools learning improvements for children attending opened across Lagos State in early 2016, with another 20 Bridge schools of over 32 percent in core reading expected to open later in 2016. skills and 13 percent in core math skills. Bridge’s expansion to Nigeria was facilitated by a grant In 2015, Bridge graduates in Kenya took the from U.K.’s Department for International Development nationwide exam for the first time. (DFID). Through DFID’s Innovation Fund for innovative Approximately 60 percent of the 2,900 students business models and its Developing Effective Private sitting for the exam passed, demonstrating a 40 Education Nigeria project, Bridge received a grant of percent higher chance of passing the exam than approximately £3.45 million to share the risks associated the national average. The results showed that with entry into the Lagos market.⁹ the longer students had been in the Bridge system the stronger their results. Moreover, Also in 2015 Bridge entered into an agreement with the Bridge students had a 65 percent higher chance government of Andhra Pradesh in India. Bridge agreed of being accepted to national secondary schools to adapt its model in order to meet local needs by in Kenya, and over 100 students were granted rebuilding and expanding decrepit, closed schools into full four-year scholarships for secondary school. model community schools. The first nursery and primary academies opened in June 2016 and include locally A large independent impact evaluation of oriented activities, such as yoga, in the school routine. Bridge is currently underway, led by a team of World Bank research experts and independent Bridge’s first engagement as a school management academics. The evaluation will also look at—and organization for public schools came in 2016 with the deliver data about—the broader context of Liberian government. Bridge agreed to partner with the low-cost private schooling. government in turning around 50 failing public nursery and primary schools in the 2016-2017 academic year. The program is part of a pilot initiative to see how such organizations can help improve education in the West African nation in partnership with the government. Bridge will work in existing schools, with existing teachers and pupils, but will use its own training and lesson delivery models. The schools will ultimately remain under government control and will remain free of charge to students. The government will continue to pay school staff salaries, while the intervention costs of the partnership are being funded by philanthropies, including the Mulago Foundation. 11 IFC INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CASE STUDY | Bridge International Academies MOVING FORWARD RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS © International Finance Corporation 2016. All rights reserved. The Bridge International Academies of today may not The material in this work is copyrighted. Copying and/or necessarily be the Bridge of the future. Bridge plans to transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. IFC does not guarantee the continue to innovate and expand and will continue to accuracy, reliability or completeness of the content included in push toward its goal of reaching millions of children this work, or for the conclusions or judgments described herein, and accepts no responsibility or liability for any omissions or across the world. For example, Bridge sees the potential errors (including, without limitation, typographical errors and to sell resource materials to other schools, to use its technical errors) in the content whatsoever or for reliance thereon. teacher training methods for other organizations and governments, and to enter into additional public-private partnerships. Bridge is also focused on transitioning children to secondary school. Bridge sees itself as one of many organizations that refuses to accept the status quo in education and one that is pushing the boundaries of how we teach and learn. Bridge will continue to innovate and strive for radical change in order to create the level of access and quality that all children deserve. For more information on inclusive business at IFC, visit www.ifc.org/inclusivebusiness ENDNOTES 1 UN, MDG Report 2015, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20(July%201).pdf 2 UWEZO, 2011, “Are Our Children Learning? Annual Learning Assessment Report.” Available at: http://www.uwezo.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ KE_2011_AnnualAssessmentReport.pdf 3 The Economist, Classroom Divisions, 22 February 2014, http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21596981-paid-private-schools- are-better-value-money-free-sort-classroom 4 African Population and Health Research Center, Quality and Access to Education in Urban Informal Settlements in Kenya, October 2013, http://aphrc. org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ERP-III-Report.pdf 5 Company data 6 Harvard Business School Case Study, 2010, “Bridge International Academies: A School in a Box”. Available at: http://www.bridgeinternationalacademies. com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/2010-Harvard-Business-School.pdf 7 Calculated using World Bank methodology, based on a sample size of 17,986 Bridge households across Kenya. Median income of Kshs 12,000 per month was equivalent to $136 per month or $4.53 per day at the time of calculation. From the same periodic data, Bridge families consists of 2.01 adults and 2.26 children. The OECD equivalence scale of (ES) = 1 + 0.7 (Nadults − 1) + 0.5 Nchildren = 2.837 family members the Daily Per capita=Daily Household income/ES = $4.53/2.837 estimates that Bridge family members live on $1.60 per day. See: http://www.oecd.org/statistics/OECD-ICW- Framework-Chapter8.pdf Simple calculations used by James Tooley of the University of Newcastle find the daily household income to be more like $1.25 per person, per day. 8 IFC, New Horizons in African Finance, 2016. Available at: http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/6c338c804c128a5e989abed8bd2c3114/New+Horizons- English-Web.pdf?MOD=AJPERES 9 DFID, Developing Effective Private Education Nigeria Annual Review 2014. https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-202678/documents 12