Pearson Affordable Learning Fund Ember Melcher & Gregg
Alpert @AffordableLearn affordable-learning.com
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61 million primary-aged children are out of school $29 Billion
Funding Gap from 2013 to 2015
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Vision Our vision is to help of millions children in the world
access a quality education in a profitable and scalable manner, and
to demonstrate to governments and donors that private education can
help educate their youngest citizens in a cost-effective way.
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PALF is a venture fund investing in startups that deliver
financial returns and high quality education PALF invests in
companies that: Demonstrate sustainable business models that can
generate market financial returns over 5-10 years Relentlessly
focus on efficacy and learner outcomes Target lower income consumer
markets Have scalable, proven models and credible management
teams
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What is Affordable Education?
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Portfolio Example: eAdvance Spark Schools Located in
Johannesburg, South Africa First private African primary school
network to implement blended learning model Currently 2 Spark
Schools with over 350 students Plan to reach 64 schools and over
60,000 students
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Impact to Date Manage a portfolio of 8 investments serving over
125,000 children in Africa, India and the Philippines and expected
to reach over 1 million in the next several years Investing in
schools, education technology, blended learning models and early
childhood education centers in India, SE Asia, Africa and Latin
America Catalyzing the global affordable learning agenda
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EDUPRENEURS
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About Edupreneurs Worlds only incubator that is Focused on
education entrepreneurs in emerging markets focused on low-income
learners Run in partnership with Village Capital & Pearson,
with experience running 30+ accelerators globally focused on
underserved populations Edupreneur Program Progress 2nd Program
India & South Africa. Worked with 25 early stage companies
through these programs Seed investments made by PALF and Village
Capital in top companies Expanding to new markets in 2015 Purpose:
(1) build up entrepreneurial ecosystems (2) provide support for
early stage entrepreneurs (3) utilize peer review as a diligence
and investment vehicle
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Journey of an Edupreneur
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About Venture Forum (Agenda) The Venture Forum features the 13
Edupreneurs addressing major education challenges in Africa
5:00-5:20: Partner presentations 5:30-6:30: Edupreneur
Presentations 6:30-7:30: Edupreneurs Demos (Individual Tables
around the room) 7:30 on: Continued networking, snacks and
drinks
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Working Together, We Can.... Increase the quality of affordable
education and reduce the number of children out of school.