Enko Education

Debt : December 2020

BIO granted € 850 k emergency financing to Enko Education, which develops and runs affordable private K-12 schools in Africa.

Amount

€ 850,000.00

Type of investment

Debt

Development impacts

Local economic growth
Private sector consolidation/innovation
Access to basic services & goods

Beneficiary locations

Sub-Saharan Africa: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa

Investment field

Enterprises

Activity

P85.31 General secondary education

Organisation

Enko Education

Website

https://www.enkoeducation.com/

Domicile

South Africa

More investments in

Enko Education

Debt € 2,000,000.00 (2018)

Enko Ed Limited is the holding company of the Enko Group, whose mission is to develop and run affordable private K-12 schools in Africa and increase access in Africa to the world’s leading universities through high quality international education.

Enko Education has designed an innovative cost-effective model of secondary international schools, offering the International Baccalaureate (IB), providing the local students with a launchpad to the world’s best universities.

Enko Education’s mission is to increase access for African high-school graduates to the world’s leading universities through high quality international education. The company has designed an innovative cost-effective model of secondary international schools, offering the International Baccalaureate (IB), providing the local students with a launchpad to the world’s best universities.

The middle-class segment offers the largest potential for private education in Africa. There is a gap between low-fee private schools offering a national curriculum below USD 500 per month, and unaffordable international schools above USD 6,000. Enko Education is the only one that addresses this gap, making the IB accessible to Africa’s middle-class. Moreover, it offers scholarships to between 10 and 20% of its students to increase the access of those less well-off to outstanding international education. Enko Education builds local capacity by recruiting local teachers and training them intensively.

Enko currently operates 13 secondary schools, of which 6 have a primary school division, in 9 countries (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia) and became in 2019 the biggest network of International Baccalaureate schools in Africa. The 3 latest schools opened in 2020 in Botswana and Zambia (January) and in Burkina Faso (September). The opening of this new primary school in Ouagadougou was supported by the last tranche of BIO’s loan

Covid-19

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, all Enko schools were closed between March and June 2020 (included) and distant learning was introduced. A taskforce dedicated to COVID-19 was created immediately in order to define priorities for the schools: ensure the health of staff, implementation of distance learning execution plans, communicate with all stakeholders and secure liquidity by cutting down all non-vital expenses. Distant learning was successful, with an attendance rate of 60-85%. All students were able to finish their semester correctly, after proper assessments.

The emergency financing to Enko will help the company to cope with the crisis, in particular to cover the operational costs. This additional loan will serve to cover negative cash flows as well as to build a little cash reserve and will allow Enko to stabilize and consolidate its current business.

Development impacts

Local economic growth
By 2025, Enko Education foresees to employ over 870 teachers, creating considerable employment effects.
Private sector consolidation/innovation
Enko Education is providing a high-quality programme at a competitive price targeting the local population.
Access to basic services & goods
Enko Education offers high-quality education to the local population.