Tech in Africa
Nairobi-based Ed Partners Africa just raised $1.9M to expand school presence and offer credit facilities to the private school markets with access to credit. The funds were raised from I&P, Acumen, Zephyr with participation from other existing investors.
Lydia Koros and David FitzHerbert founded Ed Partners in 2018. The company has given $1.5 million in loans to 142 private schools which have educated over 41,000 students. According to Mr.FitzHerbert, the funds will help catalyze lending to this troubled sector.
Amos Mwangi, Ed Partners’ CEO shared that the company will focus on Kenya’s affordable private school sector which is usually starved of credit by mainstream lenders. He said that access to credit formal credit has been “extremely difficult” for affordable private schools.
Ed Partners will offer specific end-user loans targeted at the expansion of classrooms, the building of sanitation facilities, school buses, etc., and other support aimed at bolstering the schools’ cashflows while giving consideration to the repayment abilities.
Ed Partners Africa is the first company to receive funding from Acumen’s newly launched education facility. Abdulkarim Mohamed, the portfolio manager at Acumen described the investment as “an important piece in delivering education to African children.”
